16.

Segment Information and Major Customers

(a) Net Sales and Gross Margin by Segment

The Company conducts business globally and is primarily managed on a geographic basis consisting of three geographic segments: the Americas; EMEA; and APJC. In fiscal 2011, the Company was organized into four geographic segments, which consisted of United States and Canada, European Markets, Emerging Markets, and Asia Pacific Markets. As a result of this geographic segment change effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, countries within the former Emerging Markets segment were consolidated into either EMEA or the Americas segment depending on their respective geographic locations. The Company has reclassified the geographic segment data for the prior period to conform to the current period's presentation.

The Company's management makes financial decisions and allocates resources based on the information it receives from its internal management system. Sales are attributed to a geographic segment based on the ordering location of the customer. The Company does not allocate research and development, sales and marketing, or general and administrative expenses to its geographic segments in this internal management system because management does not include the information in its measurement of the performance of the operating segments. In addition, the Company does not allocate amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, charges related to asset impairments and restructurings, and certain other charges to the gross margin for each segment because management does not include this information in its measurement of the performance of the operating segments.

Summarized financial information by segment for the three and nine months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011 is based on the Company's internal management system and as utilized by the Company's Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM) is as follows (in millions):


	Three Months Ended						Nine Months Ended
	April 28, 2012			April 30, 2011			April 28, 2012			April 30, 2011
Net sales:
Americas	$	6,466		$	6,265		$	19,606		$	18,592
EMEA		3,160			3,020			9,255			8,650
APJC		1,962			1,581			5,510			4,781

Total	$	11,588		$	10,866		$	34,371		$	32,023

Gross margin:
Americas	$	4,053		$	3,988		$	12,319		$	11,759
EMEA		2,019			1,966			5,868			5,589
APJC		1,242			987			3,342			2,996

Segment total		7,314			6,941			21,529			20,344
Unallocated corporate items		(145	)		(282	)		(405	)		(669	)

Total	$	7,169		$	6,659		$	21,124		$	19,675

Net sales in the United States, which is included in the Americas, were $5.5 billion and $5.3 billion for the three months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, respectively, and were $16.6 billion and $16.0 billion for the nine months ended April 28, 2012 and April 30, 2011, respectively. Unallocated corporate items, which include the effects of amortization and impairment of acquisition-related intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, and charges related to asset impairments and restructurings, were not allocated to individual segments.

(b) Net Sales for Groups of Similar Products and Services

The Company designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol ("IP")-based networking and other products related to the communications and IT industry and provides services associated with these products and their use. The Company formerly grouped its products and technologies into categories of Switches, Routers, New Products, and Other. Effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2012, the Company re-categorized its products and technologies into the following categories: Switching, Next Generation Network ("NGN") Routing, Collaboration, Service Provider Video, Wireless, Security, Data Center, and Other Products. These products, primarily integrated by Cisco IOS Software, link geographically dispersed local-area networks ("LANs"), metropolitan-area networks ("MANs") and wide-area networks ("WANs").

The following table presents net sales for groups of similar products and services (in millions):


	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	April 28, 2012		April 30, 2011		April 28, 2012		April 30, 2011
Net sales:
Switching	$	3,644	$	3,480	$	10,926	$	10,510
NGN Routing		2,143		2,150		6,328		6,246
Collaboration		1,007		1,008		3,147		2,937
Service Provider Video		1,002		898		2,896		2,501
Wireless		425		353		1,205		1,022
Security		345		316		999		876
Data Center		291		173		883		475
Other		249		291		792		1,038

Product		9,106		8,669		27,176		25,605
Service		2,482		2,197		7,195		6,418

Total	$	11,588	$	10,866	$	34,371	$	32,023

(c) Additional Segment Information

The majority of the Company's assets, excluding cash and cash equivalents and investments, as of April 28, 2012 and July 30, 2011 were attributable to its U.S. operations. The Company's total cash and cash equivalents and investments held by various foreign subsidiaries was $42.3 billion and $39.8 billion as of April 28, 2012 and July 30, 2011, respectively, and the remaining $6.1 billion and $4.8 billion at the respective period ends was available in the United States.

Property and equipment information is based on the physical location of the assets. The following table presents property and equipment information for geographic areas (in millions):


	April 28, 2012		July 30, 2011
Property and equipment, net:
United States	$	3,060	$	3,284
International		574		632

Total	$	3,634	$	3,916