Cisco Systems is an IT and network brand that focuses more on switches, routers, cyber security, and the “internet of things”. Which is the Cisco logo which is often seen on various office telephone devices or hardware for conferences.
Even though Cisco is a well-known brand in the IT world, there are still people who may not know what Cisco as a whole is.
Here are 8 things you might not know about Cisco.
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About Cisco:
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a business leader in the IT world that helps other companies to take advantage of future opportunities by proving that extraordinary things can happen when you connect what is not yet connected via a computer network.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems and / or affiliates in the US and other countries.
A list of Cisco trademarks can be found on the website www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.
Cisco Acronym For San Francisco
“Cisco” itself stands for San Francisco, which is the city where computer scientists Stanford Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner founded the company in 1984.
So that’s why Bosack and Lerner insist on naming their product brands with the name “cisco” in lowercase.
The Cisco logo initially appears to be just a series of vertical stripes representing the famous Golden Gate bridge, with two higher stripes to indicate the tower.
Hard Times at Stanford
Bosack and his wife Lerner founded Cisco while both were working at Stanford. Bosack continues to work at Stanford with Cisco co-founder and co-founder Kirk Lougheed, where they developed their first router.
But at that time their first router was an exact replica of the Stanford “Blue Box” router and ran an unlicensed copy of the multi-protocol router software from the university, which they adapted into the Cisco IOS foundation.
Then in 1986 Bosack and Lougheed were forced to resign from Stanford because of the development of their product, and the university also thought of filing criminal charges against their Cisco product for theft of its intellectual property.
But Stanford University finally agreed to license router software and two computer boards to Cisco in 1987.
Cisco Systems Has 73,711 Employees Worldwide
Cisco was officially founded on December 10, 1984 in California and “went public” on February 16, 1990, offering its shares in NASDAQ NM: CSCO (Common Stock).
Chuck Robbins is the Chief Executive Officer of Cisco with Total K4 FY’16 Employees to 73,711 and Company Revenues of $ 12.6 Billion at the end of FY’16.
In Nigeria, Olakunle Oloruntimehin is the General Manager who oversees approximately 45 employees at Cisco Nigeria.
Most Valuable Company In The World
In March 2000 the price of Cisco Systems soared to $ 80 at the height of the dot-com bubble making it the most valuable company in the world with a market capitalization of $ 500 billion.
However, the price spike was unsustainable as the shares being sold had nearly 240 times the revenue. With the slump of Cisco it became a tale of warning of the dot-com crash.
Up to that point Cisco Systems stock never came close to the level of its dot-com bubble again. Currently Cisco has a market capitalization of more than $ 170 billion which makes it 18 times the revenue.
Today the most valuable company in the world is Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has a market capitalization of $ 730 billion and is trading for 17 times the revenue.
Cybersecurity Is The Fastest Growing Business
The Cisco business is the fastest growing Cybersecurity business, which increased 14% annually to $ 528 million in the last quarter and accounted for 6% of its product revenue.
Cisco has been aggressively growing that business through major investments and acquisitions.
Cisco also combines its security products with its network hardware and software to have a major impact on corporate security independently such as for the company Fire Eye (NASDAQ: FEYE)
which is often cited as a potential takeover target for the company.
Cisco Systems Provides Free Training To Thousands Of People Through The Cisco Networking Academy Program
Cisco Networking Academy (also known as NetAcad) was launched in October 1997 with 64 educational institutions in seven US states, Networking Academy has also spread to more than 150 countries.
Since the inception of this training program more than 1.6 million students have enrolled in more than 10,000 academies consisting of secondary schools, technical schools, colleges, universities and community-based organizations.
The Cisco Networking Academy Program is a comprehensive e-learning program that equips students with Internet technology skills critical to the global economy.
Networking Academy provides web-based content, online assessments, student performance tracking, hands-on labs, instructor training and support, and preparation for industry standard certifications.
There are more than 30 Cisco Networking Academy centers in Nigeria and have the highest NetAcad female participation in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia (EMEAR) with more than 35,000 women.
This makes Nigeria have the highest number of women trained in FY’16 at 46% of the total number of 21529.
Cisco Was Formerly a Camera Maker
We go back a little to 2009, when Cisco tried to expand its business through electronic products by buying Pure Digital Technologies, the maker of the popular Flip Video camcorder at its time for $ 590 million.
At that time Cisco made an innovation that connecting the cameras to the internet would allow “people to share, publish, and easily gain access to video,” consistent with its “visual network vision”.
This innovation sounds a lot like the GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO) brand strategy launched five years later.
At the time of the acquisition of the company Pure Digital Technologies, making flip cameras accounted for 75% of the digital handheld camcorder market.
But like the GoPro cameras where the Flip video camera gradually became obsolete by smartphones, Cisco secretly turned off the camera flip two years later.
Cisco Systems sells the set-top box business to the Technicolor Company
In 2005, Cisco acquired a set-top box company Scientific Atlanta for $ 6.9 billion to enhance its video streaming technology.
This technology can strengthen the provision of video services and collaboration for Cisco products, but the set-top box itself is a heavy burden on growing its business.
Then Cisco sold the set-top box business to Technicolor for $ 600 million in late 2015. Because this is also why Cisco has reported its top two set-top results over the last few quarters.
Last quarter, total revenue decreased by 3% annually but only 2% after excluding the impact of the decoder business in all the same periods.
Cisco Systems is one of several IT and networking brands that are proud to include women in an industry that is typically male-dominated, bridging the gap in IT skills in western Africa.
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