1. What are the main business benefits of the collaboration technologies described in the case?
2. Michelle Damrow of Polycom notes Cisco is betting on a proprietary standard for its TelePresence product, while competitors are going with interoperability. Do you agree with Cisco’s strategy? Why or why not? Defend your answer.
3. Think about the I-Zone wiki described in the case, Cisco’s forum for new business ideas, and its seeming success in that regard. Why do you think that is the case? Do these technologies foster creativity; provide an opportunity to communicate already existing ideas, or both? Defend your answer.

If you want to catch a glimpse of the future of knowledge work in the twenty-first century, a good place to start is a small family homestead outside Germantown, Illinois, 40 miles east of St. Louis. That’s where Craig Huegens, director of architecture for networks, data centers, and unified communication services at Cisco Systems, lives and works. When Huegens moved there from northern California in December 2000, it was for the most basic of reasons: He wanted his newborn son to grow up around family, who now live just five miles down the road. Nevertheless, it was something of a revolutionary concept because Huegens was Cisco’s first full-time IT telecommuter.