If you want a rule of thumb, 40 percent of the cost of putting in a new application is integrating it with the other applications.

In a market where a lot of companies haven't managed to deliver, that is probably good enough. You can't expect miracles forever.

The revenue numbers are pretty disappointing. On the other hand, Lucent is in a lot better shape than it was two years ago, and if you're thinking about 2007, things look pretty decent.

They were pretty clear. Things were blah. On the other hand, Lucent is in a lot better shape than it was two years ago, and if you're thinking about 2007, things look pretty decent.

They delivered on the revenues, they delivered on the guidance ... they looked pretty confident going forward.

It's an emerging market that's been exploited by smaller-sized companies until now. When a market gets to a certain size, Cisco gets interested.

They're showing progress. They promised us they would cut costs.

People come to tech for that extra-special sizzle, not for the steak. By buying into Cisco they're buying into a market that's more moderate.

Five years out this opens up some real opportunities to harmonize their approaches. But any change would be so gradual that it's going to get lost in the noise.

When you actually get down to the brass tacks of who's going to get paid, then it becomes competitive.