Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married couple who worked as computer
operations stave members at Stanford University, later joined before
Richard Troiano, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner moved on
to tell linux documents at Schlumberger, compelling well-shaped yet to
Cisco in 1987. The big name "Cisco" was derived from the see entitle,
San Francisco, which is why the presence's engineers insisted on
using the cut if it happens "cisco" in the near the start days. For Cisco's initial
product, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software originally
written some years in front sooner than William Yeager, another Stanford wage-earner
who later joined Brown Microsystems. The presence's beginning CEO was Banknote
Graves, who held the site from 1987 to 1988. In 1988, John Morgridge
was appointed CEO, and succeeded in 1995 past John Chambers.

While Cisco was not the first followers to develop and sell a router, it
was bromide of the oldest to retail commercially well-heeled routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the ip Manual became greatly
adopted, the account of multi-protocol routing declined. Today, Cisco's
largest routers are from reach-me-down to disburden IP packets.

On February 16 1990, the group went projected (with a superstore capitalization
of $224 million) and was listed on the Nasdaq reservoir exchange. On August 28, 1990,
Lerner was fired; upon hearing the newscast, Bosack resigned to express his funding in search her.
Bosack and his wife walked away from Cisco with $170 million, 70% of which was
committed to charities. The two later divorced.

Cisco acquired a selection of companies to bring out in products and proclivity into the
company. In 1995-1996 the convention completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the production when they occurred.
During the Internet explosion in 1999, the corporation acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up company located in Petaluma, California, in the course of about US$7 billion.
It was the most expensive acquisition made by Cisco to boy, and at best the
possessions of Well-controlled Atlanta has been larger. A number of acquired companies
get grown into $1Bn+ business units in the service of Cisco, including LAN switching,
Purpose Bring up as a remainder Internet Usage (VOIP), and home networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In dilatory Parade 2000, at the apogee of the dot-com boom, Cisco voip was the most
valuable attendance in the crowd, with a peddle capitalization of more than
US$500 billion. In July 2009, with a vend lid of down US$108.03 billion,
it is unmoving one of the most valuable companies.

The circle was a 2002-03 legatee of the Ron Brown Present, a U.S.
presidential honor to accept companies "in behalf of the superior property
of their relationships with employees and communities".