2Cisco Pushes a Corporate Culture That Encourages Patents
3Creating Patents for Ethernet
Forty years after Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs at Xerox PARC developed it, Ethernet has become a ubiquitous networking system. Cisco officials estimate that about 90 percent of all the world’s devices are connected with Ethernet. Integral to the implementation of IEEE 802.3, Cisco patents create a protocol that handles the dynamic aggregation of redundant links between nodes/devices.
4Cisco Innovation in the Wireless World
The company’s patents that relate to Cisco Lightweight Access Points (LAPs) handle time-sensitive functions, enabling Cisco WLANs to securely support voice, video and data applications, as well as reduce the management footprint for access points in a wireless network system. The innovations make it easier for users to go between floors, buildings and campuses without needing to “re-plug.”
5Cisco and the Internet of Everything
Cisco executives say the Internet of Everything—not just connected devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops, but also people, processes and data—will be a game-changer for businesses. This year alone it will bring in more than $613 billion in profits worldwide, and $14.4 trillion by 2020. The Internet of Everything also will include systems—such as gas pumps, cars, railroad tracks and smart meters—that will need to be always on, and in all weather conditions. Cisco offers more than 10 Route Policy Language (RPL) patents that provide robust networking protocols for large-scale and secure implementation in harsh environments.
6Designing for the Mobile Internet
7Enhancing Communications Through TelePresence
8Cisco’s Expansion in the Data Center
Cisco’s efforts to transform from a networking vendor into a data center solutions provider can be seen in its 4-year-old Unified Computing System (UCS), a single system that integrates the company’s networking and server technology, along with storage and virtualization products from partners. Cisco’s patents help eliminate repetition in the data center and cover the virtual routing environment, which is key to the UCS. Cisco has become the world’s third-largest blade server vendor, with more than 23,000 customers globally.
9Cisco Patents Help Stream Video
10Protecting Against Problems
11Cisco and the Software-Defined Network Movement
The Cisco Open Network Environment (ONE) is designed to bring greater programmability to all parts of the networks. To help with this, Cisco engineers created a patented technology that identifies the best paths to a destination at a node, and then determines how much traffic to send over and to where. The patent was co-invented by Cisco engineers David Ward and J.P. Vasseur, each of whom holds more than 100 patents.