Cisco CFO Looks Toward LTE Dollars

Calderoni: Well, you have to also look at some of the segments, within enterprise, that do it better than others.

So that's part of it and then it's, also, looking at the spending on the network in some of the areas and the products that we have. If you go back several quarters ago, spending was conservative there. We're seeing a little bit more balance for us in the spend with enterprise and it's one of those, we're not signaling anything going forward, we're just going to take each quarter as we see it and make sure that we factor it in and work it customer by customer.

Right. Excellent. But overall, you do feel that the U.S. is improving. Is that right?

Calderoni: I would say, in those segments. Again, we still have some challenges on the public-sector side and we'll have to wait and see, now that the election's behind us and once we get into the new calendar year, whether or not any change in some of the budgets, again, at the state and federal level will present us with more opportunity.

Great stuff. And on the service-provider side around the U.S., obviously, we could be gearing up for quite a big year in the service provider business in 2013. I mean, what are you guys expecting at this stage, around things like carrier Capex and a lot of the industry consolidation that's going on at the moment? I know John talked a little bit about Sprint (S)/Softbank on the call. I mean, do you see opportunities for you, around service provider, moving forward?

Calderoni: Well, first of all, I would say, James, that as far as the service-provider capex [capital expenditures], actually, we've seen that from many of the large service-provider customers. I think that's going to continue to be, at least in the short-term, a bit more conservative from a spending standpoint but again, some of the areas, of course, with wireless and mobility, Wi-Fi, those areas from the service-provider standpoint are showing some growth.

If you look at it from the mobility standpoint, that's been a strong part of our business now for a number of quarters. Also, what's happening with the LTE and the expansion of that, I think that's helping to drive some business for us. So, I think, while the conservative spending's out there, there's certainly segments within the market that really align with some of the areas, that we have a strong portfolio to be able to go after that business opportunity.

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