No. 5: Cisco Cisco has grown its business on the back of the channel and is circling back with a partner-led model with Chuck Robbins leading the sales charge. After a year of disappointing earnings, Cisco embarked on a major reorganization, laying off 6,500 people, removing $1B in expenses and streamlining for Cisco the future. Gone are the days of 30 adjacencies. Rather the company is now focused on their core networking business including routing, switching, security and mobility, collaboration, data center, video, and the business architectures that tie those technologies together.