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Cisco may enter CDN space

April 9, 2009 — 11:45am ET | By Pete Wylie

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Cisco has acquired colocation space in U.S. data centers recently, potentially for a new CDN offering, according to businessofvideo.com. These acquisitions could be the beginning of Cisco's first foray into selling CDN services externally, as it has operated its own internal CDN for several years.

Cisco made a lot of noise around the launches of its ASR 9000 router and Media Experience Engine 3000 that it was serious about competing for the dollars around the coming "online video flood." The company predicted that IP traffic will increase to six times current levels by 2012, with most of the increase due to online video delivery. The colocation space purchases may indicate Cisco's intention to get a piece of the delivery of that content.

Dan Rayburn questions why Cisco would build instead of buy CDN services right now, as there are several companies it could acquire with a fraction of its giant cash stockpile.

Needless to say, the entry of a tech giant like Cisco into the CDN market would have interesting ramifications for other CDNs and CDN customers.

For more:
- see Rayburn's post here