Cisco Systems was founded in December 1984 in Menlo Park, California, by a husband and wife team from Stanford University, Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner. Bosack was the manager of the computer science department's laboratory, and Lerner oversaw the computers at the graduate school of business. At Stanford, Bosack devised a way to connect the two local area networks in the respective departments where he and his wife worked, 500 yards across campus.Lerner and Bosack initially tried to sell the internetworking technology that Bosack had developed to existing computer companies, but none were interested. They then decided to start their own business, Cisco Systems, based on this technology (they came up with the name, a shortened form of San Francisco, while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge). Bosack and Lerner were joined by colleagues Greg Setz, Bill Westfield, and Kirk Lougheed, as cofounders. Stanford University later tried to obtain $11 million in licensing fees from the new company, because Bosack had developed the technology while an employee at the university, but eventually the university settled for $150,000 and free routers and support services.
