Cisco Bets The Farm On VoIP

In a world where network hardware is increasingly a commodity, where can Cisco turn for its profits in the future? If today's buyout of two private companies is any sign, Cisco is betting the farm on VoIP. Cisco bought two companies today. Metros Corp. makes an application development environment and run-time platform for IP telephony. Audium essentially does the same thing for IP Contact Centers.

The cash is a drop in the bucket for Cisco, a mere $19.8 million for Metros and $28 million for Audium.

Technologies from the companies will be merged into Cisco's Unified Communications platform, launched in the spring of this year. The Unified Communications platform gives enterprises an integrated platform for voice, data and video traffic.

The companies themselves will become a part of Cisco's Voice Technology Group.

Just because Cisco didn't spend much cash for these acquisitions doesn't mean they're not important. Cisco recognizes better than anyone that the future of all communications, whether it's voice, data or video, is IP, and that it's coming far faster than most people realize.Expect more buys like this in the future, and lots more VoIP and IP telephony and video announcements out of Cisco. For a while, hardware may be its bread and butter, but those days are limited, and the all-IP network is the company's future.