These include, but are not limited to:

• Ethernet switches
• Branch office routers and CPE (Customer Premises Equipment)
• IP Telephony products such as IP PBXes (CallManager), VoIP gateways and IP phones
• Network security devices such as Firewalls, VPN concentrators, Network and Host Intrusion Prevention and Software
• Metro optical switching platforms
• Large carrier grade core and edge routers / MPLS switches
• Carrier and enterprise ATM switches
• Cable Modem Termination Systems (CMTSes)
• DSL subscriber aggregation / concentration equipment
• Remote access and universal gateways
• Storage Area Network (SAN) switches and appliances
• Network management software and appliances
• Wireless [1]
• Home networking products (via the Linksys division)
• Cable television products (via the Scientific_Atlanta division)

Cisco's tag line is "The Worldwide Leader in Networking for the Internet" [2]

Corporate history

Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married couple that worked in computer operations staff at Stanford University, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software originally written by William Yeager, another staff employee who had begun the work years before Bosack arrived from the University of Pennsylvania, where Bosack had received his Bachelor's degree.

While Cisco was not the first company to develop and sell a router (a device that forwards computer traffic from one network to another), it did create the first commercially successful multi-protocol router to allow previously incompatible computers to communicate using different network protocols. As the Internet Protocol (IP) has become a standard, the importance of multi-protocol routing as a function has declined. Today, Cisco's largest routers are marketed to route primarily IP packets and MPLS frames.

In 1990 the company went public and was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Bosack and Lerner walked away from the company with $170 million [3], and later divorced.

Using acquisitions, internal development and partnering with other companies Cisco has made inroads into many network equipment markets outside of routing, including Ethernet switching, remote access, branch office routers, ATM networking, security, IP telephony and others. In 2003, Cisco acquired Linksys, a popular manufacturer of computer networking hardware and positioned it as a leading brand for the home and the end user networking market (SOHO).