Cisco mulls Nokia buy

Hello, what's this what's this? Interesting times ahead for the mobile market at all kinds of levels, particualrly the top levels ....

From Australian IT

CISCO is considering buying mobile handset maker Nokia in a bid to gain its wireless infrastructure technology, a newspaper has reported.

The Business paper, which did not reveal the source of its information, said Cisco had traditionally concentrated on acquisitions of niche technology players, but its chief executive John Chambers is believed to be interested in merging with a wireless infrastructure company. 'Nokia has been identified as the most likely target,' the paper said.

Cisco, the largest maker of internet equipment, is worth around $US123 billion ($160 billion), while Nokia's market value is around $US71 billion.

The paper said Cisco's mainstay networking market was fast changing, with the convergence of fixed-line and wireless networks, and Cisco needed a merger to acquire the technology to create intelligent wireless applications, which Finnish-based Nokia could provide.

Cisco was not immediately available for comment. A Nokia spokeswoman in Helsinki declined to comment.