11:45 AM -- NEW YORK -- Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) is conspicuously absent from Ethernet Expo 2007. They're not speaking at any session, and to my knowledge, they haven't sent a single representative.

That's fine with me (being on the editorial side, I couldn't care less who sponsors us). But since Cisco was here the past couple of times around, folks are talking. What's made them bow out this year?

This being a blog, I'm not even bothering to ask Cisco. Let's go straight to rampant, uninformed speculation.

Is it fear of PBT? Disgust over the Mets? Our breath?

Anyone who's got a good theory, please post on the message board below. Realism not encouraged.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading