Cinco de Mayo: Cisco loses $45M telepresence deal to Polycom
By Brad Reese on Tue, 05/05/09 - 8:51pm.
Cinco de Mayo this year has not been kind to Cisco.
How so?
Well, more than 2 years ago Cisco announced with much fanfare that it was rolling out 50 public virtual meeting rooms deploying Cisco TelePresence technology for Regus Group PLC.
Fastforward to Cinco de Mayo 2009, according to a PCWorld report:
"Regus, a provider of rented space and service for business, is getting set to deploy Polycom telepresence suites in at least 30 locations worldwide after a similar 2007 arrangement with Cisco Systems fell through. The deal, worth more than $45 million over five years, involves Polycom equipment and Cable & Wireless network infrastructure. The first suite is set to open in London this summer, Regus CEO Mark Dixon said."
What happended?
Cisco TelePresence technology ended up being too hard to implement, according to Regus CEO Mark Dixon:
"It was not possible to execute, in terms of the equipment. Maybe too early stage, I don't know. There were technical hitches and all kinds of hitches. For us, it's ease of operation, we're a normal company. If we have things that are too complicated to execute on and to implement, then in a way, that defeats the object of why you're doing what you're doing. It's to simplify your life, not to make it more complicated. In the end, we didn't go ahead because life got too complicated. ... We moved on with our lives. ... We spent a lot of time on it, and it didn't come to anything."
Regus will be deploying the Polycom RealPresence Experience 210M system which has a list price of of $299K.
What's your take, is this a bad omen for Cisco TelePresence?
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Appears to be bad news for
Appears to be bad news for Cisco and good news for Polycom, for now.
More often than not, ease of use equates to ease of disruption. For Regus, the frequency of service requests to fix problems and escalating maintenance costs may cause them to rethink their decision.
Tele-presence becoming Tele-absence
Poor Cisco
They seem to be doing the marketing and others get the order
Polycom, Lifesize, Tanberg
Is Cisco TelePresence all bark and no bite?
Is Cisco TelePresence all bark and no bite?
Fortune published an article today about Cisco TelePresence:
Cisco CEO John Chambers doesn't just talk a good game about telepresence, the videoconferencing technology that creates the illusion you're in a room with someone who's actually thousands of miles away.
He's planning to install his company's high-end system in his Silicon Valley home, provided he and his wife can agree on a spot for it. "I figured we could convert one of the kids' old bedrooms, since they've grown up and left the house," he says. She told me, "You do that and you'll be sleeping in there."
Though he's not done negotiating the location, one thing that Chambers doesn't have to worry about is cost. As longtime chief at the networking giant, he can surely afford the installation, which can easily run north of $150,000 per room.
Cisco CEO John Chambers' Silicon Valley Home:
Remarkably, it was almost 2 years ago when a ComputerWorld article publicized that Cisco CEO John Chambers "had in fact installed" Cisco TelePresence in the "basement" of his personal home:
He may be CEO of the powerful Cisco Systems Inc., but John Chambers still knows when to give in.
Chambers told reporters yesterday that he recently wanted to set up a Cisco TelePresence system in a bedroom in his California home, but after negotiating with his wife, he ended up locating the large videoconferencing monitor and related gear in the basement instead.
As a result, the leader of one of the most successful multinational corporations in the world will be running some meetings from his basement.
Why almost 2 years after publicizing that Cisco TelePresence had been installed in the basement of his home would Cisco CEO John Chambers be telling Fortune Magazine today that he is bickering with his wife over where to "locate" a Cisco TelePresence unit in his home?
Something is seriously wrong here!
Sincerely,
Brad Reese
BradReese.Com Cisco Refurbished
Spend some time understanding
Have you read anything about Telepresence, if you check out www.cisco.com, they are quite a few models with varying prices, I suggest you do so in order to make comparisons with Polycom..I have even implemented the standalone system using a FIOS connection. works well.. Spend sometime talking to folks in the field about how things work as oppose to folks at the top who want to make better deals or are motivated by other means.
Is Cisco denying the accuracy of Regus CEO Mark Dixon?
Is Cisco denying the accuracy of the statments made by Regus CEO Mark Dixon?
Sincerely,
Brad Reese
BradReese.Com Cisco Refurbished
I would think it would be hard to run
Have you ever tried to install a CCM or UC System? Not really easy. I would hope that Cisco the marketing machine it is would come out with a statement telling us all what went wrong. This big of a deal should have not gone wrong, so is the Cisco Telepresence really that hard to run and install? I think this will really give a leg up to Polycom and LifeSize at Interop.
It will allow them to chat it up on the Cisco failure. But I am sure Cisco will come up with a big spin. But what does this mean to the Cisco Public Telepresence Suites being rolled out by Tata all over the world. It seem that over that last 6 months not too many new ones have been installed.
Maybe Polycom has something up their sleeve and will compete?
Cisco TelePresence Hot Air Balloon
It appears that Cisco CEO John Chambers can now "retire" his private jet in favor of travelling exclusively by:
Cisco TelePresence Hot Air Balloon
Sincerely,
Brad Reese
BradReese.Com Cisco Refurbished
Home Telepresence
If the big and huge Cisco Telepresence Unit are this bad, do they think they will be able to dumb it down enough for home units? I remember they said they would have home unit soon.
Flip video
That's why Cisco bought Flip video, it's simple technology that actually works!
Me thinks that Regus is the "tip of the iceberg" regarding what appears to be the Cisco TelePresence fiasco.
Sincerely,
Brad Reese
BradReese.Com Cisco Refurbished
Polycom v Cisco
Polycom has market cap of $1.5B, it will be a small acquisition for Cisco!
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