There was a time in 1998-2000 that Cisco's Peter Alexander would walk TMC expos looking for acquisition targets. Cisco acquired a number of telecom companies at the time -- from unified messaging to contact center players. I lost touch with Peter around the time the bubble burst and don't know who handles telecom acquisitions these days. Whoever is in charge... Cisco is feeling the urge to converge or is it merge? An article on Forbes web site cites Cisco's desire to acquire companies in the VoIP space. There is an excess of new companies in VoIP. I can't believe how many are now positioning themselves to be VoIP leaders. Although there will be lots of niches for new companies to grab and hold onto, acquisitions from Avaya, Cisco and others will help fuel new waves of optimism and investment in VoIP. Not that we need any more but it is simple cause and effect.