Cisco Australia is planning to hold off its attack on the local consumer markets until at least the year 2000, preferring to watch and learn from its US counterparts.
Gary Jackson, Cisco Australia's managing director, told ComputerWorld on Friday he will not follow the US operation's move into the consumer space over the next six to nine months due to existing commitments in other business areas.
The company's worldwide vision is to create "personal networks" within the home in partnership with a variety of service providers and consumer electronic manufacturers.
However, if Cisco decides to pursue the strategy in the local market, Jackson said it is likely to focus on the provision and connection of packaged home networking kits and electronic games entertainment units.
He said Cisco is unlikely to target the network interface cards space dominated by companies such as 3Com. "I would have thought the NIC cards is a boring, pretty competitive space," he said.
Meanwhile, Jackson foreshadowed the release of Cisco's financial results for the last six months, indicating the local operation has achieved around 45 per cent growth.
Cisco's small to medium business and telecommunications markets continue to provide most of the company's income, he said.
However, Jackson reports very slow growth in the enterprise market, which he attributes to users' focused attention on Y2K issues.