Cisco Hightails It Out of Some Businesses

Cisco made two executive announcements, namely a new CTO and a CDO ("Chief Digital Officer"--whatever that means).  The announcement about flattening the organization by eliminating layers of xVPs is long overdue, and it is a good, but unquantifiable, omen.

The more significant announcement is one about throwing in the towel on a September 2013 acquisition of flash storage provider Whiptail for $415 million. The legendary ability of Cisco to integrate acquisitions seamlessly has always seemed to me just that, a legend.

I have yet to learn about a large company acquisition of an entrepreneurial company that has resulted in an effective integration, including that of the founders and their internal teams. The particular fable of Whiptail is informatively told by a UK tech publication.

There will have to be more of this portfolio rationalization, given all the acquisitions Cisco has made. Cisco seems to have a really sales driven culture.  Delivering internally sourced, innovative new product on time seems not to have been a core competency, hence the acquisitions.

What will this look like going forward?  That will be the question for the new leadership team, with Mr. Chambers looking over the shoulders as Chairman of the Board.

Well, on the subject of the cloud, we really missed the boat on Amazon Web Services (AWS).  3 month revenue for AWS for the period ended June 30, 2015 was $1,824 million up 81% from the prior year period.  Even though segment expenses increased 54% on the same basis, the segment margin for AWS increased to 21% from 8% in the prior-year period.

Critics, of which I was one, will say that this public cloud revenue isn't where the action will be.  The truth is: nobody knows.  The CIA win for AWS over IBM was a real shot across the bow for the industry.  AWS revenues are annualizing at almost $7 billion based the six-month fiscal year-to-date numbers.  That Amazon was able to staff up both the technical, back office and sales organization for this kind of business growth so quickly should put the incumbents on notice.

What do you expert readers out there have to say about AWS?