Has the mighty Cisco lost a step? CEO John Chambers makes some candid admissions at the networking giant’s analyst day. Enterprise Networking Planet has Chambers’ take on the Cisco’s missteps in routers and switching, and where the company is going next.
With over $30 billion in cash and strong market leadership in nearly every business it operates, Cisco Systems is a networking and IT goliath. That doesn’t mean that it’s infallible, however.
During its Analyst Day conference on Tuesday, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) executives explained their plan for future growth and also responded to some tough questions about eroding market share.
“Looking back over the last 12 months, in the first half we lost market share in both routing and switching,” Cisco CEO John Chambers said. “When you have new generations of products and you make changes it literally is years two through five when you get the benefit. The first year or two, when the products are a little bit long in the tooth just as the new ones are introduced, you often lose market share.”
Over the course of the last two years, Cisco has aggressively been updating its routing and switching portfolio with new and updated products. During 2008, Cisco introduced its Nexus core switching lineup and its ASR application services routers. This year Cisco released its ISR Gen 2, which updates its aging ISR portfolio.