Unified Communications Meets Small Businesses

I usually yawn when a research report lands in my inbox. Tech industry researchers, after all, mostly want to tell you a market is about to boom — but you’ll need to pay up to get the exclusive data. Still, AMI Partners did catch my eye with a new report on Unified Communications in the SMB market. Here’s a quick overview.

Don’t Pay that Dividend, Cisco

Cisco CEO John Chambers says the company eventually intends to pay a dividend. When? Nobody knows for sure. Chambers has always been the king of setting Wall Street’s expectations. Lately he’s very bullish about the unified communications opportunities heading Cisco’s way. Frankly, it would be hard to imagine Cisco paying a dividend in the near future. From where I sit, Cisco would be far wiser to acquire a bunch of small software companies that build out the networking giant’s unified communications strategy. Do what you do best, John: Acquire companies. Skip the dividend.

Cisco, Microsoft Resume Unified Communications Battle

Ali vs. Frazier. Yankees vs. Red Sox (well, not this year…). Cisco vs. Microsoft. There’s nothing like a showdown between two titans who love to brawl. By now, you know Cisco and Microsoft have high hopes for the unified communications market. In fact, Microsoft will finally launch its unified products next week. But Cisco won’t be standing still.