'Red Herring' says Cisco in the top 50 public technology companies
in the September 1997 issue.
They rated CSCO #1 in the "Best Predator" category,
and rated CSCO #2 in the "Best Management."
herring.com
CISCO SYSTEMS
Networking the future
When compiling a "best of" list,
the only question for companies
like Cisco Systems is not whether
they'll make the cut, but how high
they'll place. Not only did Cisco
fall into the shoo-in category, but
by ranking as our best predator
and having the second-best public
company management team, the
networking juggernaut narrowly
missed being named one of our
top five companies overall.
For some time, we've touted the
company as high tech's third great
monopoly, joining Microsoft and
Intel to create a hardware,
software, and networking
triumvirate that will influence
virtually every computing trend for
the foreseeable future (see
"Routing the Competition"). The
Big Three began to fulfill this
prophecy with an announcement
in March of a joint effort designed
to promote the widespread
corporate adoption of networked
multimedia applications over the
Internet.
All signs indicate that alliances like
these are only the beginning.
Regardless of whether or not the
network computer replaces the
PC, networking has become
more crucial than ever both at
home and in the office. Cisco has
utterly dominated the sector -- its
market shares for networking
equipment range from 35 percent
to 85 percent -- with the resulting
net sales expected to exceed $6
billion this year. The company's
most recent reported quarterly
earnings increased more than 50
percent over the same period in
1996, and its market cap hovered
around $47.5 billion at this
writing.
As the company begins to
broaden its reach beyond the
traditional networking sector, it
will run into formidable new
competitors like Lucent and
Nortel. But as the Cisco shopping
spree rolls on (recent acquisitions
include high-speed technology
transport developer Skystone
Systems; voice, video, and data
integrator Ardent
Communications; and firewall
vendor Global Internet Software
in deals totaling about $290
million), there's every reason to
believe Cisco will remain a
top-tier company for years to
come. |
