For the three months that ended October, the San Francisco-based company reported fiscal first quarter adjusted earnings per share of 61 cents, marking a 3% rise year over year, on revenue of $12.35 billion, which climbed about 1% year over year. Both measures surpassed analyst estimates of 59 cents per share on $12.33 billion in revenue, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The beat on revenue was driven by 7% jump in the services segment. Services growth is an important aspect of the results. Likewise, Cisco showed strength in the security business, which grew better than 11% year over year. Not only do these businesses generate higher profit margins but, when combined with product subscriptions revenue, they are a part of CEO Chuck Robbins' many initiatives to implement a recurring revenue model at Cisco.