Cisco chief sees shoots of recovery

Cisco chief John Chambers is cautiously optimistic about the future

Influential industry figure and Cisco chief executive John Chambers said yesterday that a turning point in the economic downturn may finally have been reached if trends continue.

Sales at Cisco dropped 18 per cent in the fiscal fourth quarter just ended, but Chambers said that the past three months could be a "tipping point", as the firm posted the first sequential order growth in a year.

"We saw a number of positive signs this quarter in the economy and in our business, especially comparing our sequential quarter-over-quarter order trends, " he said.

"If we continue to see these positive order trends for the next one to two quarters, we believe there is a good chance we will look back and see that the tipping point occurred in our business in the fourth quarter."

However, Chambers was cautious about the future, saying that he wanted to see several more quarters of the same sequential trends before business momentum can be said to have returned to normal.

The networking giant announced net sales of $8.5bn (£5bn), with net income down 46 per cent to $1.1bn (£647m).

Cisco has been engaged in an ongoing strategy to reduce headcount by around 2,000 at various sites.