links for 2009-04-10

Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni said Cisco is able to take on so much because of a collaborative management structure that began in 2001. Under this structure, Cisco forms a council around each of the company's priorities, but one leader gets some decision-making abilities.

One such group oversaw the rise of "StadiumVision" – Cisco's video and digital content technology for sporting venues. It began in 2007, when Cisco's CEO, John Chambers, was at a basketball game and saw kids text-messaging on their phones. Chambers decided that Cisco needed to take advantage of digital shifts in sports. He put four executives, including De Beer, in charge of building the company's sports and entertainment board. These executives gathered people and funds from their own departments, and within a year StadiumVision became a $100 million-plus business for Cisco.