ArrowPoint Communications
May 2000
One of Cisco's first heavyweight pick ups of the decade was a sign of the times: Web content management was hot stuff, and Internet switch maker ArrowPoint was a bolt of lightning, a three-year-old startup whose stock price tripled during the opening day of its IPO. At the time, some observers chided Cisco for overpaying -- a suggestion, many held, that its own Web traffic and load balancing products just weren't getting the job done. But ArrowPoint was also a company whose principal competitors at the time, Alteon and F5 Networks, were forced to admit that they'd now face a much deadlier adversary in ArrowPoint with Cisco's machine behind it. Cisco eyeing a hot market where it doesn't have a comprehensive offering, validating the growth of that market with a big purchase, and throwing a scare into competitors who believe themselves tough enough? Cisco's rewriting that story again with Tandberg, 10 years later.
Next Slide >
