SHARE

Cisco CEO Upbeat Over Network Sales

Brisk security, wireless LAN and IP telephony gear sales drove Cisco Systems to a strong third-quarter financial results, the company said Tuesday. “We continue to believe we have uniquely position Cisco as the recovery continues to gain momentum on a global basis,” John Chambers, president and CEO of the San Jose, Calif., network equipment giant, […]

Written By

Colin C. Haley

May 12, 2004

Datamation content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

Brisk security, wireless LAN and IP telephony gear sales drove Cisco Systems to a strong third-quarter financial results, the company said Tuesday.

“We continue to believe we have uniquely position Cisco as the recovery continues to gain momentum on a global basis,” John Chambers, president and CEO of the San Jose, Calif., network equipment giant, said during a conference call to investors and analysts.

Cisco posted $5.6 billion in revenues for the quarter, compared to $4.6 billion during the same period last year. Pro forma earnings were $1.4 billion, or 19 cents per share, up from $1.1 billion, or 15 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2003.

Chambers is generally optimistic about the industry outlook. He noted that in what is usually a seasonally slow quarter, U.S. enterprise and commercial accounts showed good growth over the second quarter.

Revenues for Linksys, Cisco’s home networking unit, were $174 million for the third quarter, up approximately 5 percent over the previous quarter.

During the three-month period, the company also completed the acquisitions of Riverhead Networks and Twingo Systems for $36 million and $5 million, respectively.

Another key to Cisco’s success was the number of partnerships it struck with big-name IT firms. For example, its recent collaboration with IBM on data center offerings.

Other new alliances were cemented with mobile phone specialist Ericsson , telecom equipment maker Lucent and software leader Microsoft .