Cisco's acquisition of the technology assets of Tribe, one of the pioneers of social networks, is a perfectly sensible deal. It was a firesale; the communications equipment giant paid under $3m, we hear; and that price could be justified by the company's assumption of Tribe's small engineering team. So why didn't Cisco just say that? Instead, in today's New York Times, the transaction is presented as key to the router manufacturer's new software services strategy. Now this could just be Times reporter Brad Stone's way of sexing up a story about social networks that he had in the pipeline. Cisco's Dan Scheinman, the exec behind the company's perplexing recent deals, hasn't made any public claims about the deal. It would be wise to remain silent.

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