cisco

Ask a technology company about the prospects for a dividend and publicly, you'll probably get a boring boilerplate answer about timing, the right use of cash, and its commitment to honoring fiduciary duties.

Inside, however, that company is probably snickering and dismissing the idea completely.

Why are technology companies--even major bellwethers sitting on a lot of cash--reluctant to pay a dividend? The short answer: it's uncool.

For most companies, paying a dividend is the ultimate admission that the growth phase (also known as the fun period) is over. Dividends are more associated with safe industries like utility companies, … Read more

Congrats to Jake T. of Clinton, Utah, for winning a 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi tablet in last week's giveaway. This week's prize might not be the most glamorous freebie we've ever offered, but it's definitely one of the most utilitarian.

We're giving away a Cisco Linksys E4200 v2 Maximum Performance Dual-Band N900 router. And as routers go, it's a mighty good one, says CNET's storage and networking reviewer Dong Ngo. He calls it a fast, feature-rich, advanced yet easy-to-use router for the home or small business--and one of the best routers of 2011 (if not the best). … Read more

Cisco Systems has signed a $5 billion deal to buy set-top box software developer NDS, the companies said today.

NDS, based in the U.K., sells its software platform along with a combined service platform to video service providers. The products allow video providers to deliver a service that easily lets people view, search, and navigate video content at anytime from anywhere.

Cisco plans to use NDS software and services to enhance development of Videoscape, its own video platform for paid TV providers. The company said the NDS acquisition should help it expand into emerging markets, such as China and … Read more

For a company that builds telecommunications equipment and smartphones, Huawei has--in its own admission--not been so great at communicating its story.

Huawei's focus on serving its customers in the past came at the expense of establishing any kind of presence with the media or consumers, something its executives believe opened the door to a misinformation campaign that has stunted its progress in the U.S.

"We realized we were not good with communication," said Charles Ding, the senior-most Huawei executive based in the U.S., in an interview with CNET. "We didn't clarify who we … Read more

Apple is once again tops in the eyes of the business world, according to Fortune.

The iPhone maker took the lead as the world's most admired company for the fifth year in a row.

Selected No. 1 by business professionals polled for Fortune's annual list, Apple was cited for its banner year. CEO Tim Cook was able to steer the company after the resignation and death of Steve Jobs to end 2012 with a prosperous fourth quarter thanks to heavy demand for the iPhone 4s.

Trailing in second place was Google, which went through its own transition last … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--Where do the largest telecommunications companies in the world want to be in in the future? In the cloud.

We've all heard this schtick before: Carriers don't want to be the purveyors of dumb pipes. Their equipment suppliers--namely, Cisco Systems and Alcatel-Lucent--also don't want them to be dumb pipe operators. The reason is simple: There just isn't much money in being dumb.

Smart is the way to go.

But for telecommunications giants, what does it mean to be smart? For the CEOs of Deutsche Telekom, Alcatel Lucent, and Cisco Systems, who spoke as part of … Read more

Cisco said that the European Commission should have imposed restrictions on Microsoft's purchase of Skype in fear of a potential monopoly on video calling.

The networking giant, which competes with Skype and Microsoft with its WebEx software, said it doesn't oppose the EU's approval of the merger, but wanted restrictions.

Cisco's Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco's video and collaboration group, said in a blog post:

Imagine how difficult it would be if you were limited to calling people who only use the same carrier or if your phone could only call certain … Read more

If there were any doubt the world is going mobile, it should be tossed out the window today.

A Cisco Systems' forecast, released today, claims that by 2016, there will be over 8 billion handheld or "personal mobile-ready" devices operating globally. In addition, nearly 2 billion "machine-to-machine" connections, including GPS systems and medical applications, will be in use.

All those devices will drive mobile data traffic up 18-fold, reaching 10.8 exabytes per month, or 130 exabytes a year, by 2016, according to the Cisco report officially dubbed the Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic … Read more

Networking giant Cisco Systems today reported a better-than-expected fiscal second quarter and said its renewed focus is paying off.

Cisco reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $2.2 billion, or 40 cents a share, on revenue of $11.5 billion. Non-GAAP earnings were 47 cents a share.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 43 cents a share on revenue of $11.23 billion.

In a statement, Cisco CEO John Chambers was upbeat about the company’s execution. “Our operational focus continues to yield positive results — we hit our billion dollar expense reduction a quarter early — and our ongoing innovation enables … Read more