Enterprise growth was mixed, he said, on a conference call. There was moderate growth in the US, following a very strong Q1 … we will continue to watch this area.

US enterprise orders grew in the mid-single digits in the US during the quarter, he said. This was a marked drop off from the more than 20% order growth rate the company saw in the previous quarter.

Elsewhere in the world, Cisco enterprise orders grew in double digits, including in Asia Pacific and emerging markets. And business was good in other US sectors, with federal orders remaining solid, growing 10% year-over-year, and the country’s public sector ordering more than 20% in additional gear compared to a year ago.

But Chambers was upbeat, saying that based on feedback from Cisco customers, US enterprise sales likely will return to solid growth in the second half of our fiscal year.

When asked whether Cisco had lost market share to some of its overseas rivals, Chambers said, I’m not sure that I’m going to buy that we’re losing market share to certain competitors. He also urged Wall Street analysts to track the company’s enterprise revenue over time, rather than on a month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter basis. We feel very good about our enterprise business for the remainder of the year, Cisco added.

Total enterprise sales account for about 45% of Cisco’s business, but the company does not specify what portion is US driven. US enterprise as % of all enterprise is a lot smaller number than you think. Service provider revenues account for about 25% of its total sales and consumer revenues just 4%.

In Europe, Cisco saw momentum from its previous quarter carry into its second quarter, with year-over-year order growth in the low teens, Chambers said. Balance was very good across all regions, especially in the three largest countries: the UK, Germany and France, where it saw higher growth in the mid-teens, he said.

The San Jose, California-based company earned $1.92bn, or 31 cents a share, for its second fiscal quarter ended January 27, up from $1.38bn, or 22 cents, a year ago. Cisco posted revenue of $8.44bn. The results beat analysts’ average targets of 31 cents per share on $8.28bn, according to Thomson Financial.

Chambers said the company’s top 20 products drove about 80% of all product revenue, with sales of at least 16 of those products in the double-digit range. Routing revenues during the quarter remained strong, growing 18% to $1.8bn, thanks largest to its high-end CRS-1 routers. BT Group PLC received 11 of them during the quarter. Switching revenue also was strong, climbing 13% to $3bn.

Cisco’s services revenue grew about 23% to $1.34bn, said CFO Dennis Powell. Chambers pointed out that the US providers have been on fire for nearly eight quarters in a row.

But its biggest growth pocket was in its so-called advanced technology business, which grew 23% led by storage area networking gear, then unified communications, wireless and security gear. Advanced technologies are now becoming larger in terms of total contribution [to revenue] even beyond routing, Chambers said.

The company’s most stable business is its commercial market segment, which continued last quarter’s growth rates of about 20%, he said. It also achieved the best balance not just across the commercial areas in the US but al five of our theaters with order growth in the double digits, he said. SMB is where a lot of the action is going to be.

Sales of cable TV set-top boxes also helped, surging 21% in the quarter following Cisco’s $6.9bn acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta Inc last year. Chambers was particularly bullish on Scientific-Atlanta’s performance for the second half of the year. It doesn’t get any stronger than the momentum at Scientific-Atlanta, he said. This is the best pipeline I’ve seen.

Indeed, in part based on Scientific-Atlanta’s expected strength, Chambers forecast Cisco’s current third-quarter sales to rise 19% to 20%. And for the fourth quarter, Cisco expects sales of between $9bn and $9.3bn.

Shares in the company rose more than 4% to $28.50 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq yesterday.