????但這些指標(biāo)無(wú)法讓人回想起思科公司在上世紀(jì)90年代末期風(fēng)華正茂時(shí)的光輝歲月。它們描繪的是，一個(gè)已經(jīng)步入中年的科技巨人面臨反復(fù)無(wú)常的全球經(jīng)濟(jì)，終于邁出了成功轉(zhuǎn)型的第一步。思科這樣的科技巨人要實(shí)現(xiàn)華麗轉(zhuǎn)身絕非易事。IBM做到了這一點(diǎn)，但它的轉(zhuǎn)型方式是，脫離硬件制造業(yè)，進(jìn)入服務(wù)和咨詢領(lǐng)域。而這并非網(wǎng)絡(luò)設(shè)備制造商思科可選擇的途徑。源自服務(wù)（主要是客戶支持）的收入僅占思科公司總收入的五分之一。

????此外，思科公司還沒有完全從近幾年來(lái)的幾項(xiàng)代價(jià)不菲的失誤中恢復(fù)過來(lái)。當(dāng)初，路由器和交換機(jī)逐漸成為低成本商品，思科隨后進(jìn)入了新的市場(chǎng)：視訊會(huì)議系統(tǒng)、機(jī)頂盒和翻轉(zhuǎn)攝像機(jī)。但事實(shí)證明，有些舉措是不明智的。對(duì)于惠普公司和其他競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者向其核心市場(chǎng)發(fā)動(dòng)的攻勢(shì)，思科的反應(yīng)也很遲緩，并沒有嚴(yán)陣以待。

????這種情況在今年有所改觀。思科賣掉了機(jī)頂盒業(yè)務(wù)，終止了翻轉(zhuǎn)攝像機(jī)的生產(chǎn)，并開始啟動(dòng)裁員1萬(wàn)人的計(jì)劃。對(duì)其競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，它變得強(qiáng)硬起來(lái)——思科公司在一個(gè)諷刺性網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布了一個(gè)視頻，嘲諷瞻博網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司的產(chǎn)品延時(shí)問題。銷售團(tuán)隊(duì)的薪酬第一次跟其對(duì)毛利潤(rùn)的貢獻(xiàn)掛上鉤。“我們將更為主動(dòng)地參與競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，采用更強(qiáng)硬的手段來(lái)應(yīng)對(duì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手，不管這種挑戰(zhàn)是來(lái)自瞻博網(wǎng)絡(luò)、惠普、華為（Huawei），還是亞美亞公司（Avaya）。我現(xiàn)在覺得我們過去的做法有點(diǎn)太君子了，”錢伯斯在財(cái)報(bào)電話會(huì)議上如是說。

????與此同時(shí)，在一些新進(jìn)入的領(lǐng)域，思科的業(yè)績(jī)也出現(xiàn)了增長(zhǎng)。面向互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)供應(yīng)商的視頻系統(tǒng)銷售收入增長(zhǎng)了13%，源自視頻會(huì)議和企業(yè)社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)等協(xié)作式服務(wù)的收入增長(zhǎng)了12%，數(shù)據(jù)處理中心的業(yè)績(jī)更是飆漲了107%。

????2月份，思科公司發(fā)布了又一份令市場(chǎng)失望的財(cái)季報(bào)告。之后，錢伯斯曾對(duì)華爾街表示，扭轉(zhuǎn)公司財(cái)務(wù)表現(xiàn)的各項(xiàng)措施已準(zhǔn)備就緒。許多分析師對(duì)此嗤之以鼻，同時(shí)股價(jià)也出現(xiàn)了下跌。但現(xiàn)在回想起來(lái)，錢伯斯的這番表態(tài)或許是認(rèn)真的。上周，三位分析師上調(diào)了對(duì)思科公司的評(píng)級(jí)，其他分析師則提高了該公司的預(yù)測(cè)股價(jià)水平。

????然而，市場(chǎng)并未完全打消顧慮。巴克萊銀行（Barclays）和美林證券（Merrill Lynch）的分析師稱，現(xiàn)在就宣布思科公司將確鑿無(wú)疑地實(shí)現(xiàn)轉(zhuǎn)型，依然為時(shí)尚早?；萜展竞驼安┚W(wǎng)絡(luò)正忙于解決自身的問題，無(wú)瑕應(yīng)對(duì)思科的反擊。一旦它們解決了自身問題，它們就有可能在交換機(jī)和路由器市場(chǎng)上發(fā)動(dòng)新一輪的價(jià)格戰(zhàn)。

????或許吧，但思科公司依然擁有一項(xiàng)優(yōu)勢(shì)——在這些公司中，它率先整頓了內(nèi)部事務(wù)。思科今年已經(jīng)完成了幾個(gè)高難動(dòng)作，似乎正在認(rèn)真地從事維系轉(zhuǎn)型所必須完成的事情。這可能并非思科公司為自己設(shè)想的第二春，但這些舉措或許足以讓投資者睡個(gè)安穩(wěn)覺。

????譯者：任文科

????None of these metrics recall the glory days of Cisco's youth in the late-1990s. But they paint a portrait of a middle-aged tech giant in the early stages of a successful turnaround amid a skittish global economy. Turning around a tech giant like Cisco is no mean feat. IBM pulled it off, but it did so by pushing from hardware into services and consulting. That's not an option for a networking equipment maker like Cisco. Only a fifth of its revenue comes from services, largely customer support.

????Cisco is also recovering from a couple of costly missteps it made in recent years. As routers and switches became low-cost commodities, Cisco moved into new markets: teleconferences, set-top boxes, the Flip camcorder. But some moves proved ill-advised. The company was also slow to take seriously the competition that HP and others were presenting to its core market.

????That changed this year. Cisco sold off set-top box operations, killed the Flip camera and began laying off as many as 10,000 workers. It began getting tough with its competitors, including a snarky web site with videos poking Juniper for its product delays. For the first time, sales teams were paid according to their contributions to gross profit. "We are more aggressive on the competition, we are going to be tough on our competitors, whether they are Juniper or HP and Huawei and Avaya, and it's something that I think, we were a little bit to general on in the past," Chambers said in the earnings conference call.

????Meanwhile, Cisco is seeing growth in newer areas. Revenue grew 13% from video systems for ISPs, 12% from collaboration services like video conferencing and enterprise social networks and 107% from the data center division.

????In February, after Cisco posted yet another disappointing quarter, Chambers told the street that the pieces were in place to turn the company's financial performance around. Many analysts scoffed, and the stock price sank. But in retrospect, Chambers may have been right. Three analysts upgraded their ratings on Cisco last week, and others lifted their price targets.

????Still, some concerns remain. Analysts at Barclays and Merrill Lynch said it was too early to declare Cisco's turnaround a sure thing. HP and Juniper are distracted with their own problems, and once those are sorted out they could wage another price war in switches and routers.

????That may be, but Cisco still has an advantage of being the first of these companies to get its house in order. It's made several difficult moves this year and seems serious about doing what is necessary to keep the turnaround going. That might not be the second act Cisco imagined for itself, but it may just be compelling enough to keep investors in their seats.