Cisco

Cisco Systems plans to reduce its global workforce by about 2 percent, or 1,300 positions, as part of the company's continuing restructuring to cut costs and increase profits.

The layoffs are "part of our plan to drive simplicity, speed of decisions and agility across Cisco," spokesperson Karen Tillman said in a statement today. "We routinely review our business to determine where we need to align investment based on growth opportunities."

Cisco had 65,223 employees at the end of its third quarter.

The new round of layoffs comes a year after the networking-equipment maker … Read more

Two months after the launch of a new line of Smart Wi-Fi routers, the EA series, Cisco finally announced today that the Cisco Connect Cloud for the new routers is now live.

Cisco Connect Cloud is a software platform for Linksys Smart Wi-Fi routers -- currently comprising the Linksys EA2700, EA3500, and EA4500 -- intended to change the way consumers interact with their connected personal entertainment devices and home appliances, all via the Internet. For example, instead of the Cisco Connect Express mobile app, which works only within a local network, users can now opt for the Internet-based Cisco Connect Cloud mobile app, or just log in at the Cisco Connect Cloud portal, and be in complete control of their home network, no matter where they are.

There's a lot more to this, however. For the first time Cisco is allowing, and encouraging, independent developers to create mobile apps for its home network routers, specifically those in the Linksys Smart Wi-Fi Router family. According to Cisco, available immediately are six other iOS apps developed by third parties for the EA series, including Twonky Video and IP Camera Viewer.… Read more

The next-generation Internet technology called IPv6, vastly more accommodating than its predecessor, began arriving for a small but significant fraction of Internet users today.

Several technology powerhouses are trying to encourage adoption the IPv4 sequel through an Internet Society event called the World IPv6 Launch that began today. (Well, actually it started at 5 p.m. PT yesterday -- blame the time-zone complications of global events.)

But start it did. The organizers want to keep tabs on the IPv6 performance during this sensitive introductory phase, and their data shows the arrival of IPv6 connections.

I use the IPvFoo Chrome extension … Read more

It is prohibited for any U.S. person, company, organization, or agency to have any sort of business dealing that involves selling goods or services to Iran, because of U.S. government sanctions.

However, today it was reported by Reuters that Iran's second-largest mobile operator, MTN Irancell, seems to have gotten its hands on mobile computer equipment from several U.S. companies, including Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, and Cisco Systems.

Though it's still unclear just how MTN Irancell got the equipment, Reuters has held several interviews and uncovered dozens of documents it says confirm that MTN Irancell wanted this … Read more

What began as a 24-hour test a year ago will become business as usual on Wednesday as a range of big-name Internet companies permanently switch on the next-generation IPv6 networking technology.

And now there's no turning back.

"IPv6 is being enabled and kept on by more than 1,500 Web sites and ISPs in 22 countries," said Arbor Networks, a company that monitors global Internet traffic closely.

Internet Protocol version 6 has one big improvement over the prevailing IPv4 standard it's designed to supplant: room to grow. However, moving to IPv6 isn't simple, which is … Read more

It's another day, and a new patent infringement suit sprouts up in the technology world.

Now that Oracle v. Google has wrapped up all save for an appeal, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California will be kept busy not just by Apple v. Samsung and Yahoo v. Facebook, but now also Cisco Systems v. TiVo.

Cisco has slapped the living-room entertainment company with a lawsuit over patent infringement regarding digital video recorder box technology.

Similar to another case that recently went on at the federal courthouse in San Francisco, this lawsuit, filed in San … Read more

Internet traffic is poised to quadruple in four years thanks to the proliferation of Internet-connected devices, users, and faster networks, according to a study conducted by Cisco Systems.

By 2016, the Internet will reach 1.3 zettabytes of traffic -- a zettabyte being the equivalent of a trillion gigabytes, or every movie ever made crossing the network every three minutes. In 2016, Cisco said, more traffic will travel across the network than in all prior "Internet years" combined.

The study underscores society's growing dependence on the Internet and the need for a persistent connection. Beyond an increase … Read more

Cisco Systems' fiscal third quarter results were solid as the company avoided the shortfalls rivals faced.

The company reported third-quarter earnings of $2.2 billion, or 40 cents a share, on revenue of $11.6 billion, up 6.6 percent from a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were 48 cents a share.

Wall Street was expecting earnings of 47 cents a share on revenue of $11.59 billion. Going into Cisco's earnings, analysts were expecting a mixed quarter. After all, Cisco rivals Juniper, Riverbed and Polycom all struggled with their most recent financial results.

In a statement, Cisco CEO John … Read more

While Netgear and D-Link introduced their approaches to app-supporting and cloud-enabled networking products at CES 2012, Cisco, which didn't have anything to announce at CES, turns out to be the first to materialize the new concepts.

Cisco today unveiled a line of Linksys Smart Wi-Fi routers that promises to change the face, and the body, of home networking.

The Linksys EA4500, EA3500, and EA2700 -- the "A" designation being short for "app-enabled" -- look like models in the earlier E Series but have more-powerful hardware and support Cisco Connect Cloud, the next generation of Cisco … Read more