Cisco has "bought 36 companies, including WebEx, a Web meeting specialist, for $3.2 billion…Cisco also picked up PostPath, a maker of e-mail software, and Jabber, a leader in corporate instant messaging" (Vance 2008). At present, unified communications is a small part of Cisco's annual revenue, but one it intends to grow.

Another ambitious venture it intends to embark upon within the next few months is its introduction of a computer server computer equipped with sophisticated virtualization software. Some analysts fear that this will disrupt Cisco's traditionally friendly relationship with current manufactures of makers of computer hardware, such as H.P., I.B.M. And Dell. However, interest in virtualization software has expanded at an exponential rate. "Virtualization products let companies run numerous business applications, rather than just one, on each physical server, allowing them to save electricity and get more out of their hardware purchases" (Vance 2009). Cisco seeks to become a pioneer...
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