Breaking down to build up

IF ONE were to take a roll call of the most iconic companies that have made Silicon Valley in California synonymous with innovation and technology, Cisco would be way up on the list. The company, which devised a way to make it possible to link up all computers so that they could talk to each other, has been a pioneer in developing computer technology that we take for granted today.

However, past glory is no guarantee for present or future success, as Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, found out when he took the helm in July 2015 from his illustrious predecessor John Chambers. At that time, Cisco had hit a rough patch due to rapid changes in technology and competition from cheaper Chinese vendors.

In early 2016, a few months after he came on board, the stock price was near historic lows and there was chatter on Wall Street that technologies such as cloud computing and what is known as software-defined-networks (SDN) would make it very hard for Cisco to continue with its business model. The general belief was that the glory days of the company - which derives its name from the city San Francisco - was ove…