For this No. 1 networking company, the FY 2000-01 was a landmark year. There was the successful visit of CEO John Chambers giving an impetus to the company’s operations in India. The launching of its networking training program—tying up with noted technical learning seats in not just the metros but also regional institutes—was yet another watershed event. The target of Cisco in this respect being 1,00,000 trained professionals by the year 2005.

Operationally, during last fiscal, Cisco Systems consolidated in most spheres of operations. It increased its dominance over the router market, maintained its lead in the switching segment, and gained both mindshare and market share in the IP contact center space—the only glitch being its rather poor position in the RAS segments. Cisco introduced cutting-edge technologies like the IP+ optical solutions, AVVID and IP telephones.

These market gains are reflected in its fiscal performance. Cisco Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. widened the gap that it built between it and the rest of the industry, by growing 125 percent to register a turnover of Rs 765 crore.

From the market perspective, however Cisco Systems had a mixed year. The company increased its dominance over the router market and had a market share of around 85 percent. Of the total sales of Cisco India, router contributes 50 percent. On the LAN switch front, Cisco was the number one player and had a good competition from Cabletron. Cisco sold switches worth Rs 253 crore and had a market share of around 41 percent, and its next nearest competitor, Cabletron had around 33 percent. In the RAS segment, Cisco was lagging behind 3Com with a market share of around 25 percent.

Cisco’s strategy in the near future is based on its underlined concept of providing end-to-end solutions. It prefers to solve real needs of enterprises, be it providing the wireline or wireless communications building blocks, the content delivery platform or the security products. All these will form part of one complete solution that is media-independent and transcends mere boxes.

Also, the much-awaited optical networking deployments are likely to get kicking this year. And Cisco, like others, is waiting to play its cards right. For addressing this segment, Cisco has been making preparations by partnering with some crucial turnkey providers like HFCL and Global Tele-Systems.