Networking Pipeline has a rather in-depth explanation of why Cisco bought DynamicSoft last month for $55 million.

Officially, the acquisition gives Cisco a credible VoIP offering to sell to wireless and wireline vendors. Unofficially, it gives Cisco key expertise needed to further its enterprise VoIP solution.

Apparently, it would not be easy because the DynamicSoft code is not all that clean.

Cisco will likely have to further invest in fixing the internal code structure of Dynamicsoft’s products. “A lot of times, given the choice to make long-term enhancements to the product that would make it more flexible, stable, and maintainable, we would instead be instructed to add a specific feature in the hope that it could be used to land a specific account,” says an engineer close to Dynamicsoft.

One of the reasons, many say, Cisco spent the big bucks is because it needed to get onboard the SIP bus.

Ironically, architectural limitations may make Dynamicsoft a perfect fit for Cisco. Cisco’s enterprise IP PBX, Cisco Call Manager (CCM), has its own history of architectural limitations that have made adding new features a significant challenge. Cisco continues to push its own Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP) within CCM. “CCM is architected in a softswitch model so that it has individual and direct control over every session,” says one engineer close to Cisco. “This means it takes years to add a feature.” He points to Music on Hold as an example. “Cisco was only able to add that feature with two years’ worth of work.”