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John Chambers

Cisco Systems names Chuck Robbins next CEO

Brett Molina
USA TODAY

Cisco Systems appointed Chuck Robbins as its next CEO, ending the 20-year run of John Chambers, viewed by many as an icon in Silicon Valley.

Newly-named CEO Chuck Robbins.

Robbins will take over effective July 26, said Cisco in a statement released Monday. Chambers will stay on as Cisco's executive chairman and head the company board.

"We've selected a very strong leader at a time when Cisco is in a very strong position," said Chambers in a statement.

Shares of Cisco (CSCO) closed up 0.1% at $29.17. They're up nearly 5% for the year but are still less than half of what they were in 2000, before the dot-com bust.

Chambers joined Cisco in 1991, helping the networking giant boost its revenue from $1.2 billion when he became CEO in 1995 to $47 billion as of Cisco's 2014 fiscal year.

"His legacy will be he's the guy who built Cisco even though he wasn't the guy at the very beginning," says Forrester analyst Glenn O'Donnell.

The shift at the top has been expected for a while, says O'Donnell, as Cisco joins other companies transitioning into newer businesses including the cloud. "As great a spokesman as John Chambers is for Cisco, I think it's going to need a different personality to lead it forward."

For its next CEO, Cisco leans on another company veteran in Robbins, who joined in 1997. Robbins most recently served as Cisco's vice president of worldwide operations.

"The opportunity that lies ahead for Cisco is enormous, and the ability to lead this next chapter is deeply humbling and incredibly exhilarating," said Robbins.

Robbins is seen as a "very respected" tech leader with a strong understanding of the cloud, says FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives. "Cisco as well as many of their traditional IT tech stalwart peers are facing challenges in their move to the cloud and need visionary leaders to be in the CEO helm for this all-important growth period," he says.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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