Company officials forecast revenue growth of 2 percent to 5 percent in the current quarter, which would amount to about $11.4 billion to almost $11.8 billion, lagging behind analyst estimates of $11.99 billion.

Cisco also estimated EPS of $0.44 to $0.46, excluding one-time items, for the current quarter, short of analysts' forecast of $0.49.

On the conference call, Chambers said that Cisco, because its products are "pervasive" throughout corporations worldwide, typically has a better read on trends than many other technology companies. He said, however, that it was "really hard to read" what the second half of the year would look like. While most users have told him that IT budgets were set to rise in the rest of the year, "in the very next sentence they said we are waiting to see what happens in Europe and what happens with government policy."

Reacting to the cautious forecasts, investors drove Cisco shares down by $1.62 to $17.16 in after market trading in the hours after the conference call after the company had closed up for the day.