"There have been just two successful partnerships in my industry. Microsoft and Intel in the Wintel alliance, and HP and IBM in the printer business".

- John Chambers, CEO - Cisco, Wired 8.1

Alliance, n:  "...a union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third".

- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), The Devils Dictionary

Alliance-based Competition

Intense competition, changing markets, and the need for speed have forced Internet pioneers and startups alike to thrive on collaborations. Whether it be joint product development projects, cross-marketing alliances, or outright mergers, various forms of organizational arrangements have evolved to serve the need for growth. In the Internet and new media space, recent deals like the one between Yahoo! and Broadcast.com, for example, are built on expectations of the rapid thrust toward broadband and interactive multimedia content. Observers are already talking about a new set of deals (e.g. AOL and CBS) that will change the way we think about conventional media, content, and the Internet. While many of these alliances show promise, it is unlikely that all of them will succeed.