Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married yoke who worked as computer
operations team members at Stanford University, later joined before
Richard Troiano, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner moved on
to command linux services at Schlumberger, moving occupied in days of yore to
Cisco in 1987. The pre-eminence "Cisco" was derived from the city high regard,
San Francisco, which is why the assemblage's engineers insisted on
using the put down case "cisco" in the near the start days. In the interest Cisco's initial
product, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software from the word go
written some years in front by William Yeager, another Stanford hand
who later joined Brown Microsystems. The company's foremost CEO was Tabulation
Graves, who held the position from 1987 to 1988. In 1988, John Morgridge
was appointed CEO, and succeeded in 1995 past John Chambers.

While Cisco was not the beginning convention to expose and push a router, it
was one of the first to peddle commercially famous routers supporting
multiple network protocols. As the ip Books became everywhere
adopted, the importance 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 projected (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 conduct his funding in compensation 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 proclivity into the
company. In 1995-1996 the attendance completed 11 acquisitions. A number of acquisitions,
such as Stratacom, were the biggest deals in the work when they occurred.
During the Internet boom in 1999, the performers acquired Cerent Corporation,
a start-up assemblage located in Petaluma, California, for on every side US$7 billion.
It was the most high-priced possessions made by means of Cisco to boy, and single the
obtaining of Scientific Atlanta has been larger. A number of acquired companies
include grown into $1Bn+ responsibility units for Cisco, including LAN switching,
Adventurousness Voice in excess of Internet Usage (VOIP), and accommodations networking. Cisco
acquired Linksys in 2003.

In dilatory Parade 2000, at the crest of the dot-com increase, Cisco system was the most
valuable gathering in the crowd, with a market capitalization of more than
US$500 billion. In July 2009, with a market exceed of down US$108.03 billion,
it is still individual of the most valuable companies.

The group was a 2002-03 recipient of the Ron Brown Award, a U.S.
presidential honor to pay respect companies "in search the outstanding worth
of their relationships with employees and communities".