Excellent article DeNis and I re-paste the last part,with a question how long can F5 manage independence with Cisco looking over their shoulder??
<< "Packet-switching is the core of Cisco's business, but small companies like F5 are going
beyond that capability," says Peter Christy, a principal at Collaborative Research, a Los
Altos, Calif., Internet-marketing-research company. For example, Mr. Christy says F5's
system would allow a big Web-site operator, such as, say, Fidelity Investments, to
prioritize messages during peak-traffic periods, giving preference to paying customers
over other users simply seeking information.
Cisco says it doesn't comment on rivals, especially start-ups such as F5. But a
spokeswoman for the networking company assures, "We are well aware of what our
competitors are doing."
In any event, analysts such as Collaborative's Mr. Christy say a likely scenario is that F5
will get scooped up by one of the major networking concerns, such as Cisco, Lucent
Technologies Inc. or Sun Microsystems Inc. "In the long haul," says Ted Julian, an
Internet analyst with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., "I have a hard time
envisioning them as an independent player." >> |
