well, a lot of Cisco's worldwide hardware engineering -- especially optical -- is done in Ottawa (Kanata)
... other than that they both live in the capital region already, could be why there is mention of a potential future POET Ottawa office in both Shep's and Gagnon's contracts.
I wouldn't rule anything out with CSCO ... they're not just plumbers anymore.
the significance in market-share of Cisco's UCS compute platform is nothing to sneeze at (over 20% for sure), along with their new Nexus 9000-series ACI stuff on the horizon.
considering CSCO shareholders are chomping at the bit for Chambers to deliver value (street has the view that they've been pretty stagnant in the ROI department for a long time with him at the helm) it's a potential PDA with the right target markets, for sure.
cheers,
R.