SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - September 9, 2009) -  Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced the appointment of Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone Group Plc, to its Board of Directors effective September 9, 2009. Sarin previously served on Cisco's board from 1998 to 2003.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Arun back to Cisco's board of directors," said John Chambers, Cisco Chairman and CEO. "His lifelong experience and leadership within the global telecommunications sector will be invaluable to Cisco. No one knows mobility and telecommunications better than Arun and we're glad to have him rejoin our board."

Sarin, 54, was CEO of Vodafone from 2003 until July of 2008. Prior he led Accel-KKR Telecom; InfoSpace, Inc. and AirTouch International all as CEO. Previously he worked at Pacific Telesis Group in a variety of executive positions. He also currently serves on the board of directors of Safeway Inc.

With the appointment of Sarin, Cisco's board now consists of 13 members, including Carol A. Bartz, CEO, Yahoo! Inc.; M. Michele Burns, Chairman and CEO, Mercer LLC; Michael D. Capellas, Chair and CEO, First Data Corporation; Larry R. Carter, Former SVP, Office of the Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems, Inc.; John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Brian L. Halla, Chairman and CEO, National Semiconductor Corporation; John L. Hennessy, Ph.D., President, Stanford University; Richard M. Kovacevich, Chairman, Wells Fargo & Company; Roderick C. McGeary, Chairman, BearingPoint, Inc.; Michael K. Powell, Chairman, MK Powell Group, LLC and Senior Advisor, Providence Equity Partners Inc.; Steven M. West, Founder and Partner, Emerging Company Partners LLC; and Jerry Yang, Co-founder and Chief Yahoo!, Yahoo! Inc.

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