Fortunately for Cisco, he's good at it. Given the current economic climate, partnering is more appealing than acquisitions. The investments are more affordable, and you can still speed up time to market. 401 Steinhilber oversees a staff of 150 employees responsible for 16 strategic alliances. In this fast-paced industry, partnerships are often arranged over latte and loosely defined.
Cisco has fine-tuned the process.
Each company must agree on goals and assign a team to achieve them. Cisco would sell the equipment and IBM would provide the software and services that operate on them. In hardware Cisco got rid of a competitor. For IBM the alliance was a way to increase sales of its networking software and services. The partnership paid off.