Just when Microsoft thought it had cleared the red tape surrounding the $8.5 billion Skype purchase, Cisco plans to appeal to the European Commission (EC) against approving the acquisition.
The announcement comes through an official blog post from Martin De Beer, senior VP of the Cisco Video and Collaboration group.
Microsoft purchased Skype on October 2011-- and recently suggested plans for integrating Skype collaboration services more tightly with Lync.
De Beer says Cisco doesn't want to kill the Microsoft-Skype merger, but instead demands regulators force Microsoft keep Skype compatible with other collaboration software-- including that sold by Cisco, obviously. Microsoft and Skype do not use the H.264 video codec or SIP standard used by other videoconferencing platforms.
"Microsoft's plan to integrate Skype exclusively with its Lync Enterprise Communications Platform could lock-in businesses who want to reach Skype's 700 million account holders to a Microsoft-only platform," De Beer writes.
Skype and Microsoft however are confident the Cisco appeal will fail. “The European Commission conducted a thorough investigation of the acquisition, in which Cisco actively participated, and approved the deal in a 36-page decision without any conditions,” a Skype statement says.