Story and images by Zeus Kerravala
Cisco has been making a number of smaller acquisitions, obtaining Tail-f a few weeks ago and spending less than $100 million this morning to acquire Assemblage.
In Major League Baseball, some teams try and win by always going for the big home run. My beloved Red Sox are such a team, although they’re not hitting many this year so they find themselves in a position that the Cubs are normally in: Last place! Other teams, such as the St Louis Cardinals, win by playing “small ball.” A hit there, stolen base here, one run this inning, one the next, and all of a sudden all these small things become a win.
In tech, some vendors like to swing for the fences. For example, Oracle recently dropped $5.3 billion for Micros Systems to bolster its position in a few markets. Oracle took a huge swing and we’ll see if it works. Cisco, on the other hand, has been making a number of smaller acquisitions. A few weeks ago they acquired Tail-f to support their telecom strategy, and this morning the company spent less than $100 million to acquire Assemblage.
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