Cisco Systems Inc., the biggest maker of equipment that directs data over the Internet, said on Thursday it promoted company veteran Charles Giancarlo to chief development officer.

Giancarlo had joined Cisco in 1994. He succeeds Mario Mazzola, who is retiring from San Jose, California-based Cisco, serving the company for 12 years.

Giancarlo, who also serves as president of Cisco-Linksys LLC., which makes home-networking gear, was previously chief technology officer. The change will take effect from July 31.

This happens in Cisco periodically. They shuffle top executives and gives them more responsibility to broaden their managerial skills. This strategy is employed by many big companies including Intel Corp.

According to Cisco spokeswoman, the move doesn't necessarily indicate a near-term succession plan for current chief executive, John Chambers. Chambers has told the board that he is committed to being CEO for at least the next three to five years. Cisco also added responsibilities to other long-time Cisco executives.

Jayshree Ullal, who runs Cisco's security technology group, will also now oversee the data center, switching and security technology group, which represent emerging opportunities for Cisco. Ullal's new duties include those held by senior vice president Luca Cafiero, who will retire.

Mike Volpe, who now runs Cisco's routing technology group and who previously ran the company's acquisition strategy during the dot-com boom, will lead the company's servicer provider strategy.

Volpe will also take on some more role with an emphasis on optical and service provider voice technologies, which includes making phone calls over the Internet. He takes over some responsibilities held by Prem Jain, who is also retiring, Cisco said.

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