Cisco still the biggest kid on the block

Cisco has reported another quarter of extraordinary growth, with operating profit up 69 per cent to $1.2bn, compared with the same period last year, on turnover of $5.7bn.

For its fiscal year 2000, the vendor reported profit of $3.9bn, excluding acquisition costs, and turnover of $18.9bn, an increase of 55 per cent from 1999 for the three months ended 29 July.

While rivals such as Nortel and Lucent's Avaya reported flat sales or declining sales of enterprise networking kit, Cisco saw sales in this sector grow by 15 per cent.

John Chambers, chief executive at Cisco, said: "Given our size, we are very pleased with the results. The momentum and balance across our geographic regions, lines of business and products could not have been much better."

But Chambers warned that component shortages could hamper product availability in the coming months.

Cisco also announced the departure of executive vice president Don Listwin, who has left to head a startup formed by Phone.com and Software.com. The firms announced their intention to merge last week in a $6.8bn deal.

Phone.com develops Wap technology that tailors web pages for access by cell phones, while Software.com offers unified messaging and internet infrastructure products to telcos.

Peter Firstbrook, an analyst at Meta Group, said Cisco would not be stretched too much with a move into the wireless gateway space by acquiring Listwin's new company.

First published in Computer Reseller News