So many computer industry acquisitions have turned into unmitigated disasters that most companies are wary of making them these days, but Cisco Systems Inc has no such qualms and is buying yet again – this time it’s acquiring Nashoba Networks Inc and its Token Ring network switching technologies in a share exchange valued at about […]
So many computer industry acquisitions have turned into unmitigated disasters that most companies are wary of making them these days, but Cisco Systems Inc has no such qualms and is buying yet again – this time it’s acquiring Nashoba Networks Inc and its Token Ring network switching technologies in a share exchange valued at about $100m. Nashoba Networks, founded in 1993, is based in Littleton, Massachusetts, and reportedly had a mere $3.5m in sales last year. Cisco says the deal gives it access to products and technology that go to make up a complete Token Ring product line. Some rationalization of Cisco’s existing Token Ring switching kit seems inevitable as a result of the acquisition – Nashoba’s Concord product, which is to be renamed the Catalyst 1800, comes with eight ports, expandable to sixteen, and is pitched for the backbone market. As such, it seems to compete head-on with Cisco’s Catalyst 1600, which comes with eight ports as standard, expandable to 12. A spokesman for Cisco said, however, that there are no immediate plans to phase out the 1600 and that the products will be marketed side by side. The 1600 uses Media Access Control (MAC) from Madge Networks Inc, as part of that company’s long-term relationship with Cisco, and the Nashoba acquisition also seems to have called that relationship into doubt. Madge is one of two Token Ring relationships that Cisco has with other companies, the other being Olicom A/S. While the Olicom deal centers on low-end MAC technology, and should therefore be unaffected by the Nashoba deal, Cisco has taken high-end MAC software from Madge which overlaps with the technologies that Cisco is acquiring through Nashoba. Nobody at Cisco or Madge was able to clarify the situation at the time of going to press.
