CSCO: "Clarent has emerged as our biggest competitive concern"
CAN'T BEAT CLARENT
According to a newsletter meant only for the eyes of Cisco's Packet Telephony Division (PTD) staff, Clarent (Nasdaq: CLRN)'s success in the Internet telephony market is somewhat troubling to the networking giant.
Clarent sells software and systems to telecom service providers that allows for the transmission of voice, faxes, and data via the Internet and similar communications networks. Clarent, which is in the process of buying competitor ACT Networks (Nasdaq: ANET) also competes with Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) and Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU).
"Clarent has emerged as our biggest competitive concern," the newsletter says, in a section titled, "Beat Clarent." The newsletter goes on to relate that competitive analysis has been posted and will be continually updated on the Web. (Alas, we tried the URL listed in the newsletter, but it was safely tucked away behind Cisco's corporate firewall.)
"We have also created a new e-mail alias 'beat-clarent@cisco.com' for sharing information about Clarent's products, marketing, and sales," the newsletter says. "Remember: we must engage anywhere Clarent is engaging. We should NOT let them win any business uncontested."
FLATTERED, NOT AFRAID
Catherine Stewart, Cisco's manager of PTD PR, verified the authenticity of the document Cisco Watch obtained from sources. "We have competitors and certainly we look to beat them and provide the information necessary to our sales force," she says.
Heidi Bersin, Clarent's senior vice president of corporate marketing, says her firm's a bit flattered by Cisco's fretting. "I'm not surprised because we see what's going on in the marketplace and we know what kind of deals we're winning, she says. "Is it something that has us shaking in our boots? Not really."
Cisco Watch is pretty sure this isn't the last salvo we'll see between the two firms. So, in flattering imitation of Cisco's PTD staff, we've set up an e-mail alias of our own. Please forward any insidious correspondence on the rivalry to cisco-really-really-doesn't-like-clarent@redherring.com. (Yes, it really works!) |
