Everything started in 1984 in San Josa in the living-room of the duo composed of Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner. The two scientists were working at the Stanford University and were looking for a way to simplify the networking of computers. An objective which needed the development of entirely new technologies. The breakthrough came from the working out of a high performance router, able to link several networks between each others. For this router, introduced for the first time on the market in 1986, Cisco developed a Network Operating System (NOS) based on open communication protocols widely approved.

Since then, the company whose logo use the emblem of the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, has an exponential growth. With its routers, switches, access networks and networking software, Cisco stands out as the worldwide leader of network solutions for Internet: more than 50% of the information highways are using Cisco hardware, whereas more than 80% of the core technology of Internet comes from the laboratories of the Californian company.
Since February 1990, Cisco's shares are listed on NASDAQ.

When considering market capitalization, Cisco is one of the most important companies processed by the automated stock-exchange of technological values. Cisco hauled itself at the level of the three biggest companies in the world who set the standards in the IT industry : Intel for processors, Microsoft for software and Cisco for networks. Cisco hires today approximately 34 466 employees spread over more than 200 sales office and more than 75 countries and made in the fiscal year of 2003 a turnover of 18.9 thousand millions dollars. During the recent years, the company also bought tens of other firms who developed advanced technologies.