REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Multiven, Inc. ("Multiven") today filed an antitrust lawsuit against Cisco Systems, Inc. ("Cisco") in an effort to open up the network maintenance services marketplace for Cisco equipment, promote competition and ensure consumer choice and value. Multiven's complaint alleges that Cisco harmed Multiven and consumers by bundling and tying bug fixes/patches and updates for its operating system software to its maintenance services ("SMARTnet") and through a series of other illegal exclusionary and anticompetitive acts designed to maintain Cisco's monopoly in the network maintenance services market for Cisco networking equipment.

The complaint recites that instead of making these necessary software "updates" and bug fixes available to all customers that have purchased its operating software license, as does Microsoft, Apple and Hewlett-Packard, and many others, Cisco makes these software "updates" and bug fixes available only to those customers that have purchased Cisco's SMARTnet.

Multiven Inc.