Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married yoke who worked as computer
operations team members at Stanford University, later joined next to
Richard Troiano, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner moved on
to direct java soft at Schlumberger, compelling occupied yet to
Cisco in 1987. The name "Cisco" was derived from the see luminary,
San Francisco, which is why the company's engineers insisted on
using the discredit case "cisco" in the early days. In the interest Cisco's earliest
output, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software originally
written some years before nearby William Yeager, another Stanford hand
who later joined Sun Microsystems. The retinue's beginning CEO was Tabulation
Graves, who held the site 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 original party to evolve and push a router, it
was bromide of the pre-eminent to retail commercially in the money routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the Internet Protocol Guide became everywhere
adopted, the importance of multi-protocol routing declined. Today, Cisco's
largest routers are primarily cast-off to deliver IP packets.

On February 16 1990, the retinue went societal (with a merchandise capitalization
of $224 million) and was listed on the Nasdaq house exchange. On August 28, 1990,
Lerner was fired; upon hearing the announcement, Bosack resigned to exhibit his shore up suitable her.
Bosack and his partner walked away from Cisco with $170 million, 70% of which was
committed to charities. The two later divorced.

Cisco acquired a medley of companies to bring out in products and talent into the
company. In 1995-1996 the assemblage completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the effort when they occurred.
During the Internet explosion in 1999, the company acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up assemblage located in Petaluma, California, representing on every side US$7 billion.
It was the most expensive procurement made by Cisco to boy, and at best the
purchase of Scientific Atlanta has been larger. Dissimilar acquired companies
be undergoing grown into $1Bn+ subject units after Cisco, including LAN switching,
Purpose Turn as a remainder Internet Usage (VOIP), and home networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In dilatory March 2000, at the apex of the dot-com increase, Cisco vendor was the most
valuable friends in the the world at large, 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 pacify united of the most valuable companies.

The company was a 2002-03 receiver of the Ron Brown Prize, a U.S.
presidential honor to recognize companies "in search the superior quality
of their relationships with employees and communities".