Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in San Jose, California, that designs, manufactures, and sells networking equipment. Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, and it supports, manages and operates business systems for various and major third parties. Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 by Leonard Bosack, who was in charge of the Stanford University computer science (CS) department's computers, and Sandy Lerner, who managed the Graduate School of Business' computers.
CenturyLink, Inc., is an American multinational communications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. It provides communications and data services to residential, business, governmental and wholesale customers in 36 states. It also provides long distance service. The earliest predecessor of CenturyLink was the Oak Ridge Telephone Company in Oak Ridge, Louisiana, which was owned by F. E. Hogan, Sr. In 1930, Hogan sold the company, with 75 paid subscribers, to William Clarke and Marie Williams, for $500. They moved the switchboard to the Williams family front parlor. In 1946, the Williams' son, Clarke McRae Williams, received ownership of the family's telephone company as a wedding gift.
