Headquarters: San Jose, Calif.

2008 Revenue: $39.5 billion

Channel Chief: Keith Goodwin, senior vice president, Worldwide Channels

Why It's a Strategic Networking Partner: Cisco Systems continues to be the biggest name in networking, and its footprint is only expanding. Earlier this year, the company made a major play for data center market share with its Unified Computing Systems, which combine networking and server technology onto a single platform.