John Chambers, Cisco CEO
Position: 4 Last year: 26
Why? Powerful position at the heart of internet development
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Cisco continues to dominate the networking infrastructure arena but what impressed the Agenda Setters panel even more this year was John Chambers' handle on web 2.0 developments.
In February Cisco acquired WebEx for $3.2bn. The software and hosted service allows for on-demand collaboration between businesses, through the use of internet and VoIP products, without having to load applications on their own networks. Pundits have said this puts Cisco head-to-head with Microsoft.
Chambers took the role of president and CEO of Cisco more than 12 years ago. Since then, it's safe to say no other hardware company has been so closely involved with building and designing the internet's infrastructure.
Unlike his software counterpart, Bill Gates, Chambers still plays a steering role in developing the company, championing the internal Internet Solutions Group to the rest of the world.
Chambers is recognised globally as a luminary and is regularly invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on wider IT issues.
He moves freely in political circles, rubbing shoulders with the great and the good in US government. He's currently vice chairman of President Bush's National Infrastructure Advisory Council and previously served on President Clinton's Trade Policy Committee.
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Content featuring John Chambers
Cisco CEO John Chambers is no stranger to the Agenda Setters list - 2007 saw him ranked in the top five with the judges impressed by his handle on web 2.0 developments. Chambers joined Cisco in 1991 as senior VP of worldwide sales and operations...
The 31st placed AS debutant shares the list with company CEO John Chambers, who ranks 19th, and is one of only three women on this year's list. As one Agenda Setters judge noted, while Chambers sets Cisco's "direction and tone", Warrior "executes".
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers says the economic recession that's gripped the world for the past year may have reached a tipping point in the last three months, as he sees the company's corporate customers return to spending more on technology.
Despite the cuts, Cisco's CEO John Chambers has said publicly that he believes the worst of the recession is over. Another round of employees at Cisco Systems reportedly got pink slips on Thursday as the company laid off several hundred employees...
John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, in a keynote speech at Mobile World Congress January There are very few companies that understand software. Former chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, speaking in an interview with silicon.com sister site CNET News.com
CEO John Chambers will be pushing the new architecture and initiative at the company's annual C-Scape press and analyst conference in San Jose, California, on Tuesday. CEO John Chambers has already been touting the company's high-end telepresence...
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