Advanced Technologies Spur Cisco's Q2 Growth

Sales of its six advanced technologies, which also include wireless, home networking and optical networking, grew an average of 40 percent for the quarter compared to a year ago.

"Our success in advanced technologies is a result of strategic choices we made three to five years ago to integrate our advanced technologies into our core routing and switching platforms and to integrate our advanced technologies with one another," said John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco, San Jose, Calif., during a conference call. Such integration provides customers with investment protection and improved cost of ownership, he said.

For the quarter, ended Jan. 29, Cisco reported earnings of $1.4 billion, or 21 cents per share, compared to $724 million, or 10 cents per share, a year ago. The quarter last year included a $567 million accounting charge.

Excluding special items, Cisco reported earnings of $1.48 billion, or 22 cents per share, compared to $1.32 billion, or 18 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter climbed to $6.06 billion, up more than 12 percent from $5.4 billion a year ago.

Financial analysts expected the company to report earning of 22 cents on revenue of $6.13 billion, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Looking ahead, Chambers said Cisco expects year-over-year revenue growth of 8 percent to 10 percent for its third fiscal quarter.

Shares of Cisco closed up 8 cents at $18.24 Tuesday prior to the announcement.