How Linksys Successfully Integrated With the Cisco Network Infrastructure

Unlike Cisco's previous acquisitions, Linksys remained a separate division, altering the company's standardized acquisition model. This case study describes the acquisition from the perspective of Cisco IT, which undertook a "Selective integration" approach, integrating most infrastructure and some governance. Acquisition integration has become a unique core competency of Cisco Systems, which had acquired 96 companies as of March 2005. The challenge is that the division prizes its agility, and the corporate parent prizes standardized processes. The Cisco IT integration team considered infrastructure components such as networks, telephones, data centers, PCs, and printers; applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), sales, HR, and engineering; governance practices such as development lifecycles and compliance with standards and mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and data privacy laws; and funding models.