Canadian-born James Richardson has been given a major promotion at Cisco with his appointment as senior vice-president of commercial business (a newly-created position), which focuses on the fast-growing small and medium-size businesses - a market which Cisco sees as its most significant growth opportunity over the next three to five years. Richardson had been Cisco's chief marketing officer for the past four years. The 16-year Cisco veteran will be succeeded as CMO by Susan Bostrom.
Update: Light Reading takes a look at the tenuous nature of being a CMO for a telecom equipment maker.

I'm having a terrible 1970s flashback to Rachel Stevens' hit song "More, More, More" after hearing John Chambers' aggressive view on the Internet. Speaking to analysts this morning, the Cisco CEO said he expects Internet traffic to grow 300% to 500% a year over the next decade. That's astounding given growth has been about 100% in recent years. Not surprisingly, the biggest driver will be video as Internet-based services such as IP-TV, video-on-demand and mobile TV become more popular. Cisco, of course, stands to benefit from this explosive growth as the need for routers and switches within networks will likely surge, as well devices within the home (routers, set-top boxes, etc.) to handle more traffic after it leaves the "last mile". Chambers could be in ultra-sales mode and/or he could simply be discussing what he sees on the horizon. Even he's half right, the growth in traffic will be amazing. With all the talk about Web 2.0, I think it might be time to start talking about Telecom 2.0 - a phrase and idea introduced to me recently by a cable executive. This is world where IP-based services (video, data, audio) are delivered over networks to consumers when they want them, how they want them and where they want them. I think we're just beginning to search the tip of the iceberg with Apple's deals with ABC and NBC to deliver television shows to the iPod. If you step back, what this represents is the delivery of video to a mobile video device that uses Internet to deliver it. It won't be long before consumers will come to expect to receive this kind of service delivery anywhere, any time. This will dramatically change how the telecom, cable and media industries operate - hence the term "Telecom 2.0." Any thoughts?

So whatever happened to Cisco's traditional M&A strategy of buying technology as opposed to big companies where resolving cultural differences can make acquisitions difficult? It seems like this approach has been thrown out the door as Cisco is buying Scientific-Atlanta for $6.9 billion (it's really $5.3 billion given SA has $1.6 billion of cash). Whether or not this move is seen as unorthodox, it's brilliant because Cisco now has a major and leading presence in the digital household, which is poised to take off as high-speed Internet networks make it easy for carriers and cablecos deliver all kinds of new services. Let's be clear here, Linksys was a nice business but selling routers in a competitive market is far from earth-shattering. On the other hand, SA is poised to become the gateway to the digital home. The "big pipe" that comes into the home will, in many cases, be connected to SA's set-top box, which means Cisco will play a key role in how new services are delivered. In particular, SA will give Cisco a crucial role in the video business, which is booming as cablecos upgrade their networks to implement VOD and PVRs while telcos scramble to launch IP-TV.

I had a chat yesterday with Cisco chief development officer Charlie Giancarlo, who talked about a variety of topics, including the recent unveiling of technology to link emergency services radios in a more cost-efficient way. With the $2-billion Ericsson-Marconi deal unveiled earlier in the day, I asked Giancarlo if this is an indication of much-needed industry consolidation among the larger equipment suppliers. Here's what he had to say:
"I don't think it's yet a sign of consolidation. We do need consolidation in the vendor business but Marconi has not been part of the tier-one environment. The industry, as you know, especially in the optical space, is over competetive at the moment. There are very few players that are profitable - Cisco in one, Juniper is another and others are only moderately profitable, and there probably needs to be greater consolidation."
Given Cisco's modus operandi, do not expect it to be the major industry consolidator. Instead, it will continue to make small but strategic acquisitions. If anyone's going to make a big move, look to Alcatel, Siemens or Nokia. There has been scuttlebutt about Alcatel buying Lucent and Nokia and Siemens looking at Nortel. I think a Nortel deal is unlikely - unless it receives a blow-away offer, what with Mike Zafirovski coming in as CEO next month. The board will likely give him a chance to execute a turnaround before it thinks of entertaining takeover offers. A good clue of Nortel's plans could be Zafirovski's compensation package, which includes five million restricted stock units and five million stock options. This suggests he needs some time to improve operations so Nortel's stock can rebound and make his package even more lucrative.