I raised my concerns over potential conflicts in Cisco's consumer strategy a few weeks ago. This week I had the opportunity to raise them directly with John Chambers during an analyst round table here at CES. Most of the hour's discussion centered in one way or another on the question of the changing role of service providers in the residential space, the challenges they face, and how Cisco is helping them evolve and compete. Chambers confirmed that his company planned to move into consumer markets "aggressively", so we should expect a lot more activity from the Linksys and Scientific Atlanta teams in the coming months. The answer to the question, "which do you choose - service providers or media companies?" is, perhaps inevitably, "both". Cisco plans to remain completely neutral, support open technologies, and ultimately let the market decide. This seems to be an entirely logical position - perhaps too logical. Time will tell whether Cisco's current service provider customers are happy that the company supports its emerging competitors. And, if they are not happy, whether there is even anything they can do about it... Let's face it, Switzerland doesn't appear to have suffered too much from being everybody's friend. Client Reading: Digital Disruption: Imminent and Long Term Threats to the Audiovisual Industry Online HD: Disney’s ABC Throws Down Gauntlet To Competitors, and Access Providers