Cisco telepresence revs nearly double, UC revs slip

Though Cisco reported large year-over-year and sequential declines in profits and revenues in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, it saw its first sequential product order growth in four quarters, perhaps signaling a turnaround in the telecom equipment market. CEO John Chambers said in the earnings call that it was too early to call it a recovery, but that it was the first major positive sign in several quarters.

Cisco had revenues of $8.5 billion for the quarter, down from $10.4 billion from its fiscal Q4 2008. The company had $1.1 billion in net income for the quarter, down from $2 billion in fiscal Q4 2008.

Cisco reported sales of unified communications systems were down 5 percent for the fiscal year, which contributed to a 19 percent year-over-year decline in the company's advanced technologies division revenues. Cisco's TelePresence product line, however, saw a 97 percent revenue increase for the fiscal year, showing how much interest has arisen in these cost-saving collaboration tools during the global recession.

Chambers also reiterated that he sees the small business market as a growth driver in future earnings, in keeping with prior statements he has made about for years about the revenue potential in providing communications solutions and routing switches to this segment.

For more:
- see the earnings release here 

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