The UK arm of the American networking company Cisco, with its UK headquarters at Bedfont Lakes near Feltham, making the equipment, software and security tools that keep networks, video calls and data running.
Cisco builds much of the technology that lets computers, phones and organisations connect to each other. It began with routers and network switches, the boxes that send data from one place to another across the internet and inside buildings. Today it also sells security products that protect networks from attack, Webex, its video meeting and calling service, and Cisco Meraki, a cloud-managed networking range. In March 2024 it completed the purchase of Splunk, a company whose software helps organisations watch over their systems and spot security threats. Cisco was founded in December 1984 in San Francisco by two Stanford University computer scientists, Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner.
Cisco describes its purpose as "Power an Inclusive Future for All". In its 2022 Purpose Report it says it wants an environment where everyone is "seen, heard, and included", and it describes a speak-up culture where people can raise concerns without fear of retaliation. In the UK, its chief executive for UK and Ireland, Sarah Walker, wrote in May 2026 that the company is focusing on digital inclusion, so that people are not left behind as artificial intelligence spreads.
Cisco's UK business began in November 1990 with a single product, the IP Router, and the company registered as Cisco Systems Limited in the same month. Its UK flagship office is at Bedfont Lakes, near Feltham in Middlesex, close to Heathrow. A 2017 company blog said it was one of 15 UK sites, and a later company post, around 2020, said the UK business had more than 3,000 employees across 20 sites. Cisco Meraki has had offices in central London, including Finsbury Square and 15 Bishopsgate (as at 2018). In 2026 Ms Walker also described a presence at STEAMhouse in Birmingham, Spark in Cardiff, GM One in Manchester, a partnership with Abertay University in Edinburgh, and a new London office.
On culture, the company's blog describes the Bedfont Lakes campus, as at 2017, as having a gym, a restaurant, an on-site nursery, chill-out zones and regular staff events. Its post on the Meraki London office describes about 190 people who together speak more than 20 languages (as at 2018). Cisco says more than 80% of its UK and Ireland employees volunteered in the past year, and it reports ranking third in Great Place to Work's World's Best Workplaces list for 2022. These are the company's own claims.
Cisco also helps young people learn the skills behind its own field. The Cisco Networking Academy, which began in 1997, has reached over 500,000 learners in the UK and an estimated 4,000 apprentices a year take its courses, according to a February 2025 company blog. Schools, colleges and universities use it free of charge to teach networking, cybersecurity, programming and AI. A company with this reach needs engineers, security specialists, sales and customer teams, project managers, and people in HR, finance and marketing. Studying computing, maths, engineering or business are all sensible starting points.
Website: www.cisco.com/site/uk/en/index.html
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