Cisco.com network,security,web based conferencing, & database solutions
Cisco Systems, Inc
Cisco Systems Inc. is one of the leading companies in the fields of telecommunications technology. Strictly speaking, the company operates under four brands: Cisco, Linksys, WebEx and Scientific Atlanta and although the company is best known for its routers, the array of technologies developed and sold nowadays cover a much wider range. The success of this company and its impact on our modern world was recently acknowledged nowadays through the company’s inclusion in the prestigious Fortune 500 list.
Website
The structure of Cisco.com reflects the great philosophy of the company. The main focus is not put on the relations with stock holders, but on the customers. The functionality of the website resembles more the standards of a commercial website, rather than a corporate one. The phenomenon which is Cisco can also be recognized through the impressive community of enthusiasts it has gathered and the privileged status of being one of the very few websites on the web with a PageRank of 9 (10 being the absolute maximum).
The philosophy which made Cisco a success can also be felt through the vibrant and very well structured feedback that goes on between the company and its customers. Regardless if it concerns the product list in itself, the quick guidance for the interested customer towards the products that would help him or her most or with the now famous columnists that showcase real applications of the technologies involved Cisco has developed an impressive website and community.
Of course, the standard pages regarding the investor relations, the career opportunities or contact relations with foreign dealers are not missing and are actually very well integrated, the main core of the website and its main focus is put though on the community of enthusiasts that made Cisco a success story.
History of the Company
Cisco Systems was founded in 1984 by the couple Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner. The name Cisco derives from San Francisco and the logo of the company is a stylized representation of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the reason for which hardcore enthusiasts refer to the company as cisco Systems, rather than the capitalized version. They were not the first to sell routers, however they were the first to create routers that allowed networking between machines working on different protocols, based on the programming research conducted at the Stanford University by William Yeager. The need for such routers dwindled over time as the Internet protocols began being standardized.
In the next 5 years, the company consolidated its market position, so in 1990, Cisco went public on NASDAQ, and ultimately the couple left the company with a whooping then, 170 million dollars. Over the next few years, Cisco became a dominant presence in the emerging IT segment, so in 1999, when the dot com bubble occurred, Cisco secured through capitalization a record of 500 billion dollars, a record at the time. Even today, the capitalization of the company stands at a very impressive 165 billion, one of the largest in the world.
In the dot com era, Cisco acquired and expanded into many related fields and even when the dot com bubble had burst, the company still had a strong market position. With its unique blend of acquisitions, research and strategic partnerships Cisco has interests nowadays in a huge variety if fields, beginning with Ethernet switches, to security and finishing with ATM networking.
The last acquisition to finally build the image that Cisco enjoys today was Linksys. This triggered a sustained effort to target the home user market through services such as VOIP (Voice Over IP), video and telephony.
The Company In The Popular Culture
Arguably, the most profound impact that Cisco had on the IT world was accomplished through its certification program, which attempts to teach network engineering. This program, through its sheer spread (the program is available in more than 150 countries) has created a dedicated user base, which promote the company enthusiastically and have created a subculture of their own.
However, the image that Cisco enjoys was also affected by a few scandals. The most prominent one being the accusation that the hardware provided by the company is used in certain countries like China for censorship purposes (The Great Firewall Of China) and even worse that the company is actively developing solutions in collaboration with the Chinese government. Another controversy which attracted an angry response from its user base were the plans of creating hardware that would have allowed the breach of the net neutrality law, by allowing certain websites a preferred bandwidth for a fee. While the first scandal is still very far from a conclusion, the second issue was quickly buried and never became reality.
Languages
English
Address
- 170 W. Tasman Dr
- San Jose CA 95134 US
Logos
New Logo:
Original Logo:
Additional Information
Cisco too has recently started using a wiki to support customers. Cisco's Support Wiki
