Making The Cisco Connection

Just as Intel and Microsoft soared to lofty heights with the rise of the personal computer, Cisco
Systems is flying on the spectacular updraft of the Internet. The company, which makes specialized
computers that route information through a network -- acting as a sort of data traffic cop -- has
captured 85 percent of the market for routers used as the backbone of the biggest network of them
all, the Internet. As a result, over the last 5 years, the value of Cisco's total outstanding stock has
risen over 2,000 percent -- twice the increase of Microsoft Corp. stock in the same period.

Beginning as a tale of two college sweethearts at Stanford University who cofounded the company
15 years ago, the oft-told Cisco legend has all the makings of a great novel -- love, money, a
villain or two, corporate coups, and the sweet taste of victory. But mostly, the Cisco story is a very
unusual tale of corporate success. Despite the struggle of passing through several regimes, Cisco
managed to hit all the crucial spots of its business. Cisco consistently bested competitors like 3Com
and IBM with insight, innovation, customer focus, and one of the biggest corporate buying sprees in
history.

Making the Cisco Connection deftly traces the networking giant's path to success, from its founding
couple, Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack, to current CEO John Chambers. It highlights the
company's astounding knack for buying other businesses and making them part of a huge
conglomerate; its own highly developed use of technology; and its unusually tight-knit culture.
Featuring the perspective of top Cisco executives and competitors, this book reveals how Cisco's
technology, employees, and even its competition have blended to make Cisco possibly the most
important company shaping the future of communications

Next to ruthless competitors Microsoft and Intel, Cisco shines with a kinder, gentler image,
emphasizing happy customers and employees. You'll see how Cisco built its impressive culture by
cultivating community, boosting morale, whittling down bureaucracy, and saving money to boot.

This book also explains how Cisco is positioning itself to enter a new competitive playing field,
moving beyond Internet routers in an attempt to build a single, giant, global communications
system -- based on the Internet -- that would make the current telephone system obsolete.
Cisco wants to be the company that delivers the infrastructure of this new network, which will
combine computer networks with telephones, television, radio, and satellite communications. To do
that, it is now challenging global giants such as Lucent Technologies and Fujitsu. Cisco plans to
become the backbone of the entire communications industry, making it a corporation of incredible
power as the Internet Age blossoms in the new millennium.

Provocative and instructive, Making the Cisco Connection traces the unique history of one of the
most profitable and enduring technology companies in business today.

Table of contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter l: The Truth behind the Cisco Legend

Chapter 2: The Morgridge Years

Chapter 3: The Inner Chambers

Chapter 4: The Benevolent Predator

Chapter 5: A Day in the Life

Chapter 6: Routing the Industry

Chapter 7: The Virtual Corporation

Chapter 8: The New Battle

Chapter 9: Giving Cisco a Voice

Notes

Index