Cisco to buy videoconferencing vendor Tandberg for $3 billion

Cisco Systems has signed an agreement to buy videoconferencing vendor Tandberg for about $3 billion. Tandberg's video endpoints and network infrastructure products will be integrated into Cisco's collaboration products, according to Cisco. When the deal is done Tandberg's CEO Fredrik Halvorsen will lead a new TelePresence Technology Group at Cisco. Cisco has been pushing videoconferencing for a number of years, and is already reselling some of Tandberg's products, according to Steve Blood, vice president at market research company Gartner. The acquisition plugs the gap between Cisco's HD-based telepresence systems and its Unified Video Advantage system for desktop videoconferencing by adding room-based conferencing that supports standard definition video, he said.