March's Manufacturer of the Month: Cisco

Manufacturer of the Month: Cisco

Each month, Launch 3 Telecom will spotlight one of our many manufacturers.

March’s manufacturer is: Cisco

                Cisco has been a powerhouse in networking equipment for over 30 years with distribution around the globe. The company began in 1984 by Leonard Bosack, Sandy Lerner, and Richard Troiano with the production of Cisco’s first router. This would lead the way for their Internetwork Operating System (IOS) moving forward. The name “Cisco” was born as a derivative of San Francisco, the location where the company began.

                By the time Cisco went public in 1990, the founding partners were no longer a part of the company. Cisco had grown their activity in the networking industry by becoming the first to sell routers supporting multiple network protocols. They also exceled in software upgrades to help devices maintain a long lifetime. The company also experienced growth in Ethernet switch by acquiring Kalpana, Grand Junction, and Crescendo Communications. Some of the major products laid out by Cisco at this time were the Cisco 2500, Cisco 7000, and Cisco 8500.

                Cisco was a major player during the dot-com bubble as they rolled out IP products from modem access shelves to GSR routers. This golden age of the internet quickly took Cisco to a new level of success in which they’ve never looked back. Although they occupied a large portion of the market share, competitors such as Juniper made a strong push. The rollout of the Catalyst 6500, CRS-1, ASICs, and fast processing cards for routers cemented their standing.

                 As me move through the new millennium, Cisco has strengthened their enterprise-focused routing, switching, and security products. Ethernet growth led to the creation of the Cisco 7600 router and the ASR9000. A new century created new competition from other manufacturers such as Alcatel-Lucent and Huawei. They would further build on their brand with acquisitions of Starent Networks and NDS to move them toward the cloud and software market.

                In more recent years, there has been a wave of restructuring that eliminated 8% of their global workforce. Although sales diminished due to economic uncertainty, it has not deterred Cisco from moving forward with acquisitions of Cognitive Security, threatGRID, and Tail-f Systems.

Their hardware remains incredibly popular with the Nexus Switches from 1000v to 9000, 800 series routers, Integrated Service Routers (1800, 2800, 3800), Network Convergence System 6000, Security Appliances, Catalyst switches from the 1900 series to 8500 series, Wireless LAN, and so much more. Cisco has covered such a wide range of equipment to distribute around the world. They have garnered accolades as a Ron Brown Award recipient and appearing on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to work for”.  

Launch 3 Telecom is a distributor of all networking equipment produced by Cisco. For more information, you can contact 877-878-9134 or email sales@launch3.net.

www.Launch3Telecom.com | sales@launch3.net | 877-878-9134