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2000

Market capitalization

Market capitalization

2000

Cisco became the world’s most valuable company, in terms of market capitalization, on March 27, with a high of $82 a share (market cap: $569B).

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1990

Networkers Users Symposiums launches

Networkers Users Symposiums launches

1990

As networking booms with new levels of connection, and more challenges in connectivity, we launch Networkers Users symposiums - also known as "Networkers." The conference, later renamed CiscoLive!, enables customers to learn, collaborate, and grow the industry together.

A banner reads "networkers" in funky font as conference attendees mill between booths at Networkers
Two cisco representatives stand at computer terminals in front of the Cisco Systems Career Certification and Training booth at Networkers
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1989

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) napkin

Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) napkin

1989

Cisco’s Kirk Lougheed and IBM’s Yakov Rekhter sketch out BGP over lunch at a 1989 Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting. Their networking innovation, still an essential routing protocol for the global Internet, is as integral today as it was when originally deployed, enabling efficient routing and dramatic growth.

A black and white drawing of border gateway protocol's state diagram, at the bottom is the contact information of the two writers, Lougheed at Cisco and Yakov from IBM with their phone numbers and work times with time zones
Black handwriting on an aged page outlining a list of features of the border gateway protocol
Black handwriting on an aged page outlining the internal rules for the Border Gateway protocol

Kirk Lougheed, co-creator and Cisco's employee number 4, explains how BGP came to be.

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1988

John Morgridge becomes CEO

John Morgridge becomes CEO

1988

John Morgridge joins Cisco as President and CEO. Morgridge grew the company from $5 million to more than $1 billion in sales and from 34 to more than 2,250 employees. In 1990 he took Cisco public, in 1995 was appointed chairman, and in 2006 became chairman emeritus.

John Morgridge joins Cisco as President and CEO. Morgridge grew the company from $5 million to more than $1 billion in sales and from 34 to more than 2,250 employees. In 1990 he took Cisco public, in 1995 was appointed chairman, and in 2006 became chairman emeritus.

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1987

Secure VC funding

Secure VC funding

1987

Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital provides cisco's first infusion of outside funding, $2.5 million in December 1987. While the early company was profitable, the clout of VC funding allows the company to grow exponentially.

An executive headshot of Don Valentine, a white man in a blue suit with his hands behind his back
Categories
1990

IPO

IPO

1990

Cisco goes public on February 16, 1990, listed as “CSCO” on the NASDAQ. Cisco celebrates the public offering with a market capitalization of $224 million.

A specimen of stock certificate for cisco Systems, Inc. It's printed with blue anti-forgery ink and embossed heavily
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1985

First logo created

First logo created

1985

Cisco's name derived from a shortening of San Francisco and dropped standard capitalization conventions for 'cisco Systems', the lower-case c a cultural touchpoint for early engineers. As early networking devices were known as bridges, an abstraction of the Golden Gate Bridge became the first logo, formed via parabolic equations by founder Len Bosack.

Red bridge logo
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1984

cisco Systems founded

cisco Systems founded

1984

Founders Sandy Lerner (left) and Leonard Bosack (center) incorporate cisco Systems. They dream of disparate networks talking with each other and sharing information reliably. But in order for the networks to be truly interconnected, a technology has to be invented that can deal with the disparate local area protocols. With that dream, the multi-protocol router is born.

Two men, Len Bosack in a black suit and an unidentified man in tweed, sit at a table looking up at Sandy Lerner, a woman in a business suit standing in profile holding documents.
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1984

Stanford roots

Stanford roots

1984

Experimenting with connecting detached networks, Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner run network cables between two different buildings on the Stanford campus. Bosack as director of computer facilities for Stanford's Computer Science Department, and Lerner the same title in the Graduate School of Business, imagine new methods of interconnection.