Judith Estrin, who co-founded both Precept Software – which was bought today by Cisco for $84m – and Bridge Communications, has left start-ups behind for networking giant Cisco, where she takes over from Edward Kozel as chief technology officer. Estrin, who also spent time as CEO of Network Computing Devices after Bridge became part of 3Com, will assume her new role within 30 days. Although Estrin’s background is that of an entrepreneur, she claims her move to a huge, established company is not incongruous. What led her to start her own company was the desire to make an impact on technology. But whereas start-ups used to be the best way to push new ideas, they have become harder to launch now that the IT industry has matured, said Erstin, who sees Cisco’s market dominance giving her a louder say in the future of networking technology. Although pleased with Cisco’s current technological strategy, which Ed Kozel did much to mold, Estrin believes she is more operationally focused than her predecessor. Cisco will integrate Precept’s flagship product IP/TV, into Cisco’s IOS technologies. Cisco will broaden the reach of AP/TV which can deliver a stream of video to multiple PCs. It will also adapt AP/TV, currently designed for the enterprise, for carriers and ISPs, who will be able to use it to deliver services to the consumer. Cisco will exchange between 1.15 and 1,35 shares of Cisco common stock to acquire all of Precept’s shares. This is its second acquisition this week: on Tuesday it acquired ADSL manufacturer NetSpeed.
