| Notes |
Biography
Charles H. Giancarlo
Senior Vice President, General Manager
Product Development
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Charles Giancarlo leads several groups in the Cisco development organization, including the
technology team responsible for Network Switching, one of Cisco’s two core technologies, and groups
focused on emerging technologies and new markets: Voice, Storage, Security and Linksys consumer
networking. Under his direction, Cisco is continuing to focus significant resources on technology
innovation and execution.
Giancarlo also chairs the Cisco Enterprise Business Council and is responsible for developing and
executing Cisco’s business strategies for this important customer segment. Previously, he ran the
Cisco Service Provider Business Council, directing a cross-functional executive team focused on
helping Service Providers make the transition to new packet-based services and infrastructures.
Prior to his current role, Giancarlo ran the Commercial Line of Business, developing leading-edge
high volume networking products and driving Cisco brand awareness among companies of all sizes.
During his tenure, Cisco switching and routing brand shares grew significantly and Cisco led the
industry with award-winning wireless LAN and stackable Layer 3 Ethernet switch introductions.
Also introduced was the Cisco Mobile Office program, bringing secure broadband Internet access to
mobile professionals in public spaces and on corporate campuses, and to teleworkers at home.
Giancarlo joined Cisco in December 1994 and shortly thereafter became Vice President of Business
Development, successfully developing Cisco’s merger and acquisition strategy and practice. In this
position he played an instrumental role in Cisco’s first 18 acquisitions and 20 investments. He then
moved on to become Senior Vice President of Global Alliances, building the organization responsible
for developing an ecosystem of strategic alliances with companies such as IBM, Accenture, Microsoft
and Sprint to enable the Internet industry worldwide.
Giancarlo came to Cisco through the acquisition of Kalpana, Inc., the pioneer in Ethernet switching,
where he was Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development. He was also a cofounder and
Vice President of Marketing for Adaptive Corporation, which developed the industry’s first
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) product for the LAN market. While with Adaptive, Giancarlo
founded the ATM Forum, a successful alliance of over 600 companies focused on the development of
ATM technology. He also holds multiple patents in the areas of ATM and other communications
technologies.
Giancarlo holds an M.B.A. from Harvard and M.S. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering from
the University of California at Berkeley and Brown University, respectively. |