Cisco Systems incorporated, otherwise known as Cisco, is a multinational American technology conglomerate with headquarters located within San Jose California. Cisco has earned a respectable reputation over numerous years as a company that manufactures, develops, and sells solutions for telecommunication equipment, networking hardware, and various other products and services.
At this point in time, Cisco is recognised as the largest networking company in the world, with the stock added to the Dow Jones Industrial average on the 8th of June 2009. Cisco is also included in the Russell 1000 index, the S&P Index, and the Russel 1000 Growth Stock index, as well as the NASDAQ-100.
Though Cisco was officially founded in 1984, it began leading the world into the industry of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) during 1998. Though the company felt as though they understood the true power and influence of the devices back then, they feel that the ability of VoIP systems has grown significantly over the years - having an irreplaceable impact on the communications made between worldwide businesses. 18 years on, Cisco have come a long way from their very first IP phone sale including the SP30 and SP12. During 2010, Cisco shipped its 30 millionth IP phone to HSBC.
History of Cisco
Originally, Cisco Systems emerged through the inspiration of Sandy Lerner and Leonard Bosack in December if 1984. Both individuals were Stanford University computer scientists, who came together to innovate and pioneer the concept of a LAN (local area network) that could be used to connect companies in different geographical locations through a multiprotocol router system. Back then, such technology had never been heard of, yet by the time the company went public during 1990, listed in the NASDAQ, Cisco had managed to put together a market capitalisation of no less than $224 million.
By the year 2000, Cisco was officially announced as being the most valuable company in the world, with a more than $500 billion capitalisation of the market. In the world of VoIP, Cisco sold their very first IP phone order in 1997. The order was for five SP 30+ phones - which at the time were the latest in technology opportunities. Since then, Cisco have grown their VoIP industry significantly, becoming a major provider of Voice over IP solutions to enterprises across the globe. Now, Cisco is already moving into the home user market with the acquisitions of Linksys and Scientific Atlanta.
Scientific Atlanta is the company that provides VoIP equipment to cable providers such as Rogers Communications, Cablevision, UPC, Time Warner, and Linksys have partnered with companies like Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Skype to integrate consumer VoIP across cordless and wireless phones.
