1. Cisco Systems was founded in 1984 by married Stanford staffers Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, along with Richard Troiano.
2. The couple wanted to email each other across campus, but needed a way to connect networks.
3. The founders improved and commercialized code from the first router, developed at Stanford.
4. The developer of that original router, William Yeager, went to work for Sun Microsystems.
5. Stanford complained about Cisco's use of intellectual property, but then cut a deal with the young company.
6. After dozens of turndowns from venture capitalists, Cisco nailed $2.5 million in funding in 1986.
7. The first multi-protocol router, released in 1986, contributed to Cisco's rapid growth.
8. Cisco now sells networking devices, software, and services for everything from the core of the internet to your home network.
9. President and CEO John Morgridge helped transform the "toxic culture" of the early Cisco.
10. Lerner got canned in 1990; Bosack quit in sympathy.
11. The couple left with at least $170 million in stock.
12. They sold it to fund their passions and philanthropic work.
13. She founded Urban Decay cosmetics and is an animal rights advocate.
14. He founded telecom equipment company XKL and is interested in the SETI search for intelligent life initiative.
15. Lerner and Bosack eventually divorced.
16. Lerner posed nude on horseback -- discreetly -- for Forbes in 1997.
17. She also told the magazine she enjoyed jousting in period costume.
18. Cisco shares began trading in 1990. The price, adjusted for splits: six cents.
19. Within 18 months, the company's market value hit $1 billion.
20. Within a decade, the internet bubble gave Cicso a peak valuation $569 billion, the world's highest.
21. Today's market cap: $152.5 billion.
22. Cisco has been a part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 2009.
23. New economy: Cisco joined the DJIA with Travelers Cos, replacing General Motors and Citigroup.
24. Cisco has almost 66,000 employees and annualized revenue of about $35 billion.
25. Cisco's first acquisition came in 1993, with the purchase of Crescendo Communications.
26. Cisco has bought about 140 companies since then.
27. The 2003 purchase of The Linksys Group brought Cisco into the home market.
28. Other deals have made Cisco a major player LAN switching, VOIP for the enterprise, and more.
29. Biggest buy to date: Scientific-Atlanta, in 2005, for $6.9 billion.
30. Cisco calls its strategy "build, buy and partner."
31. A $5.2 billion annual R&D budget shows it's serious about the "build" part, too.
32. John Chambers, a veteran of Wang Laboratories and IBM, became CEO in early 1995 and chairman in 2006.
33. Chambers has a law degree and an MBA.
34. One of the world's most admired executives, Chambers has advised two Presidents and received big-time humanitarian awards.
35. Cisco has done all training via e-learning since 1999.
36. Cisco meets Juno: the "Welcome to the Human Network" campaign features actress Ellen Page.
37. School kids virtually visit China in one of Page's ads
38. Cisco has drawn fire for collaborating with the repressive Chinese regime.
39. The name "Cisco" is short for San Francisco.
40. The company is headquartered in San Jose.
