Cloud Computing: Cisco chief John Chambers steps aside after 20 years

May 4, 2015 Off By David

Grazed from FT. Author: Richard Waters.

Cisco Systems on Monday brought the curtain down on one of Silicon Valley’s longest-running chief executive acts as it announced that John Chambers would step aside after 20 years. However, in an unusual division of power that leaves him at the centre of the networking equipment company’s leadership, Cisco said Mr Chambers would stay on as full-time chairman.

Mr Chambers, who built Cisco from a small maker of internet routers into the world’s biggest networking equipment company, will hand the chief executive title to Chuck Robbins, head of the company’s global sales division, on July 26. In an apparent attempt to head off concerns about what his involvement would be in the company’s management after the reshuffle, Cisco said Mr Chambers would “devote his time to supporting Robbins”, as well as dealing with the company’s customers and governments around the world…

The announcement brings to an end one of the tech world’s most closely watched succession sagas. Several senior executives who were seen as possible successors to Mr Chambers have left over the years, leading to questions about whether the Cisco boss was prepared to hand over the reins. They included Charles Giancarlo, now at tech buyout firm Silver Lake, and Mike Volpi, a partner at Index Ventures…

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