Photo: Aeioux / Flickr

As corporate shuffling and industry consolidation happens at breakneck speeds in North America it’s hard to judge which will be the leading technology company in the future. Apple springs to mind, as does Google, of course, Facebook, HP still, and even Microsoft. But one company never associated with consumer electronics that could very well change the game is Cisco. From innovation to pocket HD cameras and brilliant Cisco strategy, here are three reasons why this company could become an out-and-out technological juggernaut.

They have the talent and the innovation

Catching up on some evening reading, I stumbled across a Business Week video where Cisco talks about how they innovate. If you don’t care to watch the video, I’ll give you a short summary – Cisco sources its innovation from its customers and its fringe employees. In other words game-changing ideas are not sourced from the top-down, as they are in most companies, meaning Cisco has a pulse for what people really want.

Outside of that, the company has easily among the best engineering talent world over working for it. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is. The smartest minds do, in fact, create the most remarkable products.

They’ve made some brilliant acquisitions

Photo: Cisco

You know those Flip Cameras all of us love so much? Cisco owns that company. At a time when it seemed practical for someone like Sony, Samsung, even the Kodaks of the world, to acquire the industry-disrupting pocket HD cameras, Cisco was first off the mark in what is still a brilliant move. Now, the Flip Cameras are one of Cisco’s few consumer-based purchases, but their industry-side purchases have been just as good. Sure, with smartphones now getting many of the features that make the pocket HD cameras interesting, one wonders what the Cisco strategy to combat the competition is, but the point is they had the foresight to seize the gap, which could well translate to the foresight to differentiate further from the competition.

The product pipeline is exceptional

Cisco’s main business is networking equipment such as routing and switching devices. As boring as that is, as broadband proliferates and more and more of us demand routers and connectivity for our homes, Cisco will continue to grow. On top of that, with their unapologetic focus on enterprise, Cisco manages to position itself away from the competition. That’s what makes the Cisco Cius the yin to the iPad’s yang – Cisco doesn’t want Apple’s customers, it wants to forge its own lane, and this is very important. As important as the consumer space is, the internal Cisco strategy of positioning the company slightly differently from everyone else is a big game changer.

Photo: Cisco

Well, well, well! VoIP giant Skype recently announced its intentions to file for an IPO, but it looks like that may no longer be happening. Networking giant Cisco is apparently sniffing around the VoIP company, and if it wants to take the plunge, it’s going to cost them a pretty penny!

Lots of monies

If this Cisco Skype acquisition gets pushed through, it will likely cost the company $5 billion (£3.25 billion) and up. Big monies. More than that, it would put Cisco, whose legacy business is in routing, networking and switch manufacturing, in the services industry. The problem here for the company, if these Cisco Skype rumours are true, is that through Skype it would be in direct competition with many of its present day clients, like telecommunications firms and cable firms. But, at the same time, Cisco cannot afford to become a dinosaur, and needs to be proactive if it is to protect its core business.

Guess who else wanted some – Google

Reports also suggest that Google was interested in acquiring Skype but wisely chose to back down due to concerns about anti-trust regulations. Google has its own VoIP service through Google Voice, classic Gmail voice and video chat, and the newly released service that lets you make phone calls through Gmail. In short, the company Google knows regulators wouldn’t let it pass.

VoIP services a looming battlefield

Photo: Skype

We’ve long argued that VoIP services is where things are headed and, if not today, will someday soon erode the core businesses of telephony companies. This, however, makes you wonder whether a terrestrial landline or mobile carrier shouldn’t be sniffing around Skype itself. This would give them an exit out of their dangerously precarious business into the hotbed that is VoIP services, and though it would cannibalise its core business, it could be considered planning for the future.
With over 560 million users up for grabs, the Cisco Skype acquisition could be colossal because it puts a company clearly poised for future dominance under the care of potentially the most gifted engineering talent in the world.

What do you make of this, and do you think Cisco will push through for the VoIP services provider?

Photo: Cisco

While everybody follows Apple into its foray into the consumer tablet market, Cisco computers is aiming to create its own space by developing a tablet computer aimed at enterprise and business.

Say hello to Cius

On Tuesday, 29 June 2010, Cisco unveiled the Cisco Cius, a light, 7-inch tablet built on Google Android. Cisco is selling the tablet PC to enterprise and business users as a communication and collaboration tool. The Cisco Cius will have wi-fi connectivity, as well as connectivity with mobile networks to connect business users to one another.

Features

Being built on Google Android, the tablet will naturally have access to applications built for that platform. The custom features Cisco are punting, though, are the ability to perform portable video conferencing, as well as native remote access to a user’s desktop computer.

How about that, Apple?

This move is a masterstroke on Cisco’s part, in that while everyone else tries to muscle themselves into the space the iPad has taken an early lead in, the Cisco Cius is pulling in a different direction and aiming at a different (although admittedly overlapping) audience.

And now, Apple?

Apple won’t feel threatened by the Cisco tablet, but the growing ubiquity of Google Android on tablets has to be cause for concern. The iPad is currently selling like hotcakes, moving 3 million units in three months, while other manufacturers scramble to ship their own tablet computers.

Next to smartphones, the tablet has to be considered the most fascinating market in computing right now, with the as-yet undetermined long-term winner likely to make boatloads of money.