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Cisco

Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, software, telecommunications equipment and other high-technology services and products. Cisco specializes in specific tech markets, such as the Internet of things (IoT), domain security, videoconferencing, and energy management with products including Webex, OpenDNS, Jabber, Duo Security, Silicon One, and Jasper.

Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandy Lerner, two Stanford University computer scientists who had been instrumental in connecting computers at Stanford. They pioneered the concept of a local area network (LAN) being used to connect distant computers over a multiprotocol router system. The company went public in 1990 and, by the end of the dot-com bubble in the year 2000, had a market capitalization of $500 billion, surpassing Microsoft as the world's most valuable company.

Cisco stock (CSCO) was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also included in the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, the Russell 1000, and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock indices.

1984–1995: Origins and initial growth

Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by Sandy Lerner along with her husband Leonard Bosack. Lerner was the director of computer facilities for the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Bosack was in charge of the Stanford University computer science department's computers.

Cisco's initial product has roots in Stanford University's campus technology. In the early 1980s students and staff at Stanford, including Bosack, used technology on the campus to link all of the school's computer systems to talk to one another, creating a box that functioned as a multiprotocol router called the "Blue Box". The Blue Box used circuitry made by Andy Bechtolsheim, and software that was originally written at Stanford by research engineer William Yeager. Due to the underlying architecture, and its ability to scale well, Yeager's well-designed invention became a key to Cisco's early success.

In 1985, Bosack and Stanford employee Kirk Lougheed began a project to formally network Stanford's campus. They adapted Yeager's software into what became the foundation for Cisco IOS, despite Yeager's claims that he had been denied permission to sell the Blue Box commercially. On July 11, 1986, Bosack and Lougheed were forced to resign from Stanford and the university contemplated filing criminal complaints against Cisco and its founders for the theft of its software, hardware designs, and other intellectual properties. In 1987, Stanford licensed the router software and two computer boards to Cisco. In addition to Bosack, Lerner, Lougheed, Greg Satz (a programmer), and Richard Troiano (who handled sales), completed the early Cisco team. The company's first CEO was Bill Graves, who held the position from 1987 to 1988. In 1988, John Morgridge was appointed CEO.

The name "Cisco" was derived from the city name San Francisco, which is why the company's engineers insisted on using the lower case "cisco" in its early years. The logo is intended to depict the two towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.

On February 16, 1990, Cisco Systems went public with a market capitalization of $224 million, and was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. On August 28, 1990, Lerner was fired. Upon hearing the news, her husband Bosack resigned in protest.

Although Cisco was not the first company to develop and sell dedicated network nodes, it was one of the first to sell commercially successful routers supporting multiple network protocols. Classical, CPU-based architecture of early Cisco devices coupled with flexibility of operating system IOS allowed for keeping up with evolving technology needs by means of frequent software upgrades. Some popular models of that time (such as Cisco 2500) managed to stay in production for almost a decade virtually unchanged. The company was quick to capture the emerging service provider environment, entering the SP market with product lines such as Cisco 7000 and Cisco 8500.

Between 1992 and 1994, Cisco acquired several companies in Ethernet switching, such as Kalpana, Grand Junction and most notably, Mario Mazzola's Crescendo Communications, which together formed the Catalyst business unit. At the time, the company envisioned layer 3 routing and layer 2 (Ethernet, Token Ring) switching as complementary functions of different intelligence and architecture—the former was slow and complex, the latter was fast but simple. This philosophy dominated the company's product lines throughout the 1990s.

In 1995, John Morgridge was succeeded by John T. Chambers.

1996–2005: Internet and silicon intelligence
The Internet Protocol (IP) became widely adopted in the mid-to-late 1990s. Cisco introduced products ranging from modem access shelves (AS5200) to core GSR routers, making them a major player in the market. In late March 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, Cisco became the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than $500 billion. As of July 2014, with a market cap of about US$129 billion, it was still one of the most valuable companies.

The perceived complexity of programming routing functions in silicon led to the formation of several startups determined to find new ways to process IP and MPLS packets entirely in hardware and blur boundaries between routing and switching. One of them, Juniper Networks, shipped their first product in 1999 and by 2000 chipped away about 30% from Cisco SP Market share. In response, Cisco later developed homegrown ASICs and fast processing cards for GSR routers and Catalyst 6500 switches. In 2004, Cisco also started the migration to new high-end hardware CRS-1 and software architecture IOS XR.

2006–2012: The Human Network
As part of a rebranding campaign in 2006, Cisco Systems adopted the shortened name "Cisco" and created "The Human Network" advertising campaign. These efforts were meant to make Cisco a "household" brand—a strategy designed to support the low-end Linksys products and future consumer products.

On the more traditional business side, Cisco continued to develop its routing, switching and security portfolio. The quickly growing importance of Ethernet also influenced the company's product lines. Limits of IOS and aging Crescendo architecture also forced Cisco to look at merchant silicon in the carrier Ethernet segment. This resulted in a new ASR 9000 product family intended to consolidate the company's carrier Ethernet and subscriber management business around EZChip-based hardware and IOS-XR.

Throughout the mid-2000s, Cisco also built a significant presence in India, establishing its Globalization Centre East in Bangalore for $1 billion. Cisco also expanded into new markets by acquisition—one example being a 2009 purchase of mobile specialist Starent Networks.

Cisco continued to be challenged by both domestic competitors Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper Networks, and an overseas competitor Huawei. Due to lower-than-expected profit in 2011, Cisco reduced annual expenses by $1 billion. The company cut around 3,000 employees with an early-retirement program who accepted a buyout and planned to eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs (around 14 percent of the 73,400 total employees before curtailment). During the 2011 analyst call, Cisco's CEO John Chambers called out several competitors by name, including Juniper and HP.

On July 24, 2012, Cisco received approval from the EU to acquire NDS (a TV software developer) for US$5 billion. In 2013, Cisco sold its Linksys home-router unit to Belkin International Inc., signaling a shift to sales to businesses rather than consumers.

2013–present
On July 23, 2013, Cisco Systems announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sourcefire for $2.7 billion. On August 14, 2013, Cisco Systems announced it would cut 4,000 jobs from its workforce, which was roughly 6%, starting in 2014. At the end of 2013, Cisco announced poor revenue due to depressed sales in emerging markets, caused by economic uncertainty and by fears of the National Security Agency planting backdoors in its products.

In April 2014, Cisco announced funding for early-stage firms to focus on the Internet of Things. The investment fund was allocated to investments in IoT accelerators and startups such as The Alchemist Accelerator, Ayla Networks and EVRYTHNG. Later that year, the company announced it was laying off another 6,000 workers or 8% of its global workforce, as part of a second restructuring. On November 4, 2014, Cisco announced an investment in Stratoscale.

On May 4, 2015, Cisco announced CEO and Chairman John Chambers would step down as CEO on July 26, 2015, but remain chairman. Chuck Robbins, senior vice president of worldwide sales & operations and 17-year Cisco veteran, was announced as the next CEO. On July 23, 2015, Cisco announced the divestiture of its television set-top-box and cable modem business to Technicolor SA for $600 million, a division originally formed by Cisco's $6.9 billion purchase of Scientific Atlanta. The deal came as part of Cisco's gradual exit from the consumer market, and as part of an effort by Cisco's new leadership to focus on cloud-based products in enterprise segments. Cisco indicated that it would still collaborate with Technicolor on video products. On November 19, 2015, Cisco, alongside ARM Holdings, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and Princeton University, founded the OpenFog Consortium, to promote interests and development in fog computing.

In January 2016, Cisco invested in VeloCloud, a software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) start-up with a cloud offering for configuring and optimizing branch office networks. Cisco contributed to VeloCloud's $27 million Series C round, led by March Capital Partners.

In February 2017, Cisco launched a cloud-based secure internet gateway, called Cisco Umbrella, to provide safe internet access to users who do not use their corporate networks or VPNs to connect to remote data centers. Immediately after reporting their fourth-quarter earnings for 2017, Cisco's price-per-share value jumped by over 7%, while its earnings per share ratio increased from 60 to 61 cents per share, due in part to Cisco's outperformance of analyst expectations. In September 2017, Chambers announced that he would step down from the executive chairman role at the end of his term on the board in December 2017. On December 11, 2017, Robbins was elected to succeed Chambers as executive chairman while retaining his role as CEO, and Chambers was given the title of "Chairman Emeritus".

Reuters reported that "Cisco Systems Inc's (CSCO.O) product revenue in Russia grew 20 percent in 2017, ahead of Cisco's technology product revenue growth in the other so-called BRIC countries of Brazil, China and India."

On May 1, 2018, Cisco Systems agreed to buy AI-driven business intelligence startup Accompany for $270 million. As of June 2018, Cisco Systems ranked 444th on Forbes Global 2000 list, with $221.3 billion market cap.

In 2019, Cisco acquired CloudCherry, a customer experience management company, and Voicea, an artificial intelligence company.

In 2019, Cisco also introduced the "Silicon One" ASIC chip with the G100 model reaching a speed of 25.6 Tbit/s. The Silicon One competes against the Tomahawk series by Broadcom the Nvidia Spectrum, the Marvell Teralynx and the Intel Tofino. In 2023, the Silicon One G200 will offer a speed of 51.2 Tbit/sec.

In March 2020, SVP and GM of Enterprise Networking David Goeckeler left to become CEO of Western Digital. and was replaced by Todd Nightingale, head of Cisco Meraki. In October 2022, Cisco announced a partnership adding the Microsoft Teams app to its meeting devices.

In 2022, Cisco completely curtailed sales of its equipment in Russia due to Russian invasion of Ukraine, and completely discontinued service for already-sold devices. In April 2023, it became known that the company had destroyed equipment, spare parts, and even vehicles and office furniture worth 1.86 billion rubles (about $23 million) due to the impossibility of re-exporting. In February 2023, Cisco also wrote off the debt of the Russian mobile operator MTS in the amount of 1.234 billion rubles. As expected, these are unpaid amounts for previous equipment deliveries. In 2023, Cisco announced plans to begin manufacturing equipment in India.

On 15 February 2024, Cisco announced it would lay off more than 4,000 employees, or 5% of its global workforce, and lowered its annual revenue forecast due to economic challenges and reduced demand from telecom and cable service providers.

On 24 April 2024, Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, met with Pope Francis and signed the Rome Call for AI ethics at the Vatican, endorsing the document's principles for responsible and ethical AI use.

Finance
For the fiscal year 2023, Cisco reported earnings of US$12.6 billion, with an annual revenue of US$57 billion, an increase of 10.6% over the previous fiscal cycle. Cisco's shares traded at over $43 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at US$213.2 billion in September 2018.

Acquisitions and subsidiaries
Cisco acquired a variety of companies to spin products and talent into the company. In 1995–1996 the company completed 11 acquisitions. Several acquisitions, such as Stratacom, were one of the biggest deals in the industry when they occurred. During the Internet boom in 1999, the company acquired Cerent Corporation, a start-up company located in Petaluma, California, for about US$7 billion. It was the most expensive acquisition made by Cisco to that date, and only the acquisition of Scientific Atlanta has been larger. In 1999, Cisco also acquired a stake for $1 billion in KPMG Consulting to enable establishing Internet firm Metrius founded by Keyur Patel of Fuse. Several acquired companies have grown into $1Bn+ business units for Cisco, including LAN switching, Enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) platform Webex and home networking. The latter came as result of Cisco acquiring Linksys in 2003 and in 2010 was supplemented with new product line dubbed Cisco Valet.

Cisco announced on January 12, 2005, that it would acquire Airespace for US$450 million to reinforce the wireless controller product lines.

Cisco announced on January 4, 2007, that it would buy IronPort in a deal valued at US$830 million and completed the acquisition on June 25, 2007. IronPort was best known for its IronPort AntiSpam, its SenderBase email reputation service and its email security appliances. Accordingly, IronPort was integrated into the Cisco Security business unit. Ironport's Senderbase was renamed as Sensorbase to take account of the input into this database that other Cisco devices provide. SensorBase allows these devices to build a risk profile on IP addresses, therefore allowing risk profiles to be dynamically created on http sites and SMTP email sources.

In 2010, Cisco bought Starent Networks (a mobile packet core company) for $2.9 billion and Moto Development Group, a product design consulting firm that helped develop Cisco's Flip video camera. Also in 2010, Cisco became a key stakeholder in e-Skills Week. In March 2011, Cisco completed the acquisition of privately held network configuration and change management software company Pari Networks.

Although many buy-ins (such as Crescendo Networks in 1993, Tandberg in 2010) resulted in acquisition of flagship technology to Cisco, many others have failed—partially or completely. For instance, in 2010 Cisco occupied a meaningful share of the packet-optical market, revenues were still not on par with US$7 billion price tag paid in 1999 for Cerent. Some of acquired technologies (such as Flip from Pure Digital) saw their product lines terminated.

Cisco announced on March 15, 2012, that it would acquire NDS Group for $5bn. The transaction was completed on July 30, 2012.

In January 2013, Cisco Systems acquired Israeli software maker Intucell for around $475 million in cash, a move to expand its mobile network management offerings. In the same month, Cisco Systems acquired Cognitive Security, a company focused on Cyber Threat Protection. Cisco also acquired SolveDirect (cloud services) in March 2013 and UK-based Ubiquisys (mobile software) in April 2013 for $310 million.

Cisco acquired cyber-security firm Sourcefire, in October 2013. On June 16, 2014, Cisco announced that it has completed the acquisition of ThreatGRID, a company that provided dynamic malware analysis and threat intelligence technology.

On June 17, 2014, Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Tail-f Systems, a leader in configuration management software.

On April 2, 2015, Cisco announced plans to buy Embrane, a software-defined networking startup. The deal will give Cisco Embrane's software platform, which provides layer 3–7 network services for things such as firewalls, VPN termination, server load balancers and SSL offload.

On May 7, 2015, Cisco announced plans to buy Tropo, a cloud API platform that simplifies the addition of real-time communications and collaboration capabilities within applications.

On June 30, 2015, Cisco acquired privately held OpenDNS, the company best known for its DNS service that adds a level of security by monitoring domain name requests.

On August 6, 2015, Cisco announced that it has completed the acquisition of privately held MaintenanceNet, the US-based company best known for its cloud-based contract management platform ServiceExchange. On the same month, Cisco acquired Pawaa, a privately held company in Bangalore, India that provides secure on-premises and cloud-based file-sharing software.

On September 30, 2015, Cisco announced its intent to acquire privately held Portcullis Computer Security, a UK-based company that provides cybersecurity services to enterprise clients and the government sectors.

On October 26, 2015, Cisco announced its intent to acquire ParStream, a privately held company based in Cologne, Germany, that provides an analytics database that allows companies to analyze large amounts of data and store it in near real-time anywhere in the network.

On October 27, 2015, Cisco announced that it would acquire Lancope, a company that focuses on detecting threat activity, for $452.5 million in a cash-and-equity deal.

On June 28, 2016, Cisco announced its intent to acquire CloudLock, a privately held cloud security company founded in 2011 by three Israeli military veterans, for $293 million. The deal was expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.

In August 2016, Cisco announced it is getting closer to making a deal to acquire Springpath, the startup whose technology is used in Cisco's HyperFlex Systems. Cisco already owns an undisclosed stake in the hyper-converged provider. In September 2023, Cisco announced discontinuation of its HyperFlex infrastructure products.

In January 2017, Cisco announced they would acquire AppDynamics, a company that monitors application performance, for $3.7 billion. The acquisition came just one day before AppDynamics was set to IPO.

On January 26, 2017, Cisco founded the Innovation Alliance in Germany with eleven other companies bringing together 40 sites and 2,000 staff to provide small businesses in Germany with expertise.

On August 1, 2017, Cisco completed the acquisition of Viptela Inc. for $610 million in cash and assumed equity awards. Viptela was a privately held software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) company based in San Jose, Ca.

On October 23, 2017, Cisco Systems announced it would be acquiring Broadsoft for $1.9 Billion to further entrench itself in the cloud communication and collaboration area.

On August 7, 2020, Cisco completed its acquisition of network intelligence company ThousandEyes for around $1 billion.

On October 1, 2020, Cisco announced that it would be acquiring Israeli startup Portshift for a reported $100 million.

On December 7, 2020, Cisco announced that it would be acquiring Slido to improve Q&A, polls and engagement in WebEx videoconferencing

On December 7, 2020, Cisco announced the acquisition of U.K based IMImobile in a $730M deal.

On May 3, 2021, Cisco completed its acquisition of Q&A and polling platform Slido, which they offered both as a standalone product and with integrations.

In 2023, Cisco acquired the following cybersecurity companies: Valtix, Lightspin, and Armorblox. Cisco also announced its intention to acquire networking and security startup Isovalent later that year.

On September 21, 2023, Cisco announced the acquisition of cybersecurity firm Splunk in a $28 billion deal, its biggest acquisition yet, and the acquisition is announced to be completed on March 18, 2024.

Ownership
As of 2017 Cisco Systems shares are mainly held by institutional investors (The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street Corporation and others ).

Facilities
Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, California at 170 West Tasman Dr. with dozens of buildings comprising its corporate campus. Over 15,000 full-time employees are based at the San Jose campus and the surrounding Bay Area. Cisco's second largest campus in the United States is located at Research Triangle Park in North Carolina with 7,000 employees spanning across 12 buildings.

In August 2020, Cisco announced the creation of a new 130,000 square feet Midwest headquarters in Chicago at the Old Chicago Main Post Office accommodating 1,200 employees. Cisco maintains over 200 corporate offices in more than 80 countries.

In July 2021, Cisco announced all employees the option to work remotely on a permanent basis.

Products and services
Cisco's products and services focus on three market segments—enterprise, service provider, midsize and small business.

Cisco provides IT products and services across five major technology areas: networking (including Ethernet, optical, wireless and mobility), security, collaboration (including voice, video, and data), data center, and the Internet of things.

Cisco has grown increasingly popular in the Asia-Pacific region over the last three decades and is the dominant vendor in the Australian market with leadership across all market segments. It uses its Australian office as one of the main headquarters for the Asia-Pacific region.

VoIP services
Cisco became a major provider of Voice over IP to enterprises and is now moving into the home user market through its acquisitions of Scientific Atlanta and Linksys.

Hosted Collaboration Solution (HCS)
Cisco partners can offer cloud-based services based on Cisco's virtualized Unified Computing System (UCS). A part of the Cisco Unified Services Delivery Solution that includes hosted versions of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (UCM), Cisco Unified Contact Center, Cisco Unified Mobility, Cisco Unified Presence, Cisco Unity Connection (unified messaging) and Cisco Webex Meeting Center.

Network Emergency Response
As part of its Crisis Response initiative, Cisco maintains several Network Emergency Response Vehicles (NERV)s. The vehicles are maintained and deployed by Cisco employees during natural disasters and other public crises. The vehicles are self-contained and provide wired and wireless services including voice and radio interoperability, voice over IP, network-based video surveillance and secured high-definition video-conferencing for leaders and first responders in crisis areas with up to 3-72 Mbit/s of bandwidth (up and down) via a 1.8-meter satellite antenna.

NERVs are based at Cisco headquarters sites in San Jose, California, and at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, allowing strategic deployment in North America. They can become fully operational within 15 minutes of arrival. High-capacity diesel fuel-tanks allow the largest vehicles to run for up to 72 hours continuously. The NERV has been deployed to incidents such as the October 2007 California wildfires; hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Katrina; the 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion, tornado outbreaks in North Carolina and Alabama in 2011; and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The Crisis Response Operations team maintains and deploys smaller, more portable communication kits to emergencies outside of North America. In 2010, the team deployed to assist in earthquake recovery in Haiti and Christchurch (New Zealand). In 2011, they deployed to flooding in Brazil, as well as in response to the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

In 2011, Cisco received the Innovation Preparedness award from the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter for its development and use of these vehicles in disasters.

Certifications
Cisco Systems also sponsors a line of IT professional certifications for Cisco products. There are five (path to network designers) levels of certification: Entry (CCT), Associate (CCNA/CCDA), Specialist(Cisco Certified Specialist), Professional (CCNP/CCDP), Expert (CCIE/CCDE) and recently Architect (CCAr: CCDE previous), as well as eight different paths, Collaboration, CyberOps, Data Center, DevNet, Enterprise, Security, and Service Provider.

A number of specialist technicians, sales, and datacenter certifications are also available.

Cisco also provides training for these certifications via a portal called the Cisco Networking Academy. Qualifying schools can become members of the Cisco Networking Academy and then provide CCNA level or other level courses. Cisco Academy Instructors must be CCNA certified to be a CCAI certified instructor.

Cisco is involved with technical education in 180 countries with its Cisco Academy program. In March 2013, Cisco announced its interest in Myanmar by investing in two Cisco Networking Academies in Yangon and Mandalay and a channel partner network.

Awards and accolades
Cisco products, including IP phones and Telepresence, have been seen in movies and TV series. The company was featured in the documentary film Something Ventured which premiered in 2011.

Cisco was a 2002–03 recipient of the Ron Brown Award, a U.S. presidential honor to recognize companies "for the exemplary quality of their relationships with employees and communities". Cisco ranked number one in Great Place to Work's World's Best Workplaces 2019. In 2020, Fortune magazine ranked Cisco Systems at number four on their Fortune List of the Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2020 based on an employee survey of satisfaction.

According to a report by technology consulting firm LexInnova, Cisco was one of the leading recipients of network security-related patents with the largest portfolio within other companies (6,442 security-related patents) in 2015.

In 2024, Cisco was awarded Best Office Phone for its CP-8861 model by PhonePrices.co.uk.

Sponsorship
In February 2021, Webex signed a multi-year partnership with McLaren Racing as the Official Collaboration Partner of the team. In the following year, the partnership was extended to Cisco as the Official Technology Partner of the team. In October 2023, Cisco was announced as the Official Primary Partner of the McLaren F1 Academy programme. Cisco's branding will be carried on Bianca Bustamante's car, race suit and team kit in the 2024 F1 Academy season.

Shareholder relations
A class action lawsuit filed on April 20, 2001, accused Cisco of making misleading statements that "were relied on by purchasers of Cisco stock" and of insider trading. While Cisco denied all allegations in the suit, on August 18, 2006, Cisco's liability insurers, its directors and officers paid the plaintiffs US$91.75 million to settle the suit.

Intellectual property disputes
On December 11, 2008, the Free Software Foundation filed suit against Cisco regarding Cisco's failure to comply with the GPL and LGPL licenses and make the applicable source code publicly available. On May 20, 2009, Cisco settled this lawsuit by complying with FSF licensing terms and making a monetary contribution to the FSF.

In October 2020, Cisco was ordered to pay US$1.9 billion to Centripetal Networks for infringement on four cybersecurity patents.

Censorship in China
Cisco has been criticized for its involvement in censorship in the People's Republic of China. According to author Ethan Gutmann, Cisco and other telecommunications equipment providers supplied the Chinese government with surveillance and Internet infrastructure equipment that is used to block Internet websites and track online activities in China. Cisco has stated that it does not customize or develop specialized or unique filtering capabilities to enable governments to block access to information and that it sells the same equipment in China as it sells worldwide.

Wired News had uncovered a leaked, confidential Cisco PowerPoint presentation that detailed the commercial opportunities of the Golden Shield Project of Internet control. In May 2011, a group of Falun Gong practitioners filed a lawsuit under the Alien Tort Statute alleging that Cisco knowingly developed and customized its product to assist the Chinese government in prosecution and abuse of Falun Gong practitioners. The lawsuit was dismissed in September 2014 by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which decision was appealed to United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in September 2015. On July 7, 2023, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the lower court's decision and ruled the lawsuit may proceed to trial.

Tax fraud investigation
In October 2007, employees of Cisco's Brazilian unit were arrested on charges that they had imported equipment without paying import duties. In response, Cisco stated that they do not import directly into Brazil, and instead use middlemen.

Antitrust lawsuit
On December 1, 2008, Multiven filed an antitrust lawsuit against Cisco Systems, Inc. Multiven's complaint alleges that Cisco harmed Multiven and consumers by bundling and tying bug fixes/patches and updates for its operating system software to its maintenance services (SMARTnet). In May 2010, Cisco accused the person who filed the antitrust suit, British-Nigerian technology entrepreneur Peter Alfred-Adekeye, with hacking and pressured the US government to extradite him from Canada. Cisco settled the antitrust lawsuit two months after Alfred-Adekeye's arrest by making its software updates available to all Multiven customers.

Remotely monitoring users' connections
Cisco's Linksys E2700, E3500, E4500 devices have been reported to be remotely updated to a firmware version that forces users to register for a cloud service, allows Cisco to monitor their network use and ultimately shut down the cloud service account and thus render the affected router unusable.

Firewall backdoor developed by NSA
According to the German magazine Der Spiegel the NSA has developed JETPLOW for gaining access to ASA (series 5505, 5510, 5520, 5540 and 5550) and 500-series PIX Firewalls.

Cisco's Chief Security Officer addressed the allegations publicly and denied working with any government to weaken Cisco products for exploitation or to implement security backdoors.

A document included in the trove of National Security Agency files released with Glenn Greenwald's book No Place to Hide details how the agency's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit and other NSA employees intercept servers, routers and other network gear being shipped to organizations targeted for surveillance and install covert firmware onto them before they are delivered. These Trojan horse systems were described by an NSA manager as being "some of the most productive operations in TAO because they pre-position access points into hard target networks around the world."

Cisco denied the allegations in a customer document saying that no information was included about specific Cisco products, supply chain intervention or implant techniques, or new security vulnerabilities. Cisco's general counsel also said that Cisco does not work with any government, including the United States government, to weaken its products. The allegations are reported to have prompted the company's CEO to express concern to the President of the United States. Whistle blowers like Edward Snowden, and journalist reporter Julian Assange have echoed similar sentiments publicly.

Spherix patent suit
In March 2014, Cisco Systems was sued for patent infringement. Spherix says that over $43 billion of Cisco's sales infringe on old Nortel patents owned by Spherix. Officials with Spherix are saying that a wide range of Cisco products, from switches to routers, infringe on 11 former Nortel patents that the company now owns.

India net censorship role
Cisco Systems is alleged to be helping the Indian Jammu and Kashmir administration build a firewall that will prevent Internet users in Kashmir from accessing blacklisted websites, including social media portals, through fixed-line connections. Cisco denies the allegations.

Caste discrimination lawsuit
In 2020, a lawsuit was initiated against Cisco and two of its employees by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for alleged discrimination against an Indian engineer on account of him being from a lower caste than them.

Xinjiang
In 2020, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute accused at least 82 major brands, including Cisco, of being connected to forced Uyghur labor in Xinjiang.

title: Cisco


text:
Talk:AMD

Let's improve the articles about AMD topics
In the last months and weeks I have been working on improving the articles about AMD topics, e.g. templates, articles about CPUs, GPUs, etc. I just want to encourage everyone to achieve this goal together.

I noticed that most of the articles about AMD topics are not on the same level as the articles about Intel and Nvidia topics. These issues are both about quality, e.g. outdated information, and quantity, e.g. lack of details.

Together we can make the articles about AMD topics even better. Thanks for your help! --Soluvo (talk) 11:07, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

 * Thank you all for your previous work! . --Soluvo (talk) 11:15, 8 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your  on the RDNA 2 article. --Soluvo (talk) 11:15, 8 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks to for their work on Draft:Zen 3. --Soluvo (talk) 17:03, 8 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks to for various edits and improvements! --Soluvo (talk) 17:16, 8 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks to for adding more content to the article Radeon RX 6000 series. --Soluvo (talk) 10:41, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks to for adding more content to the article RDNA (microarchitecture). --Soluvo (talk) 10:48, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks to for trying to improve the situation :)
 * Thanks to for their various additions and edits on multiple AMD articles. --Soluvo (talk) 19:47, 7 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks to for his contributions to the article RDNA (microarchitecture). --Soluvo (talk) 09:03, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you for creating the article RDNA 3 and for various other edits! --Soluvo (talk) 17:44, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I know this is a bit late but I just wanted to say I appreciate the shoutout! I am an AMD enthusiast myself and the overall lack of coverage and article quality on AMD products is a big part of what made me came here and start editing in Oct 2022!
 * I've made considerable (over hundreds of) contributions in the 1.5 years' time that I've been here for, but I am not done yet! I've got a number of more to-dos in regards to AMD articles and it'll probably be a never-ending cycle for me. — AP 499D25  (talk)  01:20, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Table for comparison of AMD, Nvidia and Intel topics
I have created this table to help me find similar subjects. Maybe you find it helpful too.

 * In the row that links List of AMD Ryzen microprocessors, currently no Intel equivalent is listed. While there's no "list of Intel Core processors" article, the closest thing to an equivalent exists as 4 separate articles: List of Intel Core i3 microprocessors, List of Intel Core i5 processors, List of Intel Core i7 microprocessors and List of Intel Core i9 processors. Should these be added to the table perhaps? – numbermaniac  03:14, 21 January 2021 (UTC)

 * Thanks, a very good suggestion! I just added the four lists about Intel Core processors to the table. --Soluvo (talk) 23:04, 24 January 2022 (UTC)

 * Thanks, I've added 2 articles to the Nvidia column. - nathanielcwm (talk) 13:50, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

AMD CDNA: data center compute GPUs
As far as I can tell there is no information on Wikipedia about AMD's CDNA data center compute GPUs. CDNA stands for Compute DNA just like RDNA stands for Radeon DNA.

Here are some links about it:
 * https://www.amd.com/en/press-releases/2020-03-05-amd-details-strategy-to-deliver-best-class-growth-and-strong-shareholder
 * https://ir.amd.com/static-files/fd06c15e-0241-424d-9fd9-5a469d96012d
 * https://www.anandtech.com/show/15593/amd-unveils-cdna-gpu-architecture-a-dedicated-gpu-architecture-for-data-centers
 * https://www.zdnet.com/article/amd-unveils-new-gpu-architecture-for-data-center-compute-workloads/
 * https://www.overclock3d.net/news/gpu_displays/amd_reveals_cdna_a_compute-focused_gpu_architecture_that_s_separate_from_rdna/1
 * https://www.pcworld.com/article/3531413/amd-cdna-compute-gpus-radeon-rdna-graphics-cards.html
 * https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/307085-amd-announces-cdna-rdna2-architectures

--Soluvo (talk) 13:56, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

 * See also: CDNA (disambiguation). --Soluvo (talk) 23:27, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

 * I don't understand wikipedians that overly cautious. You have made a significant personal research, you could write about your findings directly in the article. Maxorazon (talk) 15:30, 23 January 2022 (UTC)

Why does Bill Gaede feature at the top of the "See Also" list?
He is tangentially related to AMD at best - not sure what the basis for including him in such a prominent position is? Without objection I'll remove him and add a reference to the relevant time period in the history section. Sahrin (talk) 10:36, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

The addition was made in 2012 by an argentinian user. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:%D0%AE%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B5 Sahrin (talk) 10:41, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

Could there be a one AMG in kenya,and if so one is almost invade Kindly how can it be restored.thanks to the wikipedia.
can 2C0F:FE38:2327:CF36:1:0:A6CC:D310 (talk) 03:30, 15 March 2023 (UTC)

"Blockchain Game Alliance"
Regarding this edit if the Blockchain Game Alliance is encyclopedically significant enough to mention, cite a reliable, WP:IS explaining to readers why it is significant. Press releases are neither reliable nor WP:IS and cannot demonstrate significance. Blockchain Game Alliance redirects to Blockchain_game, where the "Alliance" is given precisely one sentence, and no indication of importance is mentioned.

Our goal isn't to cram in any and all factoids which can be sourced, it is to explain things to readers to they understand the larger topic. Regurgitating a press release doesn't help readers understand this topic, nor does it indicate why they should look into it any further.

To put it another way, tell readers why they should care and use better sources to do it.

It is inappropriate to use promotional or flimsy sources to imply a level of significance when those sources do not support such significance. Wikipedia is not a platform for advocacy or promotion. Grayfell (talk) 03:51, 11 May 2023 (UTC)

Data sheets of the products
Unlike Intel AMD is well know for keeping its products technical documentation (datasheets on chipsets, CPUs etc). This fact should be reflected in the article I think. Thanks! AXO NOV (talk) ⚑ 12:00, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:AMD


text:
Marco van Basten

Marcel "Marco" van Basten (born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch former football manager and player who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he scored 300 goals in a high-profile career, but played his last match in 1993, at the age of 28, due to an ankle injury which forced him to announce his retirement two years later. He was later the head coach of Ajax and the Netherlands national team.

Known for his close ball control, attacking intelligence, impeccable headers, and spectacular strikes and volleys, Van Basten was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992 and won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1988, 1989 and 1992. At club level, he won three Eredivisie titles and the Cup Winners' Cup with Ajax, and four Serie A titles and two European Cups with Milan. With the Netherlands, Van Basten won UEFA Euro 1988 where he earned the Golden Boot, scoring five goals, including a memorable volley in the final against the Soviet Union, considered one of the best ever.

In 1998, Van Basten was ranked sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll, tenth in the European player of the Century election held by the IFFHS and 12th in the IFFHS' World Player of the Century election. He was also voted eighth in a poll organised by the French magazine France Football, consulting their former Ballon d'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players. In 2004, a poll for the 100 greatest Dutch people was held in the Netherlands: Van Basten ranked number 25, the second highest for a football player, behind Johan Cruyff. In 2007, Sky Sports ranked Van Basten first on its list of great athletes who had their careers cut short.

Early years
Marco van Basten was born on 31 October 1964 in Utrecht and grew up in the Oog In Al neighborhood. He began playing for a local team, EDO, when he was six years old. A year later, he moved to UVV Utrecht. After nine years there, he briefly played for another club from Utrecht, Elinkwijk.

Ajax

Ajax signed 16-year-old Marco for the 1981–82 season after his 19-year-old brother Stanley was rejected. Their father Joop had kept the younger son at another club with the hope that Ajax would take Stanley in professionally. He played his first match for Ajax on 3 April 1982, coming on as a substitute for Johan Cruyff, and scoring a debut goal in the team's 5–0 victory over NEC.

In the 1982–83 season, he competed with the European top scorer and first choice Holland international Wim Kieft for the position of centre forward, and scored nine goals in 20 league matches. Ajax chose to sell Kieft to Italian Serie A club Pisa the following season, and 18 year old Van Basten solidified his position as his team's main attacker similarly in the national team.

He was the top scorer in the league for four consecutive seasons, from 1983–84 to 1986–87, scoring 118 goals in 112 matches. In the 1985–86 season, he scored 37 goals in 26 league matches, including six goals against Sparta Rotterdam and five against Heracles Almelo, and won the European Golden Boot. He also scored the winning goal in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against Lokomotive Leipzig in 1987. In total he scored 128 goals in 133 league matches for Ajax. In November 1986 he scored his most famous goal in an Ajax jersey, a spectacular overhead kick against FC Den Bosch.

AC Milan
In 1987, Milan president Silvio Berlusconi signed Van Basten, along with fellow countryman Ruud Gullit. In 1988, the Dutch legion got completed when Frank Rijkaard joined the club (at the time only three non-Italians were allowed). In his first season, Milan won their first Scudetto in eight years, but Van Basten played only 11 matches and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury. In 1988–89, van Basten won the Ballon d'Or as Europe's top footballer. He scored 19 goals in Serie A and 32 goals in all competitions that year, including two goals in the final of the European Cup, as Milan triumphed against Steaua București. In 1989–90, he became Capocannoniere again (Serie A's leading goal scorer); Milan also successfully defended the European Cup after beating Benfica 1–0 in the final match, during which Van Basten provided the assist for Rijkaard's match-winning goal.

Milan struggled in the 1990–91 season, as Sampdoria won the Scudetto. After Van Basten fell out with Arrigo Sacchi, Berlusconi sacked the manager. Fabio Capello took over the following season, and Milan went undefeated in the league to win another Scudetto. Van Basten scored 25 league goals, and became Capocannoniere again; his tally from the 1991–92 season was the highest number of goals that a player had scored in a single Serie A season since Luís Vinício achieved the same tally during the 1965–66 season.

In November 1992, he became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League match, against IFK Göteborg, including a picture perfect bicycle kick. In December 1992, Van Basten was named FIFA World Player of the Year. Milan stretched their unbeaten run into the 1992–93 season, going 58 matches over two seasons before they lost a match. Van Basten was exceptional in the early part of the season. He was again voted the European player of the year, becoming the third player after Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini to win the award three times.

His troublesome ankle injury recurred in a game against Ancona, forcing him to endure another six-month layoff, and undergo a series of surgeries. He returned for the last few matches in the season, before Milan lost 1–0 to Marseille in the Champions League final. The match was Van Basten's final match for the Italian club. He came off in the 86th minute for Stefano Eranio, after a hard tackle behind from Basile Boli condemned Van Basten to the third ankle surgery of his career.

Van Basten had been hopeful of playing for his country at the 1994 World Cup as well as for his club in the 1994–95 season after spending the whole 1993–94 season out of action (missing Milan's victory in the European Cup as well as their Serie A title glory), but his club ordered him not to take part in the World Cup amid fear of ruining his rehabilitation. He finally conceded defeat in his battle to recover on 17 August 1995, when he announced his retirement as a player after two whole years on the sidelines. Van Basten made a farewell appearance to thank the Milan fans before a home game at the San Siro, with an emotional Milan coach Fabio Capello breaking down in tears.

International career
Van Basten's talent was already noticed at a young age and he was called up for the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship. He made his senior debut for the Netherlands national team that same year. His team-mates in the national team were all teenagers themselves Ruud Gullit, Gerald Vanenburg, Ronald Koeman and Frank Rijkaard as Holland was desperate to reclaim the success of the Cruyff generation in the 1970s. At UEFA Euro 1988, Van Basten played a pivotal role in the Dutch team's victorious campaign. He scored a total of five goals, including a hat trick against England in the first round, the winning goal in the semi-final against West Germany, and a spectacular volley from an acute angle in the 2–0 final against the Soviet Union, during which he also provided the assist for Gullit's opening goal. He finished the competition as the top scorer and was named player of the tournament. He was also included in team of the tournament. In a 2002 UK poll Van Basten's volley against the Soviet Union was ranked #21 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.

The Dutch national team exited the 1990 World Cup early, losing 2–1 to eventual champions West Germany in the second round. Van Basten never scored in the World Cup finals. At UEFA Euro 1992, the Netherlands defeated reigning World Champions Germany 3–1 in the first round to top their group and reach the semi-finals, where they shockingly lost to the eventual champions Denmark in a penalty shootout, with Peter Schmeichel saving a penalty shot from Van Basten. Although he went scoreless throughout the tournament, he was included in team of the tournament for the second time in 1992.

Style of play
Regarded as one of the greatest and most complete strikers and players in the history of the sport, due to his prolific goalscoring and great skill set, Van Basten was dubbed the "Swan Of Utrecht" for his elegance and intelligent attacking play, and was known for his penchant for scoring acrobatic goals. His height and strength allowed him to excel in the air, and his technical ability and agility saw him execute spectacular strikes throughout his career, such as volleys and bicycle kicks. A fast and opportunistic striker with quick reactions and excellent movement, he often took advantage of loose balls in the penalty area due to his ability to anticipate defenders, and was capable of both controlling fast and difficult balls well with one touch, or even shooting first time. Possessing a powerful and accurate shot, and clinical, varied finishing from anywhere along the pitch, he was capable of scoring goals with either foot from inside or outside the penalty area, as well as with his head; he was also an accurate penalty kick and free-kick taker. Throughout his career, Van Basten converted 53 penalties out of the 57 he took, with a 93.0% success rate, the sixth highest in history, behind Ledio Pano (100%), Matthew Le Tissier (97.9%), Zico (97.8%), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (97.3%), and Ferenc Puskás (96.7%). Before taking penalties, Van Basten often used to perform a characteristic hop.

Although he was mainly known as a traditional attacker who operated in the penalty area as a centre-forward throughout his career, Van Basten also possessed excellent vision and distribution, in addition to his goalscoring ability, which enabled him to play in deeper, more creative positions, as a second striker, for example, and which allowed him to participate in the build-up of attacking plays and provide assists to his teammates in addition to scoring goals himself;    one of his most notable assists was the one he provided to Frank Rijkaard for Milan's winning goal in the 1990 European Cup final against Benfica. Despite his large stature, Van Basten possessed excellent technical skills and ball control, as well as good balance and a notable elegance on the ball, which inspired his nickname. As such, his strong physique, combined with his close control, also enabled him to hold up the ball for teammates when playing with his back to goal.

Despite his ability, Van Basten's career was severely affected by many grave injuries, which eventually forced him to retire from football prematurely at the age of 28. Lack of protection from referees and inadequate football rules against rugged defending and tackles from behind were identified as the source of the injuries which ultimately led to his career's demise; consequently, Van Basten's early retirement due to his injuries led to widespread debate in the football world over whether rash challenges from behind should be rendered illegal in football, in order to protect talented players more effectively. During the 1994 World Cup, an automatic red was also shown for tackles from behind or with studs showing. In 1998, prior to the World Cup that year, FIFA completely outlawed the tackle from behind; this ruling came to be known colloquially as the "Van Basten law" in the media. Although Van Basten was known for often being on the receiving end of hard challenges from his opponents throughout his career, former referee Daniele Tombolini described Van Basten as a player who was known for his physical play himself, and who utilised his strength and committed a lot of fouls during matches.

Reception and legacy
Considered by pundits to be one of the greatest and most complete players of all time, in 1998, Van Basten was ranked sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll, tenth in the European player of the Century election held by the IFFHS, and 12th in the IFFHS World Player of the Century election. He was also ranked eighth in a poll to determine France Football's "Football Player of the Century." In 1999, Van Basten was named the ninth greatest player of the twentieth Century by World Soccer magazine. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100, his list of the world's 125 greatest living players, and also placed fourth in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, celebrating the best European footballers of the past fifty years. He was also ranked 25th in a poll for the 100 greatest Dutch people. In 2007, Sky Sports ranked Van Basten first on its list of great athletes who had their careers cut short. In 2016 Van Basten was included in UEFA's All-time Euro XI, while in 2017, he was named the 13th greatest player of all time by FourFourTwo.

Numerous players, managers, and other footballing figures have also lauded Van Basten as one of the greatest players of all time. In 1994, defender Pietro Vierchowod described Van Basten as "the absolute number one" and as a "superstar," also adding that "he is strong with his head, good with either foot, capable of changing the face of a game with a single play or, [even] when he is not at his best, of becoming the best assist-provider for his teammates." Former defender Jürgen Kohler, who often faced van Basten throughout his career, described him as "a player with exceptional abilities. He was a big personality not only as a sportsman, but also as a private person. I benefited from him. It is as simple as this. He was a big milestone in my career and for me he is one of the players who are the most outstanding personalities of the last century. Not only in sports, also as a human being." When asked of their duels, he commented: "the duels between us were simply tough with everything football offers. He stood and I delivered and then I stood and he delivered."

Former Arsenal player Tony Adams described van Basten as the toughest and most difficult opponent he had ever faced in 2006, stating: "He’s the quickest 6 ft 3 in centre-forward I’ve ever seen! Just awesome. He was as quick as Ian Wright, as good in the air as Joe Jordan and he held the ball up better than Alan Smith. I put him in front of Maradona. Technically, Maradona was brilliant and he had amazing feet, but van Basten could head, volley – he had power and strength." Fellow former defender Giuseppe Bergomi also described Van Basten as the strongest player he ever faced in 2018, commenting: "The best player of all time for me [...] is Maradona, but the strongest player I ever faced was van Basten because at least I could beat Maradona to the ball with my head."

In 2017, two of Van Basten's former Milan teammates, Demetrio Albertini and Marco Simone, labelled the Dutchman as the best player they had ever played with, with the former stating, "The best player I have ever played with is Van Basten, the best overall. He had elegance and strength. He stopped playing at only 28 years of age, which is truly young." That same year, another one of his fellow former Milan teammates, Paolo Maldini, labelled Van Basten as the most complete player with whom he had ever played. Another former Milan teammate of Van Basten, Giovanni Cornacchini, described the Dutch striker as the greatest player of all time in 2019. Former Milan Vice-Chairman and CEO Adriano Galliani instead described Van Basten as Milan's greatest player ever in 2018. In 2017, Roberto Baggio named Van Basten as the player with whom he would have most liked to have played, commenting: "I'd have liked to play with him. He's the player that I exchanged shirts with most willingly."

In 2019, former Milan coach Fabio Capello described van Basten and Ronaldo as the best players he ever coached. His predecessor at Milan, Arrigo Sacchi, described Van Basten as the best striker of all time in 2014, commenting: "Marco van Basten remains for me the best striker of all time. No other forward has worked as hard for the team as Marco did at Milan. I above all remember him for his elegance, his grace and his incredible quality." When Hernán Crespo was asked in 2015 who was the greatest centre-forward of all time, he echoed Sacchi's views, responding: "Marco van Basten. He did everything: dribbling, shooting, headers, acrobatics. And he played with his team and for his team." In 2019, Antonio Cassano described Van Basten and Ronaldo as the best forwards in the history of the game.

Jong Ajax
van Basten officially left Milan in 1995 and retired from football, stating he would never try management. However, he changed his mind and took a course with the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). His first stint as a manager was as an assistant to his former teammate John van 't Schip with the second team of Ajax in 2003–04.

Netherlands
On 29 July 2004, Van Basten was named the new manager of the Netherlands national team, with Van 't Schip as his assistant. Van Basten's appointment as manager of the Netherlands sparked a little controversy at the time, since he only just started his managerial career and the media argued that he did not have a lot of experience yet.

After UEFA Euro 2004, veterans Frank de Boer and Jaap Stam retired from international football, while Michael Reiziger retired after being left out of Van Basten's first squad. Van Basten also omitted Ruud van Nistelrooy from that squad, as the striker was suspended for the first two games of 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification and van Basten only wanted to use players eligible for those games. His debut on 18 August was a 2–2 draw away to Sweden. Van Basten dropped more experienced players such as Roy Makaay, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids, while sending several inexperienced AZ players to the World Cup, including Joris Mathijsen, Denny Landzaat and Kew Jaliens. Several veterans, including Edwin van der Sar, Phillip Cocu and Mark van Bommel, did make the squad. His team went unbeaten in their first 16 games until losing a friendly 3–1 at home to Italy on 12 November 2005.

The Netherlands were widely tipped to do well at the 2006 World Cup, having achieved the highest points average of any team in qualification, as well as breaking their reputation for in-fighting, and having a short journey to the finals in Germany. The team were in Group C, considered the Group of death by international media for also containing Argentina, Ivory Coast and Serbia & Montenegro, the last of whom conceded only one goal in qualification. The Netherlands were eliminated in a 1–0 loss to Portugal in the Round of 16, with both teams receiving two red cards each.

In November 2006, Van Basten recalled Seedorf for a friendly against England at the Amsterdam Arena. He denied allegations that he had caved in to media pressure to name Seedorf in place of the injured Wesley Sneijder. In May 2007, van Basten announced the end of his long-running dispute with Van Nistelrooy, who had previously declared never to play for a Dutch national squad with van Basten as its manager.

van Basten had a contract with the KNVB for managing the Dutch national side until 2008. The KNVB had expressed its wishes to extend his contract to include the World Cup qualification route to 2010 World Cup in South Africa. On 22 February 2008, van Basten signed a four-year contract with Ajax, starting from 1 July. His UEFA Euro 2008 selection was marred by Seedorf refusing to join the 30-man provisional squad unless van Basten resigned, with Van Bommel having already made the same ultimatum.

At the tournament in Austria and Switzerland, the Netherlands beat world champions Italy 3–0 in their first match, followed by a 4–1 win over World Cup runners-up France. In their third match, having already qualified for the next round, van Basten selected non-regulars such as Maarten Stekelenburg, Wilfred Bouma and Ibrahim Afellay for the starting lineup against Romania, a match the Oranje won 2–0. In the quarter-finals, van Basten faced fellow Dutchman Guus Hiddink's Russia. With the score at 1–1 after 90 minutes, Hiddink and Russia went on to win the match 3–1 in extra-time. He finished his reign with a record of 35 wins, 11 draws and six losses in 52 matches.

Return to Ajax
Van Basten became manager of Ajax after Euro 2008 but resigned on 6 May 2009 after his team failed to qualify for the Champions League. Van Basten started the season well, having spent millions on players such as Miralem Sulejmani, Ismaïl Aissati, Darío Cvitanich, Evander Sno, Eyong Enoh and Oleguer. However, in the second half of the season, striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar left for Real Madrid, and Van Basten started switching around his lineups. When Ajax lost 11 points in four matches, the Eredivisie title was out of sight. However, Ajax still had the chance to finish in second place, which would have ensured a place in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. Two important losses against PSV (6–2) and Sparta Rotterdam (4–0), however, ensured that Van Basten's Ajax could only finish third in the league. van Basten decided to resign as Ajax manager at the end of the 2008–09 season. van Basten subsequently became a pundit for Sport1, but was still planning to return as a manager. He finished his reign with a record of 26 wins, 8 draws and 11 losses in 45 matches.

Heerenveen
On 13 February 2012, it was announced that van Basten would become the manager of Eredivisie club Heerenveen in the 2012–13 season. Van Basten led Heerenveen to an eighth-place finish in the 2012–13 year campaign. He then led them to a fifth-place finish the following season, during the 2013–14 campaign. He finished his reign with a record of 27 wins, 18 draws and 27 losses in 72 matches.

AZ
AZ Alkmaar announced on 18 April 2014 that van Basten would replace Dick Advocaat at the start of the 2014–15 season. On 28 August 2014, van Basten took a leave of absence for the following match against Dordrecht, with multiple Dutch news outlets reporting he was suffering of stress-related heart palpitations, and was replaced by assistant coaches Alex Pastoor and Dennis Haar. Later, on 3 September, AZ confirmed that van Basten was given an extended leave of absence until 14 September. On 16 September 2014, parties agreed van Basten would relinquish his role as manager in order to sign a new contract as assistant coach until 2016; this was motivated by van Basten himself, who stated the stress caused by his full-time role as head coach was causing him physical and mental issues. He finished his stint with two wins and three losses in five matches.

FIFA technical director

After a year at AZ, van Basten decided to take up the vacant post of assistant coach under the new head coach of the Netherlands national team, Danny Blind. van Basten would work together with fellow assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy, whom van Basten had initially sent away when he was head coach of the Netherlands. In August 2016, van Basten announced he would be leaving the role to take up a position at FIFA as technical director.

In March 2018, van Basten travelled to Iran with FIFA president Gianni Infantino to mark 100 years of the Iran Football Federation. After meeting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani they were welcomed by the president of Iranian Football Federation Mehdi Taj at the Tehran Olympic Hotel. Attending the Tehran Derby, van Basten called for the ban on women entering sports venues to be lifted.

After retirement
van Basten played in the Demetrio Albertini testimonial match at the San Siro in March 2006, and headed in a goal before being substituted early in the first half. On 22 July 2006, he also returned for the testimonial match to celebrate the 11-year Arsenal career of Dennis Bergkamp, in what was the first match played at the new Emirates Stadium. He played in the second half for the Ajax legends team. He entered the match as part of a double substitution that also introduced Johan Cruyff. He took part in Tyskie's (a Polish beer company) advertising campaign with Luís Figo and Zbigniew Boniek.

Media and sponsorship
van Basten features in EA Sports' FIFA video game series, and was named in the Ultimate Team Legends in FIFA 14. Throughout his playing career, van Basten was sponsored by Italian sportswear company Diadora. One of the most marketable players in the world, in the late 1980s Diadora launched his own personalized football boots, the San Siro van Basten, earning him two million dollars over 5 years.

After his retirement from coaching, van Basten became an analyst, and was described by ESPN in 2016 as a "rather cerebral" analyst who "ponders the problems of FIFA and suggests changes to the offside rule." On 23 November 2019, while van Basten was working as an analyst for the Dutch edition of the Fox Sports network, he said "Sieg Heil" (meaning "Hail victory" in German), a verbal salutation associated with the Nazi salute, during a live broadcast. van Basten stated that he believed his microphone was off when he made the remark, and that it was in response to his colleague Hans Kraay's interview with Heracles's German manager, Frank Wormuth, following the team's 4–1 loss to Ajax. van Basten said: "It wasn't my intention to shock people, I apologise. I just wanted to make a comment about Hans' German. It was an ill-placed joke." His use of the term attracted particular controversy as it occurred on a weekend during which Dutch football clubs were observing a minute of silence prior to matches in protest against discrimination. Following the incident, the network described Van Basten's comment as "stupid and inappropriate," and suspended him until 7 December. Electronic Arts also announced that van Basten's cards in FIFA Ultimate Team would no longer be available in FIFA 20 stating the company has "an expectation that our commitment to quality and diversity is upheld." However he has returned to FIFA 21.

International

 * Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each van Basten goal.

International matches

 * Matches as manager

Honours

Ajax
 * Eredivisie: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85
 * KNVB Cup: 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87
 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1986–87

AC Milan
 * Serie A: 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94
 * Supercoppa Italiana: 1988, 1992
 * European Cup: 1988–89, 1989–90
 * European Super Cup: 1989, 1990
 * Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990

Netherlands
 * UEFA European Championship: 1988

Individual
 * Ballon d'Or: 1988, 1989, 1992
 * FIFA World Player of the Year: 1992
 * UEFA Best Player of the Year: 1989, 1990, 1992
 * European Cup Top Scorer: 1988–89
 * Serie A Golden Boot: 1989–90, 1991–92
 * Eredivisie Top Scorer: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87
 * European Silver Boot: 1983–84
 * Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1985
 * European Golden Boot: 1985–86
 * World Golden Boot: 1985–86
 * Bravo Award: 1987
 * Onze d'Argent: 1987, 1992
 * Onze d'Or: 1988, 1989
 * Onze de Onze: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992
 * IFFHS World's Best Player: 1988, 1989
 * World Soccer Player of the Year: 1987 (3rd), 1988, 1989 (2nd), 1992
 * RSSSF Player of the Year: 1992
 * El País King of European Soccer: 1992
 * UEFA Euro 1988: Most Valuable Player and Top Scorer with 5 goals
 * UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1988, 1992
 * Planète Foot World All-Time Team: 1996
 * Planète Foot's 50 of the World's Best Players: 1996
 * Venerdì's 100 Magnificent: 1997
 * IFFHS Football Player of the Century 12th: 1999
 * IFFHS European Player of the Century 10th: 1999
 * Placar's 100 Best Players of the Century 26th: 1999
 * France Football's Football Player of the Century 8th: 1999
 * World Soccer Greatest Players of the 20th Century 9th: 1999
 * Guerin' Sportivo's 50 Greatest Players of the Century by Adalberto Bortolotti 11th: 1999
 * FIFA 100 (List of the greatest living footballers picked by Pelé): 2004
 * AFS Top-100 Players of All-Time 12th: 2007
 * UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #4
 * Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2012
 * World Hall of Fame of Soccer: 2012
 * UEFA Euro All-time XI (published 2016)
 * AC Milan Hall of Fame
 * IFFHS Legends
 * Voetbal International's World Stars by Raf Willems
 * Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Bronze): 2020

title: Marco van Basten


text:
Plantago

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 cm tall.

Description
The leaves are sessile or have a poorly defined petiole. They have three or five parallel veins that diverge in the wider part of the leaf. Leaves are broad or narrow, depending on the species. The inflorescences are borne on stalks typically 5 – tall, and can be a short cone or a long spike, with numerous tiny wind-pollinated flowers.

Species
The boundaries of the genus Plantago have been fairly stable, with the main question being whether to include Bougueria (one species from the Andes) and Littorella (2–3 species of aquatic plants).

There are about 200 species of Plantago, including:

 * Plantago afra
 * Plantago africana
 * Plantago aitchisonii
 * Plantago alpina
 * Plantago amplexicaulis
 * Plantago arborescens
 * Plantago arenaria—Branched plantain
 * Plantago argentea
 * Plantago aristata—Bracted plantain, largebracted plantain
 * Plantago asiatica—Chinese plantain, obako, arnoglossa
 * Plantago aucklandica
 * Plantago bigelovii
 * Plantago canescens
 * Plantago coreana
 * Plantago cordata—Heartleaf plantain
 * Plantago coronopus—Buckshorn plantain
 * Plantago cornuti
 * Plantago cretica
 * Plantago cynops
 * Plantago debilis—Shade plantain, weak plantain
 * Plantago elongata—Prairie plantain, slender plantain
 * Plantago erecta—California plantain, foothill plantain, dot-seed plantain, English plantain, dwarf plantain
 * Plantago eriopoda—Redwool plantain
 * Plantago erosa
 * Plantago fernandezia
 * Plantago fischeri
 * Plantago gentianoides
 * Plantago glabrifolia
 * Plantago grayana
 * Plantago gunnii - bolster plantain or bolster plantago
 * Plantago hawaiensis—Hawaiian plantain
 * Plantago hedleyi
 * Plantago helleri—Heller's plantain
 * Plantago heterophylla
 * Plantago hillebrandii
 * Plantago himalaica
 * Plantago holosteum
 * Plantago hookeriana—Hookers plantain, tallow weed, California plantain
 * Plantago incisa
 * Plantago indica
 * Plantago krajinai
 * Plantago lagopus—Hare's foot plantain
 * Plantago lanceolata—Ribwort plantain
 * Plantago lanigera
 * Plantago leiopetala—Madeira plantain
 * Plantago longissima
 * Plantago macrocarpa
 * Plantago major—Greater plantain, common plantain
 * Plantago maritima—Sea plantain
 * Plantago maxima
 * Plantago media—Hoary plantain
 * Plantago melanochrous
 * Plantago moorei—Moore's plantain
 * Plantago musicola
 * Plantago nivalis
 * Plantago novae-zelandiae
 * Plantago nubicola (also known as Bougueria nubicola)
 * Plantago obconica
 * Plantago ovata—Indian wheat, blond psyllium
 * Plantago pachyphylla
 * Plantago palmata
 * Plantago patagonica—Woolly plantain
 * Plantago picta
 * Plantago polysperma
 * Plantago princeps
 * Plantago purshii—Woolly plantain
 * Plantago pusilla
 * Plantago psyllium—Sand plantain, French or dark psyllium
 * Plantago raoulii
 * Plantago rapensis
 * Plantago remota
 * Plantago reniformis
 * Plantago rhodosperma—Redseed plantain, redseed indianwheat
 * Plantago rigida
 * Plantago robusta
 * Plantago rugelii—Blackseed plantain
 * Plantago rupicola
 * Plantago schneideri
 * Plantago sempervirens
 * Plantago sparsiflora
 * Plantago spathulata
 * Plantago subnuda—Tall coastal plantain
 * Plantago tanalensis
 * Plantago taqueti
 * Plantago tenuiflora
 * Plantago triandra
 * Plantago triantha
 * Plantago tweedyi
 * Plantago udicola
 * Plantago unibracteata
 * Plantago virginica—Virginia plantain, paleseed plantain
 * Plantago winteri
 * Plantago wrightiana—Wright's plantain

Etymology
The genus name Plantago descends from the classical Latin name plantago, which in classical Latin meant some Plantago species, including Plantago major and Plantago media. In Latin the name was formed from the classical Latin word planta = "sole of the foot". The name was so formed in Latin because the leaves of these species grow out near flat at ground level. The suffix -ago in Latin means "a sort of".

Distribution and habitat
The species are found all over the world, including the Americas, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Europe. Many species in the genus are cosmopolitan weeds. They are found in many different habitats, most commonly in wet areas like seepages or bogs. They can also be found in alpine and semi-alpine or coastal areas. The cosmopolitan weeds can be frequently seen at the side of roads.

Ecology
Plantains are used as food plants by the larvae of some species of Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth).

Uses
Plantain has been consumed as human food since prehistory. For example, archaeological recovery along California's Central Coast has demonstrated use of this species as a food since the Millingstone Horizon. The broad-leaved varieties are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable for salads, green sauce, and so on. Tender young plantain leaves can be eaten raw and older leaves can be cooked. The seeds can be cooked like rice.

Plantago species have been used since prehistoric times as herbal remedies. The herb is astringent, anti-toxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, as well as demulcent, expectorant, styptic and diuretic. Externally, a poultice of the leaves is useful for insect bites, poison-ivy rashes, minor sores, and boils. In folklore it is even claimed to be able to cure snakebite and was used by the Dakota Indian tribe of North America for this. Internally, it is used for coughs and bronchitis, as a tea, tincture, or syrup. Tea made from the leaves may help cure diarrhea.

Plantain seed husks expand and become mucilaginous when wet, especially those of P. psyllium, which is used in common over-the-counter bulk laxative and fiber supplement products such as Metamucil. P. psyllium seed is useful for constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, dietary fiber supplementation, and diverticular disease. Mucilage from desert indianwheat (P. ovata) is obtained by grinding off the husk. This mucilage, also known as psyllium, is commonly sold as Isabgol, a laxative which is used to control irregular bowel syndrome and constipation. It has been used as an indigenous Ayurvedic and Unani medicine for a whole range of bowel problems. Psyllium supplements are typically used in powder form, along with adequate amounts of fluids. A dose of at least 7 grams daily taken with adequate amounts of fluid (water, juice) is used by some for management of elevated cholesterol. There are a number of psyllium products used for constipation. The usual dose is about 3.5 grams twice a day. Psyllium is also a component of several ready-to-eat cereals.

In Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia, leaves from Plantago major are used as a folk remedy to preventing infection on cuts and scratches because of its antiseptic properties. In Slovenia and other Central European regions, the leaves were traditionally used topically as a cure for blisters resulting from friction (such as caused by tight shoes etc.).

There may also be a use for plantains in the abatement of enteric methane from ruminants, as the natural compounds present (e.g. condensed tannins; ~14 g/kg DM), affect the acetate-propionate ratio in the rumen, which is a primary mechanism by which methanogenesis is restricted. Currently this is not a viable option in any significant scale due to agronomic difficulties.

Culture
As Old English Wegbrade the plantago is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in the 10th century.

title: Plantago


text:
Tercet

A tercet is composed of three lines of poetry, forming a stanza or a complete poem.

Examples of tercet forms
English-language haiku is an example of an unrhymed tercet poem. A poetic triplet is a tercet in which all three lines follow the same rhyme, AAA; triplets are rather rare; they are more customarily used sparingly in verse of heroic couplets or other couplet verse, to add extraordinary emphasis.

Other types of tercet include an enclosed tercet where the lines rhyme in an ABA pattern and terza rima where the ABA pattern of a verse is continued in the next verse by making the outer lines of the next stanza rhyme with the central line of the preceding stanza, BCB, as in the terza rima or terzina form of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. There has been much investigation of the possible sources of the Dantesque terzina, which Benedetto Croce characterised as "linked, enclosed, disciplined, vehement and yet calm". William Baer observes of the tercets of terza rima, "These interlocking rhymes tend to pull the listener's attention forward in a continuous flow.... Given this natural tendency to glide forward, terza rima is especially well-suited to narration and description".

The tercet also forms part of the villanelle, where the initial five stanzas are tercets, followed by a concluding quatrain.

A tercet may also form the separate halves of the ending sestet in a Petrarchan sonnet, where the rhyme scheme is ABBAABBACDCCDC, as in Longfellow's "Cross of Snow". For example, while "Cross of Snow" is indeed a Petrarchan sonnet, it does not follow the form of ABBA, ABBA CDC, CDC. Instead, its form is ABBA CDDC EFG EFG. A tercet also ends sestinas where the keywords of the lines before are repeated in a highly ordered form.

History
Tercets (or tristichs) using parallelism appear in Biblical Hebrew poetry.

The tercet was introduced into English poetry by Sir Thomas Wyatt in the 16th century. It was employed by Shelley and is the form used in Byron's The Prophecy of Dante.

title: Tercet


text:
Roadrunner (disambiguation)

Roadrunner is a bird of the genus Geococcyx.

Roadrunner or Road Runner may also refer to:

 * The Road Runner, an animated character based on the bird
 * The Road Runner Show, compiled cartoons including the character

Companies

 * New Mexico Rail Runner Express
 * Road Runner Express (disambiguation)
 * Roadrunner Markets, a chain of convenience stores in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, United States
 * Roadrunner Network, Inc., a visual effects firm based in the Philippines
 * Road Runner Railway, former name of Lil' Devil Coaster, a roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey
 * Road Runner Rollercoaster, a Vekoma Junior Coaster in Australia

Computing

 * Road Runner High Speed Online, former name of Time Warner Cable
 * Roadrunner (supercomputer), a 2008 supercomputer built by IBM
 * MicroOffice RoadRunner, an early laptop from 1983
 * RoadRunner (application server), an application server
 * Road Runner, a shell for carputers

Film and TV

 * "Roadrunners" (The X-Files), an episode of The X-Files
 * Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, 2021 documentary film

Music

 * Roadrunner Records, a record label
 * The Roadrunners, 1960s R&B band from Liverpool
 * Roadrunner (venue), a concert venue in Boston

Albums

 * Road Runner (Junior Walker album), a 1966 album by Junior Walker & The All-Stars
 * Roadrunner (Hurriganes album), 1974, with a cover of the Bo Diddley song
 * Roadrunners!, a 1990 compilation CD by Eric Burdon and The Animals
 * Roadrunner, a 1991 demo record by Cynic
 * Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine, a 2021 album by Brockhampton

Songs

 * "Roadrunner" (Jonathan Richman song), 1972
 * "Road Runner" (Bo Diddley song), a 1960 song by Bo Diddley
 * "(I'm a) Road Runner", a 1965 song made famous by Junior Walker and the All-Stars
 * "Roadrunner", a 2021 song by the hip hop group Migos

Publications

 * Valley Roadrunner, a newspaper in Valley Center, California
 * Roadrunner (Australian music magazine), published in Adelaide, South Australia between 1978 and 1982
 * Roadrunner (magazine), about motorcycle touring

Sports

 * Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners, the athletic program of California State University, Bakersfield
 * Correcaminos Colon, professional basketball team in Panama. (Correcaminos is the Spanish word for Roadrunner)
 * Metro State Roadrunners, the athletic program of Metropolitan State University of Denver
 * Phoenix Roadrunners (disambiguation), the name of several ice hockey teams
 * SFCC Roadrunners, from the State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri
 * Tucson Roadrunners, a hockey team
 * Yvan Cournoyer (born 1943), Canadian hockey player nicknamed "The Roadrunner"
 * UTSA Roadrunners, the athletic program of the University of Texas at San Antonio
 * A participant of road running

Other uses

 * Plymouth Road Runner, a type of automobile, eponymous for the cartoon character
 * Road Runner (video game), a 1985 racing game
 * USS Road Runner (AMc-35), United States Navy minesweeper
 * Road Runner, Texas, incorporated town in Cooke County

title: Roadrunner (disambiguation)