Cisco saw Webex revenue grow double digits in its recently closed quarter despite struggles in other parts of the business.
The networking giant said overall sales were flat year on year during the quarter ending 31 December at $12bn, but Webex was a shining light and saw “strong momentum”, Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO, said.
“I’m so proud of the work the Webex team has done to ensure our nearly 600 million quarterly average users are able to stay connected and productive.
“We are bringing incredible innovation to the collaboration market at an unprecedented pace”
“In addition, we are connecting over six billion calls every month for our customers around the world.”
Robbins highlighted recent innovations as proof of Webex’s ongoing potential, including noise cancellation and real-time language translation, as well as its recently announced acquisitions of Slido and imimobile.
The vendor announced 50 new functions and features at its WebexOne event in December.
“I think the teams have done an amazing job on what they’ve brought forward with the Webex platform,” Robbins added.
“You have to remember that all the phones are included in that space, too, so while WebEx was up double digits you’ve also got the drag of the handset business that’s in there as well.
“I think the Webex work and the pace of innovation, the feature velocity, the suite aspect that they’re looking at, I think the teams are doing a really good job.
But Cisco struggled elsewhere, with Robbins claiming that the enterprise market “remains soft” and restricted by elongated sales cycles amid the pandemic. Sales in infrastructure platforms were down three per cent year on year to $6.4bn, while revenue from applications was flat at $1,35bn.
Security was another positive in the tough quarter with sales up 10 per cent to $822m.
Cisco’s share price fell over five per cent after the numbers were reported.
