Cisco Systems in 2005

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Introduction

In 2005, Cisco Systems (Cisco) dominated the market for routers and switches and other equipment used to link networks and form the backbone of the Internet. Cisco sold its products primarily to large enterprises and telecommunications service providers, but it also offered products designed for small businesses and consumers. Cisco seemed to have successfully overcome the crisis it faced in early 2001 when it had to make major write offs. Despite this recovery, many analysts wondered whether the company was pursuing unrealistic goals.

Cisco wanted to grow at 12-15% while maintaining gross margins of 65%. As competition intensified and the markets became increasingly saturated, were Cisco's targets really achievable?...

Cisco Systems was founded by Stanford University husband-and-wife team Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner and three colleagues in 1984. Bosack developed the technology to link his computer lab's network with his wife's network in the graduate business school. Bosack and Lerner mortgaged their house, bought a used mainframe, put it in their garage, and got friends and relatives to work for deferred pay. They sold their first network router in 1986...

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