Cisco Confirms FTC Probe

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether high-tech leader Cisco Systems Inc. proposed illegally dividing up the emerging network market with two of its competitors, the company said. Executives at Cisco confirmed that the company received a letter last week from the FTC requesting details about its discussions last summer with Lucent Technologies Inc. and Northern Telecom Ltd. Cisco’s vice president, Dan Scheinman, said he was confident that any inquiry would show that Cisco’s discussions were legal. “We’re going to work through this with the FTC,” he said. An FTC spokesman declined to comment. Cisco, which makes much of the networking computer equipment and software used to route data, has grown tremendously over the past four years by acquiring other companies and by establishing partnerships with other market leaders.