Cisco is an American multinational technology corporation that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and other high-technology services and products. The company is best known for building the networking infrastructure that connects computers, devices, applications, data centres and people. Over more than four decades, Cisco has evolved from a networking-hardware manufacturer into a broad enterprise-technology provider spanning networking, cybersecurity, observability, collaboration, cloud management, data and artificial intelligence (AI).1

Its legal name is Cisco Systems, Inc., and its stock trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker CSCO. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, California, in Silicon Valley.2

Cisco was incorporated in California on 10 December 1984 and became a publicly traded company in 1990.3

At its core, Cisco develops the technology that enables other technologies to communicate. In large organisations with thousands of computers, Wi-Fi users, phones, servers, cloud applications, data centres, security systems, branch offices, factories, IoT devices and AI workloads, all systems must communicate securely and reliably. Cisco provides much of the infrastructure and software layer that makes this possible.

Historically, the company was primarily associated with routers and switches. Today, Cisco describes its portfolio around four major technology areas: networking, security, observability and collaboration. It also provides cloud management, services, data technologies and AI capabilities.4 Unlike consumer electronics manufacturers, Cisco generally does not sell computers or smartphones directly to individuals. Instead, its technologies typically operate behind the scenes, connecting and protecting the systems upon which businesses, governments, universities, telecommunications companies and other organisations depend.

Founding and early years

Cisco’s history is closely connected with Stanford University and the early development of computer networking. The company was founded in 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, computer scientists who worked at Stanford. Their original objective was to enable different computer networks to communicate with one another, as networks at the time were often isolated. Cisco was created around the idea of using routing technology to allow separate networks to share information.5

The name Cisco is derived from San Francisco, reflecting the company’s origins in the San Francisco Bay Area. The corporate logo visually represents the Golden Gate Bridge, reinforcing this geographical connection.

A significant milestone occurred in 1986 when Cisco shipped its first major product, the Advanced Gateway Server (AGS). The AGS was a multiprotocol router capable of connecting different LAN and WAN networks.6 This established the foundation of Cisco’s business model: selling technology that allowed computers and networks to communicate rather than selling computers themselves.

Internet expansion and IPO

Cisco’s growth coincided with the expansion of networking and the commercial Internet. During the late 1980s and 1990s, organisations increasingly required corporate networks, Internet connections, remote office infrastructure, routers, switches and scalable network management. Cisco introduced increasingly powerful routers and expanded into Ethernet switching. In 1993, the company acquired Crescendo Communications, which facilitated entry into the switching market and led to the introduction of the Catalyst switching family.7

Cisco became a publicly traded company in 1990, listing on the NASDAQ under the symbol CSCO.8 Throughout the 1990s, as businesses adopted client/server computing, corporate intranets, e-commerce and distributed computing, demand for networking equipment increased dramatically. Cisco became a principal beneficiary of this transformation.

During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, Cisco briefly became one of the world’s most valuable companies as investors anticipated massive growth in Internet traffic. Following the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2000–2001, the company survived a severe industry downturn and subsequently expanded beyond its original networking hardware business.

Business evolution

Cisco’s transformation can be categorised into several distinct eras:

• Networking (1980s–1990s): Focused primarily on routers and networking equipment.
• Enterprise networking (1990s–2000s): Expanded into switches, wireless networking, network management, IP telephony and enterprise infrastructure.
• Security and collaboration (2000s–2010s): Entered cybersecurity, unified communications, video conferencing and data-centre technologies. A notable acquisition during this period was WebEx, completed in 2007, which became a key component of the collaboration business.6
• Software, cloud and recurring revenue (2010s–2020s): Shifted towards subscriptions, software, cloud-managed networking, analytics, automation and observability in response to industry-wide moves away from purely hardware-based models.
• AI infrastructure (2024–present): Positioned as a provider of critical infrastructure for the AI era, combining networking, security, observability, data and AI.7

Networking

Networking remains the central pillar of Cisco’s business. The company sells equipment and software for enterprise networks, data centres, campus networks, branch offices, WANs, wireless networks, service providers, cloud environments and AI infrastructure.

• Routers: Cisco’s routing products determine how data packets travel between networks and are used by Internet service providers, corporations, governments, universities and telecommunications companies.
• Switches: The Catalyst family is particularly prominent in enterprise networking, connecting PCs, phones, access points, servers and routers within local networks.
• Wireless: Cisco provides enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure including access points, controllers and analytics for environments such as universities, hospitals, airports, hotels, corporate campuses and factories. These systems differ significantly from consumer-grade Wi-Fi routers.

Security

Cybersecurity is a major strategic component. Cisco’s security portfolio encompasses firewalls, zero-trust security, network security, identity management, endpoint protection, cloud security, threat detection and security operations. The company’s strategy treats networking and security as interconnected, integrating security directly into the infrastructure.

Cisco has used acquisitions aggressively to expand its security capabilities. Significant transactions include Sourcefire, OpenDNS, Duo Security, Splunk and Isovalent. The acquisition of Isovalent in 2024 strengthened Cisco’s cloud-native networking and security capabilities.7

Observability and Splunk

Observability has become a central part of Cisco’s strategy following the acquisition of Splunk. Cisco announced its intention to acquire Splunk in September 2023 and completed the transaction on 18 March 2024. The deal was valued at approximately US$28 billion in equity value.9 Splunk brought capabilities in security analytics, machine data, monitoring and threat detection, allowing Cisco to offer full-stack observability alongside networking and security.10

Observability software collects information from across the technology stack to help IT teams identify the root causes of performance issues, whether they stem from applications, databases, cloud services, networks or security incidents.

Collaboration

Cisco is a major provider of enterprise collaboration tools through its Webex brand. Webex provides video meetings, messaging, calling, webinars and contact centre solutions. This portfolio became particularly significant during the global shift toward hybrid and remote work, and Cisco continues to incorporate AI features into its collaboration strategy.

Artificial Intelligence

AI is a central strategic theme for Cisco, encompassing several layers:

• AI networking: Developing infrastructure specifically for AI workloads that require high bandwidth, low latency and efficient data-centre networking.7
• Silicon One: Cisco’s proprietary networking semiconductor architecture designed to provide the performance and programmability required for large-scale networking and AI infrastructure.7
• AI security: Technologies designed to protect AI applications, models, agents and infrastructure, including products such as Cisco AI Defense.7
• AI-powered IT operations: Initiatives such as AI Canvas and Cisco IQ that use AI to assist administrators in detecting issues, analysing data and executing remediation.7

Cisco generates revenue through two broad categories: hardware/products (routers, switches, access points, firewalls, data-centre equipment) and software/services (subscriptions, security software, observability, collaboration, support, consulting and cloud management). The company has increasingly emphasised recurring software and subscription revenue to mitigate the cyclicality of hardware sales.

Cisco primarily serves organisations rather than individual consumers. Its customer base includes enterprises, government agencies, universities, healthcare providers, telecommunications companies and cloud providers. The company states that its technologies are used by more than 1 million customers worldwide and that it is trusted by 99% of the Fortune 500.11

Cisco operates across multiple markets and faces competition from various vendors:

• Networking: Arista Networks, HPE/Aruba, Juniper Networks, Huawei, Nokia, Extreme Networks.
• Cybersecurity: Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, CrowdStrike, Zscaler, Check Point, Cloudflare.
• Collaboration: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet.
• Observability: Datadog, Dynatrace, Elastic, ServiceNow, Microsoft, IBM.

Cisco’s primary competitive advantage lies in the breadth of its portfolio, its installed base and integration capabilities. Rather than claiming to have the single best product in every category, Cisco promotes a platform-oriented approach that allows organisations to connect, secure, observe and operate their enterprises using a unified technology stack.12

Leadership

Chuck Robbins serves as Chair and CEO. He became CEO in July 2015 and was elected Chair of the Board in December 2017.8 Under his leadership, Cisco has emphasised software, subscriptions, cybersecurity, cloud, observability, AI and strategic acquisitions.

Financial performance

For fiscal year 2025, Cisco reported revenue of US$56.7 billion, GAAP net income of US$10.5 billion, GAAP EPS of US$2.61 and operating cash flow of US$14.2 billion. Revenue increased approximately 5% year over year.13 Networking remained the largest product category, while security and observability grew in importance.14

In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, Cisco reported quarterly revenue of US$15.3 billion, up 10% year over year.15 Guidance for fiscal 2026 projected revenue between US$61.2 billion and US$61.7 billion,16 illustrating the growing significance of AI infrastructure as a demand driver.

Cisco has historically utilised acquisitions as a primary growth strategy. Notable transactions include:

The acquisition of Splunk stands out as one of the most strategically significant recent transactions.17

Role in the Internet

Cisco helped make large-scale IP networking commercially practical. Its routers and switches formed the infrastructure upon which websites, email, streaming, e-commerce and cloud computing could operate at scale. The company’s early multiprotocol routing technology served as a foundation for the emerging Internet backbone.18

Cisco IOS

Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) is the software environment used to control and configure many Cisco networking devices. For generations of network engineers, proficiency in Cisco IOS command-line interfaces became a fundamental professional skill. Today, the operating-system portfolio includes IOS XE, IOS XR and NX-OS.

Professional certifications

Cisco has influenced the IT profession through its certification programme. Major certifications include CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional), CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert), CyberOps and DevNet. The CCNA certification covers foundational networking concepts such as IP addressing, Ethernet, routing, switching, VLANs, security and automation, and remains one of the most recognisable credentials in IT networking.

These certifications helped establish networking as a distinct professional specialisation. Consequently, “Cisco” refers simultaneously to a company, a networking technology ecosystem and a professional skill set.

Cisco’s current positioning connects infrastructure, security, data and AI into a single enterprise technology platform. The company summarises its modern portfolio around networking, security, observability and collaboration, with AI embedded throughout.19 Its broader stated purpose is to power an inclusive future for all.20

The relationship between Cisco and NVIDIA exemplifies this strategy. While NVIDIA provides computational technology for AI, Cisco provides the networking, switches and data-centre infrastructure necessary for GPUs to communicate at scale.21 As AI workloads generate enormous machine-to-machine traffic, Cisco views AI as both a software opportunity and a network infrastructure opportunity.

Cisco’s evolution can be summarised as a progression from connecting networks in 1984 to connecting organisations, securing and observing those organisations, and now providing the infrastructure to connect, secure and operate the AI era.22

1. About Us – Cisco
2. Cisco Systems Inc. – Investor Relations
3. OverviewCisco Overview Cisco is the worldwide le
4. About Us – Cisco
5. AI Infrastructure, Secure Networking, and Software Solutions – Cisco
6. Cisco Completes Acquisition of WebEx
7. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions – Cisco
8. Cisco Systems Inc. – Governance – Executive Officers
9. Cisco Systems Inc. – CISCO REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL YEAR 2025 EARNINGS
10. Providing the
11. Cisco Systems Inc. – CISCO REPORTS SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS
12. About Us – Cisco
13. Cisco Systems Inc. – Financials – Quarterly Results
14. Cisco Systems Inc. – CISCO REPORTS THIRD QUARTER EARNINGS
15. Cisco Systems Inc. – Financials – Quarterly Results
16. Cisco Systems Inc. – Cisco to Participate in May & June Events with the Financial Community
17. Cisco Systems Inc. – Financials – SEC Filings – SEC Filings Details
18. Cisco Systems Inc. – Cisco Appoints Pete Shimer to its Board of Directors
19. Cisco Systems Inc. – Cisco Reimagines Security for the Agentic Workforce
20. Cisco Systems Inc. – Cisco Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA Makes AI Easier to Deploy and Secure, Anywhere Organizations Need It
21. Cisco Systems Inc. – Splunk Report: Agentic AI Takes Center Stage in CISOs’ Path to Digital Resilience
22. Cisco Systems Inc. – Financials – SEC Filings – SEC Filings Details