Broadband Developments

NoJitter’s Eric Krapf’s been liveblogging the Gores/Siemens press conference this morning and nailed all the right quotes, including the spin. As expected, they are using Gore’s turnaround of Enterasys as an example. The turnaround was from dead to irrelevant. I’d hardly boast about that as a success story. Surely they have something better? This is the most press Enterasys has had since the late 90s.

Back on topic, I bring up Enterasys since Siemens current CCO Zimmerman states that Enterasys and SER will be rolled up under Siemens. I like this move as it give the JV some legs in the data world. Not much, but it’s worlds more than they had and at least a story to tell competitively against the 800lb gorilla that is Cisco. I hate to paint it as putting lipstick on a pig but unfortunately I think that’s how it’ll turn out given SEN’s state and pitiful marketshare/name of Enterasys. I’d be happy to be proved wrong as I’ve noted a few times in the past that Siemens tends to really get UC from a strategic perspective.

So, what does all this mean? Nothing for the immediate future. If you’re a Siemen’s customer, you’re probably in Europe and asleep by now, but you’re also happy that the Gores group will keep SEN mostly intact and keep support for current products on the same roadmap. They’ll be moving to a mostly software platform in voice and UC, a better late than never move. All in all, not much changes. Siemens will remain a small player in UC with a great story and it’s likely any foothold in voice will be eroded by Cisco, Microsoft and others in the UC wave.