Cisco posts strong financial results

Networking giant reveals sales and profit up after its focus on 'advanced technologies'

Industry bellwether Cisco has posted its strongest organic growth for several years as a surge in advanced technologies (ATs) sales lit up the top line in its fiscal second quarter.

The networking giant, which recently acquired messaging security vendor IronPort Systems (CRN Online, 5 January), hit sales of $8.4bn in the three months to 27 January, up 27 per cent year on year.

Excluding acquisitions, annual growth stood at 18 per cent, while under generally accepted accounting principals net profit powered up 40 per cent to $1.9bn.

Cisco chief executive John Chambers, revealed that sales of ATs are beginning to contribute more to total sales than its core routing products.

“This speaks to Cisco's constant evolution moving into new markets and product adjacencies,” he said. “Substantially all the advanced technologies grew year-over-year in double digits, led by storage, unified communications, wireless, and security.”

Excluding set-top box conquest Scientific Atlanta, AT sales grew 23 per cent year-on-year. Routing sales grew 18 per cent, while switching revenues hiked 13 per cent on an annual comparison.

Chambers pointed to a continuation in the recent improvement seen in Europe, where year-on-year growth hit the low teens.

Chambers continued: “As the network becomes the platform, we are seeing more and more signs that all forms of IT and communication are moving into the network and increasing the total available market to Cisco."