Cisco Steps Up Consumer Push

CEO Chambers is readying a souped-up set-top box as part of the networking company's deepest push yet into the living room

It was less than an hour after Cisco Systems Chief Executive John Chambers released impressive third-quarter results, but the stock was slumping on disappointment with his forecast for the current period. Last quarter, sales jumped 21%, yet Chambers was calling for growth of 15% to 16% this quarter—and was unwilling to tweak his long-term growth target of 10% to 15%.

Chambers conceded during a call with analysts that with several areas of the business growing at a faster pace, it would be enticing to issue a higher long-term forecast. "But I'm going to resist the temptation," Chamber says. "I don't want expectations to get ahead of our ability to deliver." Having been through the dot-com bust early in the decade, Chambers knows all too well that healthy growth rates today can lay the groundwork for disappointments tomorrow.