Cisco 2015 Annual Report Download - page 17

The advanced services program supports networking devices, applications, solutions, and complete infrastructures. Our service
and support strategy is focused on capitalizing on increased globalization, and we believe this strategy, along with our
architectural approach, has the potential to further differentiate us from competitors.
Customers and Markets
Many factors influence the IT, collaboration, and networking requirements of our customers. These include the size of the
organization, number and types of technology systems, geographic location, and business applications deployed throughout the
customer’s network. Our customer base is not limited to any specific industry, geography, or market segment. In each of the past
three fiscal years, no single customer has accounted for 10% or more of our revenue. Our customers primarily operate in the
following markets: enterprise, service provider, commercial, and public sector.
Enterprise
Enterprise businesses are large regional, national, or global organizations with multiple locations or branch offices and typically
employ 1,000 or more employees. Many enterprise businesses have unique IT, collaboration, and networking needs within a
multivendor environment. We strive to take advantage of the network-as-a-platform strategy to integrate business processes with
technology architectures to assist customer growth. We offer service and support packages, financing, and managed network
services, primarily through our service provider partners. We sell these products through a network of third-party application and
technology vendors and channel partners, as well as selling directly to these customers.
Service Providers
Service providers offer data, voice, video, and mobile/wireless services to businesses, governments, utilities, and consumers
worldwide. This customer market category includes regional, national, and international wireline carriers, as well as Internet,
cable, and wireless providers. We also group media, broadcast, and content providers within our service provider market, as the
lines in the telecommunications industry continue to blur between traditional network-based services and content-based and
application-based services. Service providers use a variety of our routing and switching, optical, security, video, mobility, and
network management products, systems, and services for their own networks. In addition, many service providers use Cisco data
center, virtualization, and collaboration technologies to offer managed or Internet-based services to their business customers.
Compared with other customers, service providers are more likely to require network design, deployment, and support services
because of the scale and complexity of their networks, which requirements are addressed, we believe, by our architectural
approach.
Commercial
We define commercial businesses as companies which typically have fewer than 1,000 employees. The larger, or midmarket,
customers within the commercial market are served by a combination of our direct salesforce and our channel partners. These
customers typically require the latest advanced technologies that our enterprise customers demand, but with less complexity.
Small businesses, or companies with fewer than 100 employees, require information technologies and communication products
that are easy to configure, install, and maintain. These smaller companies within the commercial market are primarily served by
our channel partners.
Public Sector
Public sector entities include federal governments, state and local governments, as well as educational institution customers.
Many public sector entities have unique IT, collaboration, and networking needs within a multivendor environment. We sell to
public sector entities through a network of third-party application and technology vendors and channel partners, as well as direct
sales to these customers.
9