In the late 1970's two Stanford university sweethearts created the first router out of frustration. Sandra Lerner of the Business Department, and Leonard Bosack, of the Computer Science Department wanted to send love letter to each other via the University computer system e-mail. Unfortunately their respective departments used different computer networks, so they created the first router, a way to connect the two local area networks. This initial creation of Cisco was formed as an emergent strategy, which is an unplanned response to unforeseen circumstances. In 1984, Leonard and Sandy started the company on a tight budget by financing it on the credit cards, and mortgaging their home. .
In February 1990, after approaching nearly eighty venture capitalists, Cisco went public. Soon after, seven of the upper management vice presidents went to John Morgridge, the company's new president and CEO, and gave an ultimatum: either Lerner left or they would leave. So on August 28th, Sandra Lerner was asked to leave the company. Right afterwards Bosack quit. In 1994, Cisco introduced the "Cisco Connection online" which customers could find out anything regarding their products, from the status of an order to customer support. .
Today, Cisco Systems, inc. is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco's Internet protocol based networking solutions are the foundation of the Internet and most corporate, education, and government networks around the world. Virtually all message or transactions sent over the Internet are carried quickly and securely through Cisco equipment. .
Cisco Systems develops, markets, and support high performance multi-protocol internetworking systems, which link geographically, dispersed LANs and WANs. It produces Internet software and network management software which enables various network services to include connectivity, security, and interoperability.