Cisco, however, hopes that Europe will do more than hold up. In key sectors such as optical networking and Internet commerce, the European market could expand at compound annual rates of more than 120 percent, Gartner concluded. Their business was drying up so fast they were being forced to postpone key investments. That's when we knew we had to shift gears real fast and look abroad, to a greater extent than in the past. Cisco is confident that the U.S. Internet bust won't be repeated in Europe, at least for a while, and that the firm can prosper there in the meantime.
Chambers has a history of finding opportunity in gloomy situations.
During the Asian financial turmoil three years ago, when foreign investors bolted for the door, Cisco expanded its investments there and boosted market share to as much as 70 percent in some Southeast Asian markets. What our customers think of as our primary added-value has changed seven times in the past decade. Our challenge is to stay abreast and even drive the transformation of the global economy. The man on the spot in Cisco's quest to expand in Europe is Bill Nuti, architect of the company's Asia success. When he arrived here 18 months ago after being promoted to head of operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the energetic Long Islander recalls, he was depressed by the immense obstacles posed by a maze of European government regulations, an aversion to new ideas and a lack of entrepreneurial spirit.