Cisco celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding.
Cisco was founded on December 10, 1984 by husband and wife Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two former Stanford University computer scientists whose efforts to enable email between computers on different networks led to the invention of the first multiprotocol router.
Some interesting facts noted by the company:
- A quarter of a century ago there were just 1,000 "hosts" on the Internet, today there are more than 1.7 billion Internet users worldwide.
- In 1984, there were 1,000 Internet devices; today there are over a 1 billion.
- Cisco has grown from two employees with one product in 1984 to more than 63,000 people today in 200 offices worldwide with 50 product lines.
- Cisco has been on the forefront of information technology for 25 years and posted fiscal year 2009 revenue of $36.1 billion.
- Cisco's innovation is demonstrated in the company's more than 7,000 patents issued worldwide to Cisco inventors and 9,000 patent applications currently pending.
- Cisco employees have logged nearly 1 million hours of volunteer service since 2001.
- As a global corporate citizen, Cisco, in the last 10 years, has contributed over $1 billion to education, social inclusion and economic development initiatives globally.
