Follow the Money

Advertising

May 18, 2007 from CIO Today – “According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's purchase of aQuantive for $6 billion in cash represents the next step in the evolution of Microsoft's advertising network, with MSN and the broader Microsoft network that includes Xbox Live, Windows Live, and Office Live serving as key components of that strategy.”

Web Conferencing

May 18, 2007 from CFO.com – “Cisco Systems's $3.2 billion purchase of Web-conferencing leader WebEx was more than just another deal for the acquisition-mad networking giant. In shelling out so much for an established Web-services firm, Cisco made it clear that it intends to move beyond its base in networking hardware and take on rival Microsoft in the nascent "unified messaging" market…

Jain predicts the Web-conferencing market will triple, to $21 billion, by 2011 and expects Cisco to make other sizable acquisitions as it attempts to dominate the space."

180 View – You can expect to see a lot more content on the internet that will justify the investments being made in advertising.

Web conferencing is a great tool already but will only get better as live video is added and prices fall as the vendors fight for market share. There is thankfully less need to hop on an airplane to make a business call, which can’t be good for the airlines.