Cisco Buys Tandberg, HP To Buy Polycom?

There’s tremendous momentum in video conferencing right now, and I was sure Cisco was going to acquire either Polycom or Tandberg. Well, this morning, the news is that Cisco is acquiring Tandberg for $3 billion. This of course, puts Polycom in play in a big way, and the likelihood of HP acquiring them just went up exponentially.

From a prior post: “Gartner predicts that by 2012, video conferencing will replace 2.1 million airline seats per year, costing the travel industry $3.5 billion annually. Cisco’s revenue from WebEx was up 14% and TelePresence was up by 97%. According to Wainhouse Research, in Q109, Cisco sold 67% of the 520 TelePresence units sold worldwide, up from 51% of the 235 units sold a year ago, while HP’s share dropped from 11% to 10%. I am very excited to see the adoption of TelePresence and web/video conferencing in general. Remember my Forbes column, Kill The Business Trip, in which I called for this to happen a year ago?”

The Tandberg acquisition will nicely complement Cisco’s Telepresence and Webex strategies. And Polycom stock should move up as it becomes a precious acquisition target for Cisco’s competitors.

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