Cisco Systems Reorganizes

Cisco Systems says the times they are a changing and so is its business structure.

The San Jose, Calif.-based computer-networking equipment maker Thursday announced it is shifting from its current three lines of businesses – enterprise, service provider and commercial to form 11 separate and distinct groups.

The company says the changes were necessary to focus around changing customer requirements and market conditions.

“Our line of business structure has served us very well in the past, when customer segments and product requirements were very distinct,” says Cisco president and CEO John Chambers. “Today, the differences have blurred between these customer segments and Cisco is in a unique position.”

Cisco’s says it will focus specifically on the following technology areas:

– Access

– Aggregation

– Cisco IOS Technologies Division (ITD)

– Core Routing

– Ethernet Access

– Internet Switching and Services

– Network Management Services

– Optical

– Storage

– Voice

– Wireless

Back in 1997, Cisco organized its business to address two major new market opportunities at that time: the service provider migration to IP services and the adoption of IP products by small and medium-sized businesses through channel distribution.

Now, after the tech bubble has burst, Cisco says it sees a light at the end of the tunnel and it wants to prepare for that recovery.

“We are making these changes at a time when we are beginning to see signs that our business is stabilizing,” says Chambers. “Although we can’t predict the future, our orders for the first weeks of this quarter are in line with the expectations we discussed in our fourth quarter earnings call.”

New Divisions, New Faces

Cisco also announced several executive changes related to the new organizational structure.

Mario Mazzola, former senior vice president of Cisco’s new business ventures group, has been named chief development officer.

Charlie Giancarlo, formerly senior vice president of the commercial line of business, will run four of these technology groups.

Michelangelo Volpi, who was chief strategy officer, will be in charge of the largest technology area, Internet Switching and Services.

James Richardson, formerly senior vice president of the enterprise line of business, will run Cisco’s marketing organization as chief marketing officer.

The only departure is formerly senior vice president of the service provider line of business, Kevin Kennedy, who will be leaving Cisco to pursue other opportunities.

Kennedy says he will now be an industry and technical advisor to Cisco.