Am I the only one to feel sad at the loss of the Scientific Atlanta brand to the trash can of mergers and acquisitions. Started by engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1951, the SA produces industry leading broadcasting cable and Internet distribution and set top boxes. In Europe in particular the SA brand was considered the industry standard to which others sought to reach. In 2006 SA was bought by Cisco (another firm started by academic engineers) and at last weeks CES the first box without a SA sticker appeared, bearing the Cisco brand.
The box was a media gateway designed to bring network-based and home-based applications together in one device, all part of what Cisco calls visual networking. CEO John Chambers is energetically rebuilding Cisco around IP systems and video is in front and center of the Cisco strategy. Chambers calls Internet video the "next disruptive technology" and Cisco last week released an operating system called EOS designed for rich media management. The contrast with Qwest could not be starker.
For more:
- Goodbye Scientific Atlanta Article
- Cisco drops Scientific Atlanta Article
Related Article:
-Cisco prepares for video ArticleÂ