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Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells
networking hardware Networking hardware, also known as network equipment or computer networking devices, are electronic devices which are required for communication and interaction between devices on a computer network. Specifically, they mediate data transmission in ...
,
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...
, telecommunications equipment and other
high-technology High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
services and products. Cisco specializes in specific tech markets, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), domain security,
videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...
, and energy management with leading products including Webex,
OpenDNS OpenDNS is an American company providing Domain Name System (DNS) resolution services—with features such as phishing protection, optional content filtering, and DNS lookup in its DNS servers—and a cloud computing security product suite, Umbre ...
,
Jabber Jabber may refer to: * The original name of the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), the open technology for instant messaging and presence. * Jabber.org, the public, free instant messaging and presence service based on XMPP. * Jabber ...
, Duo Security, and Jasper. Cisco is one of the largest technology companies in the world ranking 74 on the Fortune 100 with over $51 billion in revenue and nearly 80,000 employees. Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by
Leonard Bosack Leonard X. Bosack (born 1952) is a co-founder of Cisco Systems, an American-based multinational corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking and communications technology, and services. His net worth is approximately $200 mi ...
and
Sandy Lerner Sandy Lerner, (born 1955) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded Cisco Systems, and used the money from its sale to pursue interests in animal welfare and women's writing. One of her main projects, Chawton House, is in E ...
, two Stanford University computer scientists who had been instrumental in connecting computers at Stanford. They pioneered the concept of a local area network (LAN) being used to connect distant computers over a multiprotocol router system. By the time the company went public in 1990, Cisco had a market capitalization of $224 million; by the end of the dot-com bubble in the year 2000, this had increased to $500 billion, surpassing Microsoft as the world's most valuable company. As of December 2021, Cisco had a market capitalization of around $267 billion. Cisco stock (CSCO) was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also included in the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 1000 Index,
NASDAQ-100 The Nasdaq-100 (^NDX) is a stock market index made up of 101 equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It is a modified capitalization-weighted index. The stocks' weights in the in ...
Index and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index. In 2021, '' Fortune'' ranked Cisco number one for the second year on their annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For based on employee satisfaction surveying. LinkedIn and
Glassdoor Glassdoor is an American website where current and former employees anonymously review companies. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, it has additional offices in Chicago, Dublin, London, and São Paulo. Glassdoor also allows its users to ...
also ranked Cisco as a top place to work in 2021 and recent years.


History


1984–1995: Origins and initial growth

Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by
Sandy Lerner Sandy Lerner, (born 1955) is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She co-founded Cisco Systems, and used the money from its sale to pursue interests in animal welfare and women's writing. One of her main projects, Chawton House, is in E ...
along with her husband
Leonard Bosack Leonard X. Bosack (born 1952) is a co-founder of Cisco Systems, an American-based multinational corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking and communications technology, and services. His net worth is approximately $200 mi ...
. Lerner was the director of computer facilities for the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Bosack was in charge of the Stanford University
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
department's computers. Cisco's initial product has roots in Stanford University's campus technology. In the early 1980s students and staff at Stanford, including Bosack, used technology on the campus to link all of the school's computer systems to talk to one another, creating a box that functioned as a multiprotocol router called the "Blue Box". The Blue Box used circuitry made by Andy Bechtolsheim, and software that was originally written at Stanford by research engineer William Yeager. Due to the underlying architecture, and its ability to scale well, Yeager's well-designed invention became a key to Cisco's early success. In 1985, Bosack and Stanford employee Kirk Lougheed began a project to formally network Stanford's campus. They adapted Yeager's software into what became the foundation for
Cisco IOS The Internetworking Operating System (IOS) is a family of proprietary network operating systems used on several router and network switch models manufactured by Cisco Systems. The system is a package of routing, switching, internetworking, and ...
, despite Yeager's claims that he had been denied permission to sell the Blue Box commercially. On July 11, 1986, Bosack and Lougheed were forced to resign from Stanford and the university contemplated filing criminal complaints against Cisco and its founders for the theft of its software, hardware designs, and other intellectual properties. In 1987, Stanford licensed the router software and two computer boards to Cisco. In addition to Bosack, Lerner, Lougheed, Greg Satz (a programmer), and Richard Troiano (who handled sales), completed the early Cisco team. The company's first CEO was Bill Graves, who held the position from 1987 to 1988. In 1988, John Morgridge was appointed CEO. The name "Cisco" was derived from the city name ''
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
'', which is why the company's engineers insisted on using the lower case "cisco" in its early years. The logo is intended to depict the two towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. On February 16, 1990, Cisco Systems went public with a market capitalization of $224 million, and was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. On August 28, 1990, Lerner was fired. Upon hearing the news, her husband Bosack resigned in protest. Although Cisco was not the first company to develop and sell dedicated network nodes, it was one of the first to sell commercially successful routers supporting multiple network protocols. Classical, CPU-based architecture of early Cisco devices coupled with flexibility of operating system
IOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
allowed for keeping up with evolving technology needs by means of frequent software upgrades. Some popular models of that time (such as Cisco 2500) managed to stay in production for almost a decade virtually unchanged. The company was quick to capture the emerging service provider environment, entering the SP market with product lines such as Cisco 7000 and Cisco 8500. Between 1992 and 1994, Cisco acquired several companies in Ethernet switching, such as Kalpana, Grand Junction and most notably, Mario Mazzola's Crescendo Communications, which together formed the Catalyst business unit. At the time, the company envisioned
layer 3 In the seven-layer OSI model of computer networking, the network layer is layer 3. The network layer is responsible for packet forwarding including routing through intermediate routers. Functions The network layer provides the means of transfe ...
routing and layer 2 ( Ethernet,
Token Ring Token Ring network IBM hermaphroditic connector with locking clip. Screen contacts are prominently visible, gold-plated signal contacts less so. Token Ring is a computer networking technology used to build local area networks. It was introduc ...
) switching as complementary functions of different intelligence and architecture—the former was slow and complex, the latter was fast but simple. This philosophy dominated the company's product lines throughout the 1990s. In 1995, John Morgridge was succeeded by
John T. Chambers John Thomas Chambers (born August 23, 1949) is the former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems. Early life Chambers was born on August 23, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio to John Tuner "Jack" and June Chambers. His mother was a psychiatrist and ...
.


1996–2005: Internet and silicon intelligence

The Internet Protocol (IP) became widely adopted in the mid-to-late 1990s. Cisco introduced products ranging from modem access shelves (AS5200) to core GSR routers, making them a major player in the market. In late March 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, Cisco became the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion. As of July 2014, with a market cap of about US$129 billion, it was still one of the most valuable companies. The perceived complexity of programming routing functions in silicon led to the formation of several startups determined to find new ways to process IP and
MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on labels rather than network addresses. Whereas network addresses identify endpoints the labels identif ...
packets entirely in hardware and blur boundaries between routing and switching. One of them,
Juniper Networks Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including routers, switches, network management software, network security product ...
, shipped their first product in 1999 and by 2000 chipped away about 30% from Cisco SP Market share. In response, Cisco later developed homegrown ASICs and fast processing cards for GSR routers and Catalyst 6500 switches. In 2004, Cisco also started the migration to new high-end hardware CRS-1 and software architecture IOS XR.


2006–2012: The Human Network

As part of a rebranding campaign in 2006, Cisco Systems adopted the shortened name "Cisco" and created "The Human Network" advertising campaign. These efforts were meant to make Cisco a "household" brand—a strategy designed to support the low-end Linksys products and future consumer products. On the more traditional business side, Cisco continued to develop its routing, switching and security portfolio. The quickly growing importance of Ethernet also influenced the company's product lines. Limits of
IOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...
and aging Crescendo architecture also forced Cisco to look at merchant silicon in the carrier Ethernet segment. This resulted in a new ASR 9000 product family intended to consolidate the company's carrier ethernet and subscriber management business around EZChip-based hardware and IOS-XR. Throughout the mid-2000s, Cisco also built a significant presence in India, establishing its Globalization Centre East in
Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
for $1 billion. Cisco also expanded into new markets by acquisition—one example being a 2009 purchase of mobile specialist
Starent Networks Starent Networks was an information technology and computer networking products company. It was headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, USA, with major engineering facilities in Pune, India and Bangalore, India. Starent Networks was bought by ...
. Cisco continued to be challenged by both domestic competitors Alcatel-Lucent,
Juniper Networks Juniper Networks, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The company develops and markets networking products, including routers, switches, network management software, network security product ...
, and an overseas competitor Huawei. Due to lower-than-expected profit in 2011, Cisco reduced annual expenses by $1 billion. The company cut around 3,000 employees with an early-retirement program who accepted a buyout and planned to eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs (around 14 percent of the 73,400 total employees before curtailment). During the 2011 analyst call, Cisco's CEO John Chambers called out several competitors by name, including Juniper and HP. On July 24, 2012, Cisco received approval from the EU to acquire NDS (a TV software developer) for US$5 billion. In 2013, Cisco sold its Linksys home-router unit to Belkin International Inc., signaling a shift to sales to businesses rather than consumers.


Present day

On July 23, 2013, Cisco Systems announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sourcefire for $2.7 billion. On August 14, 2013, Cisco Systems announced it would cut 4,000 jobs from its workforce, which was roughly 6%, starting in 2014. At the end of 2013, Cisco announced poor revenue due to depressed sales in emerging markets, caused by economic uncertainty and by fears of the National Security Agency planting backdoors in its products. In April 2014, Cisco announced funding for early-stage firms to focus on the Internet of Things. The investment fund was allocated to investments in IoT accelerators and startups such as The Alchemist Accelerator, Ayla Networks and
EVRYTHNG EVRYTHNG is an internet of things (IoT) software company based in London, with operations in Oregon, New York, Beijing, Minsk and Switzerland. The company delivers real-time data and actionable information about “smart products” featuring a di ...
. Later that year, the company announced it was laying off another 6,000 workers or 8% of its global workforce, as part of a second restructuring. On November 4, 2014, Cisco announced an investment in Stratoscale. On May 4, 2015, Cisco announced CEO and Chairman John Chambers would step down as CEO on July 26, 2015, but remain chairman. Chuck Robbins, senior vice president of worldwide sales & operations and 17-year Cisco veteran, was announced as the next CEO. On July 23, 2015, Cisco announced the divestiture of its television set-top-box and cable modem business to Technicolor SA for $600 million, a division originally formed by Cisco's $6.9 billion purchase of Scientific Atlanta. The deal came as part of Cisco's gradual exit from the consumer market, and as part of an effort by Cisco's new leadership to focus on cloud-based products in enterprise segments. Cisco indicated that it would still collaborate with Technicolor on video products. On November 19, 2015, Cisco, alongside ARM Holdings, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
, founded the OpenFog Consortium, to promote interests and development in
fog computing Fog computing or fog networking, also known as fogging, is an architecture that uses edge devices to carry out a substantial amount of computation ( edge computing), storage, and communication locally and routed over the Internet backbone. Conce ...
. In January 2016, Cisco invested in VeloCloud, a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) start-up with a cloud offering for configuring and optimizing branch office networks. Cisco contributed to VeloCloud's $27 million Series C round, led by March Capital Partners. In February 2017, Cisco launched a cloud-based secure internet gateway, called Cisco Umbrella, to provide safe internet access to users who do not use their corporate networks or VPNs to connect to remote data centers. Immediately after reporting their fourth-quarter earnings for 2017, Cisco's price-per-share value jumped by over 7%, while its Earnings per share ratio increased from 60 to 61 cents per share, due in part to Cisco's outperformance of analyst expectations. In September 2017, Chambers announced that he would step down from the executive chairman role at the end of his term on the board in December 2017. On December 11, 2017, Robbins was elected to succeed Chambers as executive chairman while retaining his role as CEO, and Chambers was given the title of "Chairman Emeritus". Reuters reported that "Cisco Systems Inc’s (CSCO.O) product revenue in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
grew 20 percent in 2017, ahead of Cisco’s technology product revenue growth in the other so-called BRIC countries of
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, China and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
." On May 1, 2018, Cisco Systems agreed to buy AI-driven business intelligence startup Accompany for $270 million. As of June 2018, Cisco Systems ranked 444th on Forbes Global 2000 list, with $221.3 billion market cap. In 2019, Cisco acquired CloudCherry, a customer experience management company, and Voicea, an artificial intelligence company. In March 2020, SVP and GM of Enterprise Networking David Goeckeler left to become CEO of Western Digital Corp. and was replaced by Todd Nightingale, head of Cisco Meraki. In October 2022, Cisco announced a partnership adding the Microsoft Teams app to its meeting devices.


Finance

For the fiscal year 2018, Cisco reported earnings of US$0.1 billion, with an annual revenue of US$49.3 billion, an increase of 2.8% over the previous fiscal cycle. Cisco's shares traded at over $43 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at US$213.2 billion in September 2018. Low Net Income for fiscal year 2018 was attributed to a one-time tax charge, that allowed Cisco to bring back capital from overseas. Cisco used this money it was able to bring back at a lower tax rate to fund share buybacks and acquisitions.


Corporate structure


Acquisitions and subsidiaries

Cisco acquired a variety of companies to spin products and talent into the company. In 1995–1996 the company completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions, such as
Stratacom StrataCom, Inc. was a supplier of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Frame Relay high-speed wide area network (WAN) switching equipment. StrataCom was founded in Cupertino, California, United States, in January 1986, by 26 former employees of t ...
,Lawrence M. Fisher
"Cisco Agrees to Acquire Stratacom In a Stock Swap Worth $4 Billion,"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', April 23, 1996.
were one of the biggest deals in the industry when they occurred. During the Internet boom in 1999, the company acquired Cerent Corporation, a start-up company located in
Petaluma, California Petaluma (Miwok: ''Péta Lúuma'') is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census. Petaluma's name comes from the Miwok village na ...
, for about US$7 billion. It was the most expensive acquisition made by Cisco to that date, and only the acquisition of Scientific Atlanta has been larger. In 1999, Cisco also acquired a stake for $1 billion in KPMG Consulting to enable establishing Internet firm Metrius founded by Keyur Patel of Fuse. Several acquired companies have grown into $1Bn+ business units for Cisco, including LAN switching, Enterprise
Voice over Internet Protocol Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
(VOIP) platform Webex and
home networking A home network or home area network (HAN) is a type of computer network that facilitates communication among devices within the close vicinity of a home. Devices capable of participating in this network, for example, smart devices such as netw ...
. The latter came as result of Cisco acquiring
Linksys Linksys is an American brand of data networking hardware products mainly sold to home users and small businesses. It was founded in 1988 by the couple Victor and Janie Tsao, both Taiwanese immigrants to the United States. Linksys products in ...
in 2003 and in 2010 was supplemented with new product line dubbed Cisco Valet. Cisco announced on January 12, 2005, that it would acquire
Airespace Airespace, Inc., formerly Black Storm Networks, was a networking hardware company founded in 2001, manufacturing wireless access points and Controllers. The company developed the AP-Controller model for fast deployment and the Lightweight Access ...
for US$450 million to reinforce the wireless controller product lines. Cisco announced on January 4, 2007, that it would buy
IronPort IronPort Systems, Inc., headquartered in San Bruno, California, was a company that designed and sold products and services that were intended to protect enterprises against internet threats. IronPort was founded in December 2000 by Scott Banist ...
in a deal valued at US$830 million and completed the acquisition on June 25, 2007.
IronPort IronPort Systems, Inc., headquartered in San Bruno, California, was a company that designed and sold products and services that were intended to protect enterprises against internet threats. IronPort was founded in December 2000 by Scott Banist ...
was best known for its IronPort AntiSpam, its SenderBase email reputation service and its email security appliances. Accordingly,
IronPort IronPort Systems, Inc., headquartered in San Bruno, California, was a company that designed and sold products and services that were intended to protect enterprises against internet threats. IronPort was founded in December 2000 by Scott Banist ...
was integrated into the Cisco Security business unit. Ironport's Senderbase was renamed as Sensorbase to take account of the input into this database that other Cisco devices provide. SensorBase allows these devices to build a risk profile on IP addresses, therefore allowing risk profiles to be dynamically created on http sites and SMTP email sources. Cisco announced on March 15, 2012, that it would acquire NDS Group for $5bn. The transaction was completed on July 30, 2012. In more recent merger deals, Cisco bought Starent Networks (a mobile packet core company) and Moto Development Group, a product design consulting firm that helped develop Cisco's Flip video camera.By Jim Duffy, NetworkWorld.
Cisco Buys Moto—no, not that Moto
." May 18, 2010.
Also in 2010, Cisco became a key stakeholder in ''e-Skills Week''. In March 2011, Cisco completed the acquisition of privately held network configuration and change management software company Pari Networks. Although many buy-ins (such as Crescendo Networks in 1993, Tandberg in 2010) resulted in acquisition of flagship technology to Cisco, many others have failed—partially or completely. For instance, in 2010 Cisco occupied a meaningful share of the packet-optical market, revenues were still not on par with US$7 billion price tag paid in 1999 for Cerent. Some of acquired technologies (such as Flip from Pure Digital) saw their product lines terminated. In January 2013, Cisco Systems acquired Israeli software maker Intucell for around $475 million in cash, a move to expand its mobile network management offerings. In the same month, Cisco Systems acquired Cognitive Security, a company focused on Cyber Threat Protection. Cisco also acquired SolveDirect (cloud services) in March 2013 and Ubiquisys (mobile software) in April 2013. Cisco acquired cyber-security firm Sourcefire, in October 2013. On June 16, 2014, Cisco announced that it has completed the acquisition of ThreatGRID, a company that provided dynamic malware analysis and threat intelligence technology. On June 17, 2014, Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Tail-f Systems, a leader in configuration management software. On April 2, 2015, Cisco announced plans to buy Embrane, a software-defined networking startup. The deal will give Cisco Embrane's software platform, which provides layer 3–7 network services for things such as firewalls, VPN termination, server load balancers and SSL offload. On May 7, 2015, Cisco announced plans to buy Tropo, a cloud API platform that simplifies the addition of real-time communications and collaboration capabilities within applications. On June 30, 2015, Cisco acquired privately held
OpenDNS OpenDNS is an American company providing Domain Name System (DNS) resolution services—with features such as phishing protection, optional content filtering, and DNS lookup in its DNS servers—and a cloud computing security product suite, Umbre ...
, the company best known for its DNS service that adds a level of security by monitoring domain name requests. On August 6, 2015, Cisco announced that it has completed the acquisition of privately held MaintenanceNet, the US-based company best known for its cloud-based contract management platform ServiceExchange. On the same month, Cisco acquired Pawaa, a privately held company in Bangalore, India that provides secure on-premises and cloud-based file-sharing software. On September 30, 2015, Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Portcullis Computer Security, a UK-based company that provides cybersecurity services to enterprise clients and the government sectors. On October 26, 2015, Cisco announced its intent to acquire ParStream, a privately held company based in Cologne, Germany, that provides an analytics database that allows companies to analyze large amounts of data and store it in near real-time anywhere in the network. On October 27, 2015, Cisco announced that it would acquire
Lancope Cisco is an American computer networking company. Cisco made its first acquisition in 1993, which was followed by a series of further acquisitions. History Founded in 1984, Cisco did not acquire a company during the first seven years of its exi ...
, a company that focuses on detecting threat activity, for $452.5 million in a cash-and-equity deal. On June 28, 2016, Cisco announced its intent to acquire CloudLock, a privately held cloud security company founded in 2011 by three Israeli military veterans, for $293 million. The deal was expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. In August 2016, Cisco announced it is getting closer to making a deal to acquire Springpath, the startup whose technology is used in Cisco's HyperFlex Systems. Cisco already owns an undisclosed stake in the hyper-converged provider. In January 2017, Cisco announced they would acquire AppDynamics, a company that monitors application performance, for $3.7 billion. The acquisition came just one day before AppDynamics was set to IPO. On January 26, 2017, Cisco founded the Innovation Alliance in Germany with eleven other companies bringing together 40 sites and 2,000 staff to provide small businesses in Germany with expertise. On August 1, 2017, Cisco completed the acquisition of Viptela Inc. for $610 million in cash and assumed equity awards. Viptela was a privately held software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) company based in San Jose, Ca. On October 23, 2017, Cisco Systems announced it would be acquiring Broadsoft for $1.9 Billion to further entrench itself in the cloud communication and collaboration area. On August 7, 2020, Cisco completed its acquisition of network intelligence company
ThousandEyes ThousandEyes, Inc. is a network intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Dublin, London, New York, Tokyo, and Austin, Texas. The company produces software that analyzes the performance of local and wide area networks. ...
. On October 1, 2020, Cisco announced that it would be acquiring Israeli startup Portshift for a reported $100 million. On December 7, 2020, Cisco announced that it would be acquiring Slido to improve Q&A, polls and engagement in WebEx videoconferencing On December 7, 2020, Cisco announced the acquisition of U.K based
IMImobile IMImobile Limited was acquired by Cisco Systems in February 2021. The company provides cloud communications software and services that manage business-critical customer interactions at scale. IMImobile PLC traded on the London Stock Exchange’s ...
in a $730M deal. On May 3, 2021, Cisco completed its acquisition of Q&A and polling platform Slido.


Ownership

As of 2017 Cisco Systems shares are mainly held by institutional investors ( The Vanguard Group,
BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...
,
State Street Corporation State Street Corporation is an American financial services and bank holding company headquartered at One Lincoln Street in Boston with operations worldwide. It is the second-oldest continually operating United States bank; its predecessor, Un ...
and others).


Facilities

Cisco is headquartered in San Jose,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
at 170 West Tasman Dr. with dozens of buildings comprising its corporate campus. Over 15,000 full-time employees are based at the San Jose campus and the surrounding Bay Area. Cisco's second largest campus in the United States is located at Research Triangle Park in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
with 7,000 employees spanning across 12 buildings. In August 2020, Cisco announced the creation of a new 130,000 square feet Midwest headquarters in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
at the
Old Chicago Main Post Office The Old Chicago Main Post Office is a nine-story-tall building in downtown Chicago. The original building was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and built in 1921, but the structure was expanded greatly in 1932 in order to serve Chi ...
accommodating 1,200 employees. Cisco maintains over 200 corporate offices in more than 80 countries. In July 2021, Cisco announced all employees the option to work remotely on a permanent basis.


Products and services

Cisco's products and services focus on three market segments—enterprise, service provider, midsize and small business. Cisco provides IT products and services across five major technology areas: Networking (including Ethernet, optical, wireless and mobility), Security, Collaboration (including voice, video, and data), Data Center, and the Internet of Things. Cisco has grown increasingly popular in the Asia-Pacific region over the last three decades and is the dominant vendor in the Australian market with leadership across all market segments. It uses its Australian office as one of the main headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region.


VoIP services

Cisco became a major provider of Voice over IP to enterprises and is now moving into the home user market through its acquisitions of Scientific Atlanta and Linksys. Scientific Atlanta provides VoIP equipment to cable service providers such as Time Warner, Cablevision,
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...
, UPC and others; Linksys has partnered with companies such as Skype, Microsoft and Yahoo! to integrate consumer VoIP services with wireless and cordless phones.


Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS)

Cisco partners can offer cloud-based services based on Cisco's virtualized Unified Computing System (UCS). A part of the Cisco Unified Services Delivery Solution that includes hosted versions of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM), Cisco Unified Contact Center, Cisco Unified Mobility, Cisco Unified Presence, Cisco Unity Connection (unified messaging) and Cisco Webex Meeting Center.


Network Emergency Response

As part of its Crisis Response initiative, Cisco maintains several Network Emergency Response Vehicles (NERV)s. The vehicles are maintained and deployed by Cisco employees during natural disasters and other public crises. The vehicles are self-contained and provide wired and wireless services including voice and radio interoperability, voice over IP, network-based video surveillance and secured high-definition video-conferencing for leaders and first responders in crisis areas with up to 3-72 Mbit/s of bandwidth (up and down) via a 1.8-meter satellite antenna. NERVs are based at Cisco headquarters sites in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
, and at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, allowing strategic deployment in North America. They can become fully operational within 15 minutes of arrival. High-capacity diesel fuel-tanks allow the largest vehicles to run for up to 72 hours continuously. The NERV has been deployed to incidents such as the
October 2007 California wildfires The October 2007 California wildfires, also known as the Fall 2007 California firestorm, were a series of about thirty wildfires (17 of which became major wildfires) that began igniting across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 h ...
; hurricanes
Gustav Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...
, Ike and Katrina; the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, tornado outbreaks in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
and
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
in 2011; and
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
in 2012. The Crisis Response Operations team maintains and deploys smaller, more portable communication kits to emergencies outside of North America. In 2010, the team deployed to assist in earthquake recovery in Haiti and Christchurch (New Zealand). In 2011, they deployed to flooding in Brazil, as well as in response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In 2011, Cisco received the Innovation Preparedness award from the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter for its development and use of these vehicles in disasters.


Certifications

Cisco Systems also sponsors a line of IT professional certifications for Cisco products. There are four or five (path to network designers) levels of certification: Entry (CCENT), Associate ( CCNA/CCDA), Professional (CCNP/CCDP), Expert (CCIE/CCDE) and recently Architect (CCAr: CCDE previous), as well as nine different paths, Routing & Switching, Design, Industrial Network, Network Security, Service Provider, Service Provider Operations, Storage Networking, Voice, Datacenter and Wireless. A number of specialist technicians, sales, and datacenter certifications are also available. Cisco also provides training for these certifications via a portal called the Cisco Networking Academy. Qualifying schools can become members of the Cisco Networking Academy and then provide CCNA level or other level courses. Cisco Academy Instructors must be CCNA certified to be a CCAI certified instructor. Cisco is involved with technical education in 180 countries with its Cisco Academy program. In March 2013, Cisco announced its interest in Myanmar by investing in two Cisco Networking Academies in Yangon and Mandalay and a channel partner network.


Corporate affairs


Awards and accolades

Cisco products, including IP phones and Telepresence, have been seen in movies and TV series. The company was featured in the documentary film '' Something Ventured'' which premiered in 2011. Cisco was a 2002–03 recipient of the Ron Brown Award, a U.S. presidential honor to recognize companies "for the exemplary quality of their relationships with employees and communities". Cisco ranked number one in Great Place to Work's World's Best Workplaces 2019. In 2020, '' Fortune'' magazine ranked Cisco Systems at number four on their Fortune List of the Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2020 based on an employee survey of satisfaction. According to a report by technology consulting firm LexInnova, Cisco was one of the leading recipients of network security-related patents with the largest portfolio within other companies (6,442 security-related patents) in 2015.


Controversies


Shareholder relations

A class action lawsuit filed on April 20, 2001, accused Cisco of making misleading statements that "were relied on by purchasers of Cisco stock" and of insider trading. While Cisco denied all allegations in the suit, on August 18, 2006, Cisco's liability insurers, its directors and officers paid the plaintiffs US$91.75 million to settle the suit.


Intellectual property disputes

On December 11, 2008, the Free Software Foundation filed suit against Cisco regarding Cisco's failure to comply with the GPL and LGPL license models and make the applicable source code publicly available. On May 20, 2009, Cisco settled this lawsuit by complying with FSF licensing terms and making a monetary contribution to the FSF. In October 2020, Cisco was ordered to pay US$1.9 billion to Centripetal Networks for infringement on four cybersecurity patents.


Censorship in China

Cisco has been criticized for its involvement in censorship in the People's Republic of China. According to author Ethan Gutmann, Cisco and other telecommunications equipment providers supplied the
Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
with surveillance and Internet infrastructure equipment that is used to block Internet websites and track online activities in China. Cisco has stated that it does not customize or develop specialized or unique filtering capabilities to enable governments to block access to information and that it sells the same equipment in China as it sells worldwide.
Wired News ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...
had uncovered a leaked, confidential Cisco PowerPoint presentation that detailed the commercial opportunities of the
Golden Shield Project The Golden Shield Project (), also named National Public Security Work Informational Project, is the Chinese nationwide network-security fundamental constructional project by the e-government of the People's Republic of China. This project i ...
of Internet control. In May 2011, a group of
Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
practitioners filed a lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute alleging that Cisco knowingly developed and customized its product to assist the Chinese government in prosecution and abuse of
Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
practitioners. The lawsuit was dismissed in September 2014 by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which decision was appealed to United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in September 2015.


Tax fraud investigation

In October 2007, employees of Cisco's Brazilian unit were arrested on charges that they had imported equipment without paying import duties. In response, Cisco stated that they do not import directly into Brazil, and instead use middlemen.


Antitrust lawsuit

On December 1, 2008,
Multiven Multiven Group BV is a Netherlands-based provider of independent and decentralised software integrity maintenance and cyber-defence services for multivendor Internet Protocol network hardware and blockchain nodes. Its customers include large enter ...
filed an antitrust lawsuit against Cisco Systems, Inc. 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). In May 2010, Cisco accused the person who filed the antitrust suit, British-Nigerian technology entrepreneur
Peter Alfred-Adekeye Multiven Group BV is a Netherlands-based provider of independent and decentralised software integrity maintenance and cyber-defence services for multivendor Internet Protocol network hardware and blockchain nodes. Its customers include large enter ...
, with hacking and pressured the US government to extradite him from Canada. Cisco settled the antitrust lawsuit two months after Alfred-Adekeye's arrest by making its software updates available to all Multiven customers.


Remotely monitoring users' connections

Cisco's Linksys E2700, E3500, E4500 devices have been reported to be remotely updated to a firmware version that forces users to register for a cloud service, allows Cisco to monitor their network use and ultimately shut down the cloud service account and thus render the affected router unusable.


Firewall backdoor developed by NSA

According to the German magazine '' Der Spiegel'' the NSA has developed JETPLOW for gaining access to ASA (series 5505, 5510, 5520, 5540 and 5550) and 500-series PIX Firewalls. Cisco's Chief Security Officer addressed the allegations publicly and denied working with any government to weaken Cisco products for exploitation or to implement security back doors. A document included in the trove of National Security Agency files released with Glenn Greenwald's book ''No Place to Hide'' details how the agency's
Tailored Access Operations The Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), now Computer Network Operations, and structured as S32, is a cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit of the National Security Agency (NSA). It has been active since at least 1998, possibly 1997, ...
(TAO) unit and other NSA employees intercept servers, routers and other network gear being shipped to organizations targeted for surveillance and install covert firmware onto them before they are delivered. These Trojan horse systems were described by an NSA manager as being "some of the most productive operations in TAO because they pre-position access points into hard target networks around the world." Cisco denied the allegations in a customer document saying that no information was included about specific Cisco products, supply chain intervention or implant techniques, or new security vulnerabilities. Cisco's general counsel also said that Cisco does not work with any government, including the United States government, to weaken its products. The allegations are reported to have prompted the company's CEO to express concern to the President of the United States. Whistle blowers like Edward Snowden, and journalist reporter Julian Assange have echoed similar sentiments publicly.


Spherix patent suit

In March 2014, Cisco Systems was sued for patent infringement. Spherix says that over $43 billion of Cisco's sales infringe on old
Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...
patents owned by Spherix. Officials with Spherix are saying that a wide range of Cisco products, from switches to routers, infringe on 11 former Nortel patents that the company now owns.


India Net censorship role

Cisco Systems is alleged to be helping the Indian Jammu and Kashmir administration build a firewall that will prevent Internet users in Kashmir from accessing blacklisted websites, including social media portals, through fixed-line connections. Cisco denies the allegations.


Caste discrimination lawsuit

In 2020, a lawsuit was initiated against Cisco and two of its employees by the
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) (formerly known as the ''Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH)'') is an agency of California state government charged with the protection of residents from employment, housing and public ac ...
for alleged discrimination against an Indian engineer on account of him being from a lower caste than them.


Xinjiang region

In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused at least 82 major brands, including Cisco, of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang.


See also

* Mass surveillance in the United States *
Cisco Certifications Cisco Certifications are the list of the Certifications offered by Cisco Systems. There are four or five (path to network designers) levels of certification: Associate (CCNA/CCDA), Professional ( CCNP/CCDP), Expert (CCIE/CCDE) and recently Archite ...
*
Cisco IOS The Internetworking Operating System (IOS) is a family of proprietary network operating systems used on several router and network switch models manufactured by Cisco Systems. The system is a package of routing, switching, internetworking, and ...
* Packet Tracer * Cisco Catalyst * Cisco DevNet *
Cisco Express Forwarding {{Short description, Layer 3 switching technology Cisco Express Forwarding (CEF) is an advanced layer 3 switching technology used mainly in large core networks or the Internet to enhance the overall network performance. Although CEF is a Cisco propr ...
* Cisco Discovery Protocol *
Cisco Security Agent Cisco Security Agent (CSA) was an endpoint intrusion prevention system software system made originally by ''Okena'' (formerly named StormWatch Agent), which was bought by Cisco Systems in 2003. The software is rule-based, and it examines system ...
*
Cisco Systems VPN Client Cisco Systems VPN Client is a software application for connecting to virtual private networks based on Internet Key Exchange#IKEv1 phases, Internet Key Exchange version 1. On July 29, 2011, Cisco announced the end of life of the product. No furthe ...
* Cisco WebEx * Cisco Field


References


Further reading

* Bunnell, D. (2000). ''Making the Cisco Connection: The Story Behind the Real Internet Superpower''. Wiley. . * Bunnell, D. & Brate, A. (2001). ''Die Cisco Story'' (in German). Moderne Industrie. . * Paulson, E. (2001). ''Inside Cisco: The Real Story of Sustained M&A Growth''. Wiley. . * Slater, R. (2003). ''The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers Steered Cisco Through the Technology Collapse''. HarperCollins. . * Stauffer, D. (2001). ''Nothing but Net Business the Cisco Way''. Wiley. . * Waters, J. K. (2002). ''John Chambers and the Cisco Way: Navigating Through Volatility''. Wiley. . * Young, J. S. (2001). ''Cisco Unauthorized: Inside the High-Stakes Race to Own the Future''. Prima Lifestyles. .


External links

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