Cisco exec can see the end of set-top box era

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), which got into the set-top box business by acquiring box pioneer Scientific Atlanta, expects it will get out of that business by using its traditional strengths--IP and the Internet cloud--Ken Morse, CTO of Cisco 2900 router Service Provider Technology Group said during a keynote address at a Light Reading event in New York City.

"Set-tops are clearly moving to the point where they are either a piece of software that lives in another device or they're virtualized totally in the cloud," Morse said during the address.

The change out, of course, depends on cable migrating to IP technology which the industry has not hurried to do, and the cloud maintaining some semblance of reliability and security. On the other hand, the end of the set-top era could spell good news for Cisco 2960 which recently reported that sales of set-tops were "challenged."