Cisco Systems, the worlds largest maker of networking equipment, reported on Wednesday a profit that surpassed Wall Street's expectations during the company’s second quarter.

Cisco reported a profit of $1.85 billion, or 32 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.5 billion, or 26 cents a share, for the year-earlier period. Excluding charges for stock-option compensation and one-time charges, the company earned 40 cents a share.

Revenue was $9.8 billion, up from $9.1 billion for the same quarter the previous year. Adjusted income was 40 cents a share.

During the quarter we saw dramatic across the board acceleration and sequential improvement in our business in almost all areas, Chairman and Chief Executive John Chambers said in a statement.

Cisco, which cut its work force last year, said it plans to hire 2,000 to 3,000 new workers over the next quarters.

Analysts had expected the networking-gear giant to report earnings of 35 cents a share, on revenue of $9.4 billion, according to a consensus survey by FactSet Research.

Looking ahead into the current quarter, Cisco expects revenue between $10.1 billion and $10.3 billion.

Cisco Systems