Cisco predicts 'hazy' future

Networking giant Cisco has been hit harder than expected by the slowing US economy, the company's chief executive John Chambers said last week.

Networking giant Cisco has been hit harder than expected by the slowing US economy, the company's chief executive John Chambers said last week.

Having already warned investors that its second quarter would be more challenging than predicted, Chambers claimed that reduced investment from telcos meant his earlier announcement had underestimated the slowdown.

At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last month, Chambers said that investors should brace themselves for "for a hazy first half of the year".

"We said that this quarter surprised us a bit and that it was challenging. Well, it is every bit as challenging as we thought it would be," he said.

Cisco, which released its second-quarter results this week, has seen some analysts downgrade their rating on the company this year, and last month admitted it was struggling to fill orders on some of its most popular switching products because of parts shortages.

But Chambers claimed that the company's long-term outlook has improved. He said he believed that its projected long-term sales growth of 30 to 50 per cent was conservative.

Cisco last week unveiled its Safe strategy, which aims to help customers develop security within their ebusiness infrastructures. The blueprint will enable users of Cisco's Avvid architecture to better conduct ebusiness.

Luca Bertagnolio, product marketing manager at Cisco, said companies should work together to improve web security. "Being open is important for the development of internet security," he said.