I was giving more thought to yesterday's rumors of Cisco buying Nokia (or part of it).

The more I thought about it, the more I realized there is a very smart M&A move Cisco could make on today's technology board, something that would give it an infusion of both technology and backbone, plus get it into the mobile markets it seems so hot for.

Buy Broadcom.

Broadcom is worth over $14 billion, but that's barely 10% of what Cisco is worth today. Institutions hold two-thirds of Broadcom's shares.

But what's in it for Cisco? Plenty.

• Broadcom has business balls. Big ones. They are ruthless, they are quick, and would give Cisco a fresh infusion of what it needs to get out of its own way.
• Broadcom makes communication chips. It makes the chips that run Cisco routers. This means Broadcom makes Cisco vertically-integrated. Analysts will cheer that.
• Broadcom is a leader in cellular silicon. That means it has a big hand in making standards for that industry. This is the knowledge Cisco needs if it's to make a dent in that market.
• Broadcom knows Asia, and Asian sourcing, probably better than Cisco does.

Broadcom is American, not Finnish, so there would be none of the cultural problems you get in buying Nokia. It's very possible Broadcom executives might someday run Cisco itself, and that's not necessarily a bad thing given the history of the last five years.

It makes sense. Pull the trigger.