Cisco Collaboration Merges With Networking and Security, Orders Grow ‘By Double Digits’
Cisco confirmed that its Collaboration arm will merge with Networking and Security in a corporate restructuring while outlining that its Collaboration product orders grew “by double digits” in its most recent earnings call.
In its earnings call for Q4 FY24, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said that Cisco was bringing its Networking, Security, and Collaboration teams together as one organisation. Experienced Cisco executive Jeetu Patel stepped into an expanded role as the new business’s Chief Product Officer.
Robbins said in a separate blog announcement:
Today, I shared that Jonathan Davidson has made the decision to step away from his current role leading Cisco Networking and will now serve as an advisor to me. With this, we are bringing our Networking, Security, and Collaboration teams together as one organization led by Jeetu Patel as he takes on an expanded role as Cisco’s EVP and Chief Product Officer.”
In other Collaboration tidbits from the earnings call, Collaboration product orders grew by “double digits”.
Richard Scott Herren, Cisco EVP and CFO, highlighted that while product orders are growing, Collaboration sales were flat this past quarter, “driven by growth in our cloud calling and CPaaS offerings, offset by declines in meetings and devices”.
US DOJ Reportedly Ponders Breaking Up Google As Antitrust Measure
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is reportedly considering breaking up Google as an antitrust measure.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing sources close to the discussions, that the DOJ is pondering dismantling the tech giant following a landmark court ruling that Google monopolised the online search market.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, it is just one of the options the DOJ is evaluating as an antitrust tactic. Alternative measures could involve mandating Google provide competitors with greater access to its data and implementing safeguards to ensure a level playing field in developing AI technologies.
However, just as the landmark court judgement marked a major victory for federal agencies seeking to challenge the dominance of tech giants in the market, breaking up Google would be a seismic rebuttal to perceived tech overreach.
The move would represent the first significant attempt by the US to dismantle a corporation over illegal monopolisation since the unsuccessful bid to break up Microsoft in the early 2000s.
AUO Display+ Set To Acquire Avocor
AUO Display Plus (ADP) is in the process of finalising an acquisition of Avocor.
AUO Display+ has been given the internal green light to move forward with the intended acquisition of Avocor. A recent announcement confirmed that both organisations are actively ironing out the details and conditions of the acquisition deal.
Both companies assert that the AUO, ADP, and Avocor executive teams have been collaborating closely since 2022 to ensure a smooth transition.
With the agreement in place, Avocor’s CEO, Scott Hix, is set to take on the dual roles of GM of the AUO Education and Enterprise Business Group and CMO of ADP. His leadership and expertise are expected to contribute positively to the new organisational structure.
Zoom Launches New AI Companion Capabilities and More
Zoom has introduced new AI companion capabilities and customisable landing pages for Zoom Events and Zoom Sessions.
In its latest update, Zoom has enhanced its companion features by improving meeting summaries and incorporating generative AI into Zoom Clips. Other notable updates include enhancements to Zoom Whiteboard and new integrations of Workspace Reservation with Slack and Teams.
Among the new features are AI virtual backgrounds, allowing users to create custom backgrounds using text prompts. The tool also now includes optical character recognition (OCR) to convert images of text shared during meetings into machine-readable formats, enhancing meeting summaries. In-meeting chat messages are used to add context to these summaries.
Additionally, Zoom Clips can automatically generate titles and descriptions from transcripts. Meeting summaries, previously available only to hosts, can now be shared with co-hosts.
To demonstrate the value of AI Companion, Zoom released an ROI calculator highlighting productivity gains and cost savings when used across a business. For admins, the new AI Companion Onboarding Center offers resources like user guides, templates, videos, and best practices to support organizational adoption.
