The firm reported a profit of $1.1bn during the three months to 25 October, up from $618m in the same period last year.

Revenue was up 5.3% on last year to $5.1bn.

Analysts welcomed the results as further evidence of a rebound in the technology sector.

Profits per share came in at 15 cents, but excluding a one-off charge profits rose to 17 cents a share - ahead of analysts' expectations.

Cisco's results came out after the close of trade, but news of the better-then-expected performance pushed its shares up 5% in after-hours trading.

'Solid quarter'

The company makes the routers, switches and other data networking products are used to direct traffic through the internet.

Its customers include corporations, educational institutions, and governments.

"We've begun our fiscal year with a solid quarter of continued operational excellence and year-over-year growth," said John Chambers, Cisco Systems' chief executive.

"We saw strength across our core switching and routing businesses, as well as traction in our advanced technologies.

"The service provider and public sector segments in particular, continue to be solid markets for our products."