Cisco hits wall in Russia, but Europe generally bumps along with 4% growth Cisco's product sales continued rebounding in FQ3 following a late-2013/early-2014 slump, rising 6% yr/yr to $9.33bn. Services revenue were relatively stable and rose 3% to $2.81bn, says the company, reporting Q3 results.
Service provider orders (-7%, with US down 17%) remain a weak spot, as do emerging markets (flat, with BRIC markets declining), but enterprise and public sector orders (each up 7%) were healthier, as were SMB orders (+6%). Americas and EMEA orders were both up 2%, and Asia-Pac 1% (8% exc. China).
Product line performance: Switching revenue +6% yr/yr in FQ3 to $3.56bn. Routing +4% to $2bn. Collaboration +7% to $973m. Data centre (UCS servers) rose +21% to $801m.
"Cisco is in a very strong position and we delivered another solid quarter. Our vision and strategy are working and we are executing very well in a tough environment, as evidenced in our revenue growth, profitability, strong gross margins and cash generation. Our customers feel the pace of change and disruption in every industry and market, and know their success depends on digitising their business. Whether they are the disruptor or the incumbent, they are coming to Cisco as their strategic partner. We believe we are pulling away from our competition using the same formula we've always used: integrating our industry-leading products in every category into architectures and solutions that deliver real outcomes. We've created this opportunity and it is ours to execute," stated John Chambers (above), outgoing Cisco chairman and CEO.
“Europe first turned up for us five quarters ago, and since then has averaged mid-single-digit growth, including this quarter. If you take out Russia, we saw solid growth across all of Europe, Middle East, and Africa of 4%. “