Cisco
As one of the original tech companies, Cisco has a deep reputation for reliability, security and service. But it’s also a B2B player that is looking to stay relevant in today’s world. CMO Carrie Palin tries to imbue all of Cisco’s messaging with its corporate values. This year, Interbrand ranked Cisco as the world’s 13th most valuable brand the top B2B brand in the ranking for the fourth year running. Talking with Palin about the efforts to elevate Cisco’s messaging and values. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. It was excerpted in the Forbes CMO newsletter…..Continue reading….
Source: Forbes
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Critics:
Cisco Systems Inc. is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and other high-technology services and products. Cisco specializes in specific tech markets, such as the Internet of things (IoT), domain security, videoconferencing, and energy management with products including Webex, OpenDNS, Jabber, Duo Security, Silicon One, and Jasper.
Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, 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. The company went public in 1990 and, by the end of the dot-com bubble in the year 2000, had a market capitalization of $500 billion, surpassing Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company.
Cisco stock (CSCO) was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also included in the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, the Russell 1000, and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock indices. 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, 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, for about US$7 billion.[96] 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 (VOIP) platform Webex and home networking. The latter came as result of Cisco acquiring Linksys in 2003 and in 2010 was supplemented with new product line dubbed Cisco Valet. 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.
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. 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.
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, 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; hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Katrina; the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, tornado outbreaks in North Carolina and Alabama in 2011; and Hurricane Sandy 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.
Cisco Systems also sponsors a line of IT professional certifications for Cisco products. There are five (path to network designers) levels of certification: Entry (CCT), Associate (CCNA/CCDA), Specialist(Cisco Certified Specialist), Professional (CCNP/CCDP), Expert (CCIE/CCDE) and recently Architect (CCAr: CCDE previous), as well as eight different paths, Collaboration, CyberOps, Data Center, DevNet, Enterprise, Security, and Service Provider . 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.
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. In 2024, Cisco was awarded Best Office Phone for its CP-8861 model by PhonePrices.co.uk….
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