Full Description

Cisco Systems, Inc., incorporated in December 1984, designs, manufactures and sells Internet protocol (IP)-based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology (IT) industry, and provides services associated with these products and their use. The Company provides a line of products for transporting data, voice, and video within buildings, across campuses, and around the world. Its products are designed to transform how people connect, communicate and collaborate. The Company’s products are installed at enterprise businesses, public institutions, telecommunications companies, commercial businesses and personal residences. It has five segments: United States and Canada, European Markets, Emerging Markets, Asia Pacific, and Japan. The Emerging Markets theater consists of Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa and Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In January 2009, the Company acquired Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc. In May 2009, the Company purchased Tidal Software, Inc. In May 2009, the Company also purchased Pure Digital Technologies Inc.

The Company’s product offerings fall into three categories: its core technologies, routing and switching; advanced technologies, and other products. In addition to its product offerings, the Company provides a range of service offerings, including technical support services and advanced services. Its customer base spans all types of public and private agencies and businesses, comprising enterprise companies, service providers, commercial customers and consumers.

Routing

The Company offers a range of routers, from core network infrastructure for service providers and enterprises to access routers for branch offices and for telecommuters and consumers at home. Key products within its routing category are the Cisco 1800 Series, Cisco 2800 Series, and Cisco 3800 Series Integrated Services Routers, as well as the Cisco 7200 Series, Cisco 7600 Series, and Cisco 12000 Series Routers, and the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System. During the fiscal year ended July 25, 2009 (fiscal 2009), the Company introduced the Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, which are designed to help service providers deliver bandwidth-intensive video and data services to business and residential customers. The ASR 9000 Series is built on the ASR 1000 Series.

Switching

The Company’s switching products offer many forms of connectivity to end users, workstations, IP phones, access points and servers, and also function as aggregators on local-area networks (LANs), metropolitan-area networks (MANs) and wide-area networks (WANs). Its switching systems employ several used technologies, including Ethernet, Power over Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet, Packet over Synchronous Optical Network, and Multiprotocol Label Switching. Many of its switches are designed to support an integrated set of advanced services. The Company offers a family of Ethernet switching solutions from fixed-configuration switches for small and medium-sized businesses to modular switches for enterprises and service providers. Its fixed-configuration switches are designed to provide a foundation for converged data, voice, and video services. They range from small, standalone switches to stackable models that function as a single, scalable switching unit. Key products within switching category are the Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series, 3560 Series, 3750 Series, 4500 Series, and 6500 Series. During fiscal 2009, it delivered its first hypervisor-based software switch, the Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch, which is designed to extend networks into virtual machines.

Advanced Technologies

Cisco Application Networking Services is a portfolio of application networking solutions to enable the secure delivery of applications within data centers and across WANs to remote and branch-office users. A key product within its application networking services category is Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), a WAN optimization solution. Its home networking products connect different devices in the household, through wired or wireless connections, allowing people to share Internet access, printers, storage, video, music, movies, and games throughout the home. Its products include voice and data modems, routers and gateways, Internet video cameras, home entertainment storage, wireless home audio, home network management software, and other products. These products are sold through select retailers, value-added resellers, online retailers, and service providers worldwide. In fiscal 2009, under the Linksys by Cisco brand, the Company introduced home routers and access points supporting the new 802.11n wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard for advanced home wireless networking; wireless home audio kits, and Media Hub devices, which allow people to store, manage, and share video, music, and photos throughout their homes and also to access such digital content from outside their homes with an Internet connection.

The Company’s products in security category span firewall, intrusion prevention, remote access and virtual private networks (VPNs), unified client, Web, and e-mail security. In fiscal 2009, it introduced e-mail and Web security products, including the Cisco IronPort Email Security Appliance and Cisco IronPort Web Security Appliance for enterprise and midmarket companies and the Cisco Spam and Virus Blocker for small businesses. It provides storage area networking (SAN) products for data center environments that deliver multilayer, scalable, and highly secure connectivity between servers and storage systems, including products, such as storage arrays and tape drives. In fiscal 2009, the Company introduced support in its MDS 9000 line of storage switches for the emerging Fibre Channel over Ethernet standard.

Cisco Unified Communications products integrate voice, video, data, and mobile applications on fixed and mobile networks. Specific products include IP phones, client software, servers, and network appliances supporting call control, contact centers, messaging, conferencing, voice mobility, and collaboration, including presence and preference information. In fiscal 2009, it introduced the Cisco IP Phone 6900 Series, a line of IP phones, and the Cisco Unified Workspace Licensing program.

The Company’s video systems offerings consist primarily of digital set-top boxes and digital media technology products. Its equipment includes Standard-Definition (SD), IP television (IPTV) service-enabled, Data over Cable System Interface Specification (DOCSIS), DOCSIS Gateway (DSG), High-Definition (HD), digital video recorder (DVR), HD-DVR, multiple-room DVR, Media Center DVR, and digital-only set-top boxes. A key product line within its wireless technology category is the Cisco Aironet product family.

Other Products

The Company’s other products consist primarily optical networking products, cable access, and service provider voice-over-IP (VoIP) services. Cisco Systems, Inc. provides optical networking products for both the enterprise and service provider markets. It markets and sells analog and digital optoelectronics, which may reside in a network operator’s headend, in other facilities, such as distribution hubs, and in optical nodes. The Company’s other products also include such technologies as Cisco TelePresence systems, TelePresence Exchange Services, physical security and video surveillance, digital media systems, and building systems. It also provides a range of service offerings, including technical support services and advanced services.

The Company competes with Alcatel-Lucent, ARRIS Group, Inc., Aruba Networks, Inc., Avaya Inc., Belden Inc., Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Citrix Systems, Inc., D-Link Corporation, LM Ericsson Telephone Company, Extreme Networks, Inc., F5 Networks, Inc., Force10 Networks, Inc., Fortinet, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., International Business Machines Corporation, Juniper Networks, Inc., LogMeIn, Inc., Meru Networks, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Motorola, Inc., NETGEAR, Inc., Nortel Networks Corporation, Riverbed Technology, Inc., and Symantec Corporation.