Much Ado About a Cisco and Microsoft Collaboration

(Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

(Credit: Eric Slomanson/ZUMA)

Today's "intimate discussion" in New York between Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Cisco's John Chambers was anything but. Moderated by Charlie Rose in front of an audience of 30 or so tech journalists in a dark, swanky mini-ballroom in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the industry heavyweights refused to veer from their talking points. Their discussion of the Microsoft/Cisco collaboration and how collaboration among industry giants is essential for staying ahead of an ever changing market was done in dense corporate speak. Deciphering meaning from what they were saying was on par with doing soduku without a pen. Even the plain spoken Ballmer came off as too PC. He did have a couple funny quips. When asked whether collaborating with a competitor was risky, Ballmer belted, "It's not like I'm asking John to spill the secret sauce!" And then he went on to make a crack about busting a jujitsu move on Chambers.

The industry giants are working together on seven initiatives ranging from security to office productivity to improving communication between government agencies. For the consumer, they're working on making TV and video wireless in the home. Together the companies have $40 million invested in the joint effort.

Questions from reporters kept going back to how these two industry leaders are going to be able to collaborate and compete at the same time. "We will periodically step on each other and that won't change," said Ballmer. "But if you do what's right for the customer, you're going to grow the market." Chambers added that "the market has more opportunities than any of us can go after [alone]." And that "the industry is moving too rapidly [even] for the large players."

"The pace our industry is accelerating," said Ballmer. "If we want to continue to grow we need to embrace change. We can't cling to our bread and butter--we have to seize new opportunity." And both CEOs believe that collaboration is the new frontier for ingenuity and Chambers even referred a couple times to the "old competition"--an old way of doing things that relies on the go-it-alone business model.

Chambers cited his experience at IBM and Wang Laboratories as examples of how companies that do not change with the market can get run over and never recover. He kept repeating what appeared to be his business mantra, "This market waits for no one." To stay ahead, Chambers says he looks two, three, five years into the future, and what he sees is a fusion of products and services through collaborations like this one.

At one point, Rose was able to stir up Ballmer by prodding him on a potential Microsoft deal to buy Yahoo. Ballmer's response: "I'm not going to say a darn thing." And added, "They're an independent company. We have a very good relationship with them. We'll continue to partner to with them how it makes sense."

Overall today's event felt scripted. The most interesting insight one could get was from the contrast in body language that revealed the different styles of these two CEOs. Ballmer was sprawled out on his sofa but at the same time looking as antsy as a kid asking to be excused from the dinner table while the polished, crossed legged Chambers came off as the genteel, expensive-suit-wearing, Southern gentleman that he is. If these guys are the leaders of an organic, ever evolving, industry like technology and the internet that they know first hand is uncontrollable, then why be so buttoned up? Maybe they could take a queue from Sergey and Larry and head down to Burning Man next week, loosen up a bit and come back relaxed and ready to lead a new discussion that doesn't sound so much like an infomercial.

-Andrea Chalupa

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