Cisco builds the networking equipment that moves data through offices, data centers and the internet backbone: switches, routers, wireless gear and the software that manages them. The company has shifted its center of gravity toward subscriptions, selling security, observability and collaboration tools on recurring contracts, a transition accelerated by the Splunk acquisition. Enterprise customers rarely rip out their network vendor, giving Cisco a sticky installed base. It was founded at Stanford in 1984 and defined corporate networking for a generation.