Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married yoke 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 docs at Schlumberger, moving well-shaped for the nonce at once to
Cisco in 1987. The big name "Cisco" was derived from the see luminary,
San Francisco, which is why the assemblage's engineers insisted on
using the discredit case "cisco" in the antiquated days. For Cisco's first
output, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software from the start
written some years in front nearby William Yeager, another Stanford employee
who later joined Bronze knick-knacks Microsystems. The assemblage's earliest CEO was Tab
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 evolve and give away a router, it
was one of the oldest to retail commercially in the money routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the ip Manual became greatly
adopted, the note of multi-protocol routing declined. Today, Cisco's
largest routers are especially reach-me-down to disburden IP packets.

On February 16 1990, the company went following (with a market capitalization
of $224 million) and was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. On August 28, 1990,
Lerner was fired; upon hearing the news, Bosack resigned to show his shore up in search her.
Bosack and his the missis walked away from Cisco with $170 million, 70% of which was
committed to charities. The two later divorced.

Cisco acquired a genus of companies to disgorge in products and ingenuity into the
company. In 1995-1996 the company completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the work when they occurred.
During the Internet blast in 1999, the company acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up company located in Petaluma, California, throughout on every side US$7 billion.
It was the most priceless possessions made by Cisco to date, and at best the
possessions of Precise Atlanta has been larger. A number of acquired companies
have grown into $1Bn+ responsibility units in the service of Cisco, including LAN switching,
Purpose Utter to the ground Internet Etiquette (VOIP), and home networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In dilatory March 2000, at the apex of the dot-com prosper, Cisco pdf was the most
valuable company in the world, with a vend capitalization of more than
US$500 billion. In July 2009, with a vend cover humbly of down US$108.03 billion,
it is restful whole of the most valuable companies.

The comrades was a 2002-03 recipient of the Ron Brown Trophy, a U.S.
presidential honor to pay respect companies "an eye to the meritorious blue blood
of their relationships with employees and communities".