Slashdot Mirror
Cisco Going Mobile, Acquiring Nokia?
Keruo writes "Sunday Business paper is reporting on its latest issue that Cisco Systems is considering of acquiring some large player in the mobile telephone field. According to a Reuters article the paper also suggests that the company is most likely Nokia. Neither of the companies have yet commented on the rumour." From the article: "Cisco's mainstay networking market was fast changing with the convergence of fixed-line and wireless networks, and Cisco needed a merger to acquire the technology to create intelligent wireless applications, which Finnish-based Nokia could provide."
This would be their first really big acquisition in a long time, perhaps a bit too big for them?
This seems to be a story that started out from a single source. All the articles in Google news seem to quote each other and none of them seem to know where the original reference is (probably some analyst has started it as a way to boost his holdings). Now Reuters has picked it up. Excpect some nice trading on Monday when first Helsinki stock exchange and NASDAQ later open up. Then everyone forgets about this two days later.
I couldn't find any data on what these companies are WORTH to see how easily Cisco could acquire Nokia, but Nokia revenues for 2004 were at 29.3 billion euro whilst Cisco revenues were at 22 billion euro. I am not exactly sure Cisco could swallow Nokia and not choke on it big time.
And all because Mike Wynn has a nokia phone - I think this attempt at silencing him has gotten a little out of hand.
When cisco acquired linksys, build quality went down the pan. My pre-cicso equipment is solid stuff, built to last. The WRT54G I've got now feels flimsy and from what I've heard from other users is pretty prone to damage.
I'd rather this doesn't happen, as at the moment Nokia is an excellent company that doesn't need messing around with.
Well I guess the interface may change a bit, for example adding a name to my address book: Phone# configure terminal Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z. Phone(config)# alias exec callbob dial phone.device.213.555.1212 Phone(config)# end Phone# callbob? *callbob="dial phone.device.213.555.1212"
How wrong you are. Nokia produces tons of networking hardware, wireless equipment, and of course, mobile switching stations, BSCs, all sorts of 3G equipment, mobile network servers for all sorts of services, VOIP, multimedia, network management, etc. etc. etc. - the protfolio of Nokia Networks is so large and varied, I would never be able to do it justice. In fact, one line of products are the IP routers and firewalls that are considered by many to be best-of-breed. A lot of these solutions/products incorporate some Cisco device.
And of course, Nokia Networks is in tight symbiosys with Nokia Mobile Phones.
So, Cisco as a partner would make a lot of sense. But it would have to be a merger of equals, because Nokia is a very large company, with 70+ billion$ market cap and 13+ billion$ in the bank.
Sigged!