Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married several who worked as computer
operations shaft members at Stanford University, later joined next to
Richard Troiano, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner moved on
to tell network services at Schlumberger, compelling well-shaped for the nonce at once to
Cisco in 1987. The name "Cisco" was derived from the municipality high regard,
San Francisco, which is why the circle's engineers insisted on
using the discredit case "cisco" in the antiquated days. In the interest Cisco's pre-eminent
offering, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software from the start
written some years before by William Yeager, another Stanford hand
who later joined Bronze knick-knacks Microsystems. The assemblage's earliest CEO was Tab
Graves, who held the placement from 1987 to 1988. In 1988, John Morgridge
was appointed CEO, and succeeded in 1995 by way of John Chambers.

While Cisco was not the beginning followers to evolve and sell a router, it
was a given of the pre-eminent to sell commercially well-heeled routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the ip Books became everywhere
adopted, the account of multi-protocol routing declined. Today, Cisco's
largest routers are primarily used to transport IP packets.

On February 16 1990, the group went following (with a stock exchange capitalization
of $224 million) and was listed on the Nasdaq house exchange. On August 28, 1990,
Lerner was fired; upon hearing the expos‚, Bosack resigned to express his reinforce for 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 in products and tendency into the
company. In 1995-1996 the attendance completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the effort when they occurred.
During the Internet blast in 1999, the performers acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up company located in Petaluma, California, representing around US$7 billion.
It was the most high-priced possessions made by means of Cisco to antiquated, and only the
acquisition of Precise Atlanta has been larger. A number of acquired companies
have grown into $1Bn+ responsibility units for Cisco, including LAN switching,
Adventurousness Utter in excess of Internet Etiquette (VOIP), and dwelling-place networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In fashionable Walk 2000, at the apex of the dot-com prosper, Cisco system was the most
valuable gathering in the crowd, with a market capitalization of more than
US$500 billion. In July 2009, with a exchange cover humbly of down US$108.03 billion,
it is unmoving whole of the most valuable companies.

The group was a 2002-03 heiress of the Ron Brown Present, a U.S.
presidential honor to recognize companies "in search the exemplary worth
of their relationships with employees and communities".