BARCELONA, SPAIN: Acquisition of Norwegian video conferencing firm Tandberg ASA is very strategic for Cisco Systems Inc , a senior Cisco executive said on Wednesday.

“We see video as the next killer app,” chief globalization officer Wim Elfrink told the Morgan Stanley Annual Technology, Media and Telecoms Conference in Barcelona. “Tandberg is going to be very strategic.”

Earlier this week Cisco raised its offer for Tandberg by 10 percent to 19 billion Norwegian crowns ($3.39 billion), or 170 crowns per share, and said the new offer already has the approval of shareholders with more than 40 per cent of the company.

High-quality, real-time videoconferencing can help companies cut travel costs, and Cisco says it can do more, such as helping businesses like retailers, banks and hospitals launch services from remote locations.

“Video is going to be pervasive - in consumer lives in enterprise lives,” Elfrink said.

Tandberg is the leading videoconferencing equipment maker, and its products complement Cisco's high-end TelePresence conferencing products and its WebEx desktop video service. The Norwegian company holds 40 per cent of the mid-tier market for videoconferencing, according to Wainhouse Research.

"Tandberg gives us bigger opportunity to be relevant to the market," Elfrink said.