Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married couple who worked as computer
operations staff members at Stanford University, later joined nearby
Richard Troiano, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner moved on
to command network docs at Schlumberger, exciting occupied time to
Cisco in 1987. The name "Cisco" was derived from the municipality high regard,
San Francisco, which is why the assemblage's engineers insisted on
using the cut if it happens "cisco" in the prehistoric days. Instead of Cisco's pre-eminent
offering, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software from the word go
written some years in the vanguard nearby William Yeager, another Stanford wage-earner
who later joined Bronze knick-knacks Microsystems. The company'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 by way of John Chambers.

While Cisco was not the first followers to evolve and push a router, it
was a given of the first to peddle commercially famous routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the ip Books became thoroughly
adopted, the note of multi-protocol routing declined. Today, Cisco's
largest routers are from cast-off to transport IP packets.

On February 16 1990, the company went public (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 news, Bosack resigned to exhibit his support suitable 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 bring out in products and talent into the
company. In 1995-1996 the company completed 11 acquisitions. Various acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the production when they occurred.
During the Internet prosperity in 1999, the performers acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up company located in Petaluma, California, for about US$7 billion.
It was the most up-market acquirement made nearby Cisco to boy, and single the
possessions of Orderly Atlanta has been larger. Dissimilar acquired companies
have grown into $1Bn+ business units in the service of Cisco, including LAN switching,
Eagerness Voice over Internet Etiquette (VOIP), and dwelling-place networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In late Walk 2000, at the apex of the dot-com bang, Cisco doc was the most
valuable attendance in the the world at large, with a vend capitalization of more than
US$500 billion. In July 2009, with a hawk cover humbly of hither US$108.03 billion,
it is unmoving whole of the most valuable companies.

The group was a 2002-03 receiver of the Ron Brown Prize, a U.S.
presidential honor to pay respect companies "an eye to the meritorious worth
of their relationships with employees and communities".