To fuse some snippets from Fortune and the New York Times:
"Cisco has agreed to buy Duo Security, a 700-person strong cybersecurity startup based in Ann Arbor, Mich., for $2.35 billion in a combination of cash and stock." [1]
"Duo was last privately valued at $1.17 billion after a $70 million financing round in October. Cisco participated as an investor in that round." [1]
"Cisco has a long history of buying security startups. Some of its acquisitions in recent years include Sourcefire, an intrusion detection tech firm (2013); Threatgrid, a malware analyzing firm (2014); OpenDNS, a domain name service provider (2015) and Lancope, a network monitor (2015)." [1]
"Duo’s technology allows companies to provide employees or customers with remote access. Its software verifies the identity of users, scans their device for security weaknesses and then lets them connect, a kind of supercharged username-and-password. Cisco said it would integrate Duo’s technology across its network, device and cloud platforms." [2]
"The acquisition is part of a trend in which cloud providers and cybersecurity companies are trying to bolster the services they offer." [2]
"But Cisco has hardly been the only buyer. In the past 12 months, Oracle acquired Zenedge, Amazon purchased Sqrrl, VMWare struck a deal for CloudCoreo, McAfee bought Skyhigh, and Symantec acquired Skycure." [2]
"The pace of such deals — particularly in identity management, like Duo — should only pick up over the coming years as companies try to strengthen their defenses against cyberthreats, Mr. Ives said." [2]
"But the worry here is that Cisco is going to murder the golden goose—and, as a former Cisco customer, I’m struggling to feel anything but dread about all the ways in which this acquisition might kill everything that’s good about Duo." [3]
"In my opinion—which is informed by my own anecdotal experience—Cisco belongs on the same shelf as Oracle when it comes to businesses that exhibit a profit-above-all-else mindset. From my point of view as an enterprise customer, Cisco consistently came across as unswervingly committed to maximum revenue extraction at every single point in its relationship with a customer. The company’s per-feature licensing was (and remains) so expensive and so complex that the whole product portfolio seemed designed around creatively separating customers from their capital first and actual network/SAN administration a distant second." [3]
"In my opinion—which is informed by my own anecdotal experience—Cisco belongs on the same shelf as Oracle when it comes to businesses that exhibit a profit-above-all-else mindset. From my point of view as an enterprise customer, Cisco consistently came across as unswervingly committed to maximum revenue extraction at every single point in its relationship with a customer. The company’s per-feature licensing was (and remains) so expensive and so complex that the whole product portfolio seemed designed around creatively separating customers from their capital first and actual network/SAN administration a distant second."
Agreed. As someone who has worked at clients of Oracle they don't come across as a technology company, they are basically a sales company with a technology department.
Comments
To fuse some snippets from Fortune and the New York Times:
"Cisco has agreed to buy Duo Security, a 700-person strong cybersecurity startup based in Ann Arbor, Mich., for $2.35 billion in a combination of cash and stock." [1]
"Duo was last privately valued at $1.17 billion after a $70 million financing round in October. Cisco participated as an investor in that round." [1]
"Cisco has a long history of buying security startups. Some of its acquisitions in recent years include Sourcefire, an intrusion detection tech firm (2013); Threatgrid, a malware analyzing firm (2014); OpenDNS, a domain name service provider (2015) and Lancope, a network monitor (2015)." [1]
"Duo’s technology allows companies to provide employees or customers with remote access. Its software verifies the identity of users, scans their device for security weaknesses and then lets them connect, a kind of supercharged username-and-password. Cisco said it would integrate Duo’s technology across its network, device and cloud platforms." [2]
"The acquisition is part of a trend in which cloud providers and cybersecurity companies are trying to bolster the services they offer." [2]
"But Cisco has hardly been the only buyer. In the past 12 months, Oracle acquired Zenedge, Amazon purchased Sqrrl, VMWare struck a deal for CloudCoreo, McAfee bought Skyhigh, and Symantec acquired Skycure." [2]
"The pace of such deals — particularly in identity management, like Duo — should only pick up over the coming years as companies try to strengthen their defenses against cyberthreats, Mr. Ives said." [2]
[1] http://fortune.com/2018/08/02/cisco-buys-duo-security/
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/business/dealbook/cisco-d...
For a more pointed perspective:
"But the worry here is that Cisco is going to murder the golden goose—and, as a former Cisco customer, I’m struggling to feel anything but dread about all the ways in which this acquisition might kill everything that’s good about Duo." [3]
"In my opinion—which is informed by my own anecdotal experience—Cisco belongs on the same shelf as Oracle when it comes to businesses that exhibit a profit-above-all-else mindset. From my point of view as an enterprise customer, Cisco consistently came across as unswervingly committed to maximum revenue extraction at every single point in its relationship with a customer. The company’s per-feature licensing was (and remains) so expensive and so complex that the whole product portfolio seemed designed around creatively separating customers from their capital first and actual network/SAN administration a distant second." [3]
[3] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/08/heads...
"In my opinion—which is informed by my own anecdotal experience—Cisco belongs on the same shelf as Oracle when it comes to businesses that exhibit a profit-above-all-else mindset. From my point of view as an enterprise customer, Cisco consistently came across as unswervingly committed to maximum revenue extraction at every single point in its relationship with a customer. The company’s per-feature licensing was (and remains) so expensive and so complex that the whole product portfolio seemed designed around creatively separating customers from their capital first and actual network/SAN administration a distant second."
Agreed. As someone who has worked at clients of Oracle they don't come across as a technology company, they are basically a sales company with a technology department.