* What did Cisco buy? A look back at eight acquisitions in '06 * The network industry’s most colorful story ever * Siemens sets network speed record * Q&A: What Redback acquisition means to Ericsson * Juniper to take $900 million charge for options * Venture capitalists eye SaaS companies * Hitting a golf ball with a laser at 33,000 feet * Today's Power Poll * Buzzblog: This topic would never get by your company's spam filters * Today on Layer 8
News podcast: Network World 360
Cisco’s IOS set for radical pricing and feature changes, IBM releases free search software for small and midsize businesses, ’tis the season for the U.S. Postal Service network to deliver, and ‘Big Yellow’ malware exploits Symantec desktop products. (9:36) Listen now.
What did Cisco buy? A look back at eight acquisitions in ’06
Cisco’s moves in 2006 showed the vendor’s urgency to find new markets for expansion. Video technology was a major draw for Cisco M&A money this year, with purchases of three companies in the video surveillance, video-on-demand and streaming content markets, respectively. Click here for full analysis.
The network industry’s most colorful story ever
A quick study of the network industry could be enough to give you the blues. To start, there’s IBM, otherwise known as Big Blue. Then there’s Windows’ dreaded blue screen of death and Microsoft’s annual BlueHat security briefings. And who can forget the Code Blue virus that struck in 2001? Click here for the full spectrum of network colors.
Siemens sets network speed record
The race to push more bits down broadband networks has leaped ahead with Siemens achieving a transmission speed of 107Gbps over a single optical fiber. Click here for more.
Q&A: What Redback acquisition means to Ericsson
With its $2 billion acquisition of Redback Networks this week, Ericsson is now in direct competition with some of its biggest partners – Cisco and Juniper – in the red-hot carrier edge routing market. However, the move is more of an effort to obtain IP and Ethernet technology it can use to pull its telecom and mobile infrastructure products forward into the IP-based future of telecom, says Karl Thedeen, vice president of wireline products for the Swedish vendor. Click here for the full interview.
Juniper to take $900 million charge for options
Juniper Networks will take a non-cash charge of about $900 million in the wake of an investigation that found the company improperly dated employee stock-option grants. Click here for more.
Venture capitalists eye SaaS companies
Venture capitalists looking ahead to 2007 are optimistic about the financial potential of software as a service, even though industry data shows that total investments in software companies are declining. Click here for more.
Hitting a golf ball with a laser at 33,000 feet
The European Space Agency announced this week it had relayed optical laser links from an aircraft. Click here for more.
Today’s Power Poll
Eric Schmidt: Justifiably confident or just plain cocky? Vote now.
Buzzblog: This topic would never get by your company’s spam filters
Although it’s not obscene and fit for office viewing, it’s about an interview conducted by another news organization inside Second Life, the much-hyped virtual world where apparently… well, you’re just going to have to trust me on this one. Click here for more.
Today on Layer 8, shinier than tinsel:
12-year-old gets Zune, preloaded naughty content; BitTorrent teams with BBC for show downloads; January outlook buggy for Apple; and bloggers have to admit when they’re paid off; all this today and more at your home for not-just-networking news.
For news updated throughout the day, go to Network World’s NetFlash news page.
