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Our mission: Bringing practical business and technical intelligence to today's structured cabling professionals

For more than 30 years, Cabling Installation & Maintenance has provided useful, practical information to professionals responsible for the specification, design, installation and management of structured cabling systems serving enterprise, data center and other environments. These professionals are challenged to stay informed of constantly evolving standards, system-design and installation approaches, product and system capabilities, technologies, as well as applications that rely on high-performance structured cabling systems. Our editors synthesize these complex issues into multiple information products. This portfolio of information products provides concrete detail that improves the efficiency of day-to-day operations, and equips cabling professionals with the perspective that enables strategic planning for networks’ optimum long-term performance.

Throughout our annual magazine, weekly email newsletters and 24/7/365 website, Cabling Installation & Maintenance digs into the essential topics our audience focuses on.

  • Design, Installation and Testing: We explain the bottom-up design of cabling systems, from case histories of actual projects to solutions for specific problems or aspects of the design process. We also look at specific installations using a case-history approach to highlight challenging problems, solutions and unique features. Additionally, we examine evolving test-and-measurement technologies and techniques designed to address the standards-governed and practical-use performance requirements of cabling systems.
  • Technology: We evaluate product innovations and technology trends as they impact a particular product class through interviews with manufacturers, installers and users, as well as contributed articles from subject-matter experts.
  • Data Center: Cabling Installation & Maintenance takes an in-depth look at design and installation workmanship issues as well as the unique technology being deployed specifically for data centers.
  • Physical Security: Focusing on the areas in which security and IT—and the infrastructure for both—interlock and overlap, we pay specific attention to Internet Protocol’s influence over the development of security applications.
  • Standards: Tracking the activities of North American and international standards-making organizations, we provide updates on specifications that are in-progress, looking forward to how they will affect cabling-system design and installation. We also produce articles explaining the practical aspects of designing and installing cabling systems in accordance with the specifications of established standards.

Cabling Installation & Maintenance is published by Endeavor Business Media, a division of EndeavorB2B.

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Cisco stock plummets on weak forecast: Is it a warning for tech?

Cisco corporate headquarters and logo.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the biggest decliner in the past five sessions among technology stocks in the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA: XLK).

The networking gear giant gapped down 9.83% on November 16 after issuing second-quarter and full-year sales forecasts that fell below analysts' views. 

The stock skidded another 0.59% on November 17, ending the week 9.19% lower. You can easily see that decline on the Cisco chart

In the company's earnings conference call, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins said its customers are now taking time to onboard and deploy new product deliveries after strong demand in the previous three quarters. 

"While the macro challenges we have discussed still exist, we believe this implementation phase is the primary reason for the slowdown in new orders," Robbins said. 

He added that the company observed this pattern mostly in its larger enterprise, service provider and cloud customers, with the most pronounced trend in October.

A "temporary" phase

"Based on our analysis, we believe this phase is temporary and estimate there is an additional one to two quarters' worth of shipped orders in customers' hands still waiting to be deployed," he said.

Robbins noted that this has near-term consequences for revenue and the outlook for the next few quarters.

The company expects product order growth rates to increase in the second half of the current fiscal year. That means sometime after February, as Cisco is in its second quarter of fiscal 2024. 

Cisco's disappointing forecast came despite a first quarter that topped views, as you can see using MarketBeat's Cisco earnings data. The company beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, as it has for the past six quarters. However, as the market is a discounting mechanism, the big factor in stock price valuations is what's happening next.

When reported in early November, Cisco's revenue warning tracks with guidance issued by smaller networking gear rival Extreme Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: EXTR)

Growth slowing across the industry

The Extreme Networks chart shows a selloff exacerbated by disappointing revenue guidance. The Extreme Networks CEO emailed MarketBeat, "As far as slowed growth, we are seeing it across the industry." 

He added that macro-environmental trends affect sales, including recession, higher interest rates, and economic challenges in key regions.

Meyercord also presaged Cisco's words, telling MarketBeat, "Given the current uncertainty of the macro environment and the fact that our channel partners are working through the delivery of a significant amount of backlog which requires deployment, we expect it to take a few quarters to normalize."

While Cisco, Extreme and some other networking stocks, such as Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) are trading well off previous highs, industry leader and S&P 500 component Arista Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: ANET) advanced 3.77% in the past week and is holding above its 10-day moving average.

Cybersecurity giant seeing similar slowdown

There's still more news to make tech investors nervous: Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW) issued guidance for the current quarter and fiscal year that came in below analysts' forecasts for billings. 

The cybersecurity company reported the same day as Cisco, casting doubt on the ability of enterprise customers to continue paying for IT spending in the foreseeable future. 

CEO Nikesh Arora downplayed the weaker-than-expected guidance in the earnings conference call, saying, "I am not concerned about the demand for cybersecurity for this quarter and upcoming quarters, nor am I concerned about our ability to execute."

He added that the billings variability results from the company's customer payment conversations.

"Cosmetic impact" to business

He said that is validated by the company's remaining solid performance obligation, or the sum of deferred revenue and backlogged the company must deliver. 

Palo Alto Networks is saying something similar to Cisco and Extreme: There's plenty of order backlog yet to be delivered, and the effects of a revenue slowdown should be temporary.

The Palo Alto Networks chart indicates that investors see the same phenomenon at the company, as the stock initially gapped down, but not nearly to the degree of Cisco. Palo Alto Network shares regained the lost ground and ended the November 17 session with a gain. 

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