Why is Cisco buying Sipura? Here's the killer app

Cisco Systems says it is buying Internet telephony and networking gear maker Sipura Technology for $68 million.

Sipura=SIP=Session Initiation Protocol, got it?

Sipura makes several lines of quite well-equipped ATAs (Analog Terminal Adapters) and IP phones.

I've been looking at the catalog. I'd hunch my lunch that for Cisco, a key attraction is ATA technology such as the "hop-on, hop-off" capabilities of its newest Adapter,the SPA-3000.

To quote Sipura: "SPA-3000 users will be able to leverage their broadband phone service connections more than ever by automatically routing local calls from cell phones and land lines to VoIP service service providers and vice versa. If power is lost to the unit, or if Internet service is down, calls can be sent to a traditional carrier via the (SPA-3000's) FXO interface.

FXO stands for Foreign eXchange Office. Terrible name... sounds like a place where yo'd swap your dollars for Euros before flying to Paris. But no, its just the plug on your phone that enables your device to receive service- most often from a Public Switched Telephone Network central Office.

And since this Office is not where you are, it is, well, duh,"foreign." Got it?

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