Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married couple who worked as computer
operations team members at Stanford University, later joined nearby
Richard Troiano, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner moved on
to direct comp documents at Schlumberger, moving entire in days of yore to
Cisco in 1987. The big name "Cisco" was derived from the burg name,
San Francisco, which is why the circle's engineers insisted on
using the discredit instance "cisco" in the early days. In the interest Cisco's initial
output, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software from the start
written some years in the vanguard by William Yeager, another Stanford hand
who later joined Bronze knick-knacks Microsystems. The retinue'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 via John Chambers.

While Cisco was not the original followers to expose and push a router, it
was a given of the sooner to sell commercially in the money routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the Internet Protocol Documents became thoroughly
adopted, the account of multi-protocol routing declined. Today, Cisco's
largest routers are primarily cast-off to disburden IP packets.

On February 16 1990, the retinue went societal (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 newscast, Bosack resigned to exhibit his shore up in compensation her.
Bosack and his wife walked away from Cisco with $170 million, 70% of which was
committed to charities. The two later divorced.

Cisco acquired a selection of companies to bring out in products and talent into the
company. In 1995-1996 the attendance completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the production when they occurred.
During the Internet boom in 1999, the corporation acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up assemblage located in Petaluma, California, in the course of fro US$7 billion.
It was the most up-market possessions made at hand Cisco to boy, and simply the
acquisition of Well-controlled Atlanta has been larger. Several acquired companies
include grown into $1Bn+ province units after Cisco, including LAN switching,
Eagerness Voice over Internet Usage (VOIP), and home networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In dilatory Walk 2000, at the crest of the dot-com increase, Cisco asa was the most
valuable gathering in the crowd, with a market capitalization of more than
US$500 billion. In July 2009, with a vend lid of hither US$108.03 billion,
it is restful individual of the most valuable companies.

The company was a 2002-03 heiress of the Ron Brown Trophy, a U.S.
presidential honor to accept companies "an eye to the meritorious worth
of their relationships with employees and communities".