Happy 4th of July from Cisco Subnet!

Cisco Subnet will be off celebrating U.S. Independence Day on July 4 through July 7. (Yes, Network World is generous with a two-day Independence Day holiday for employees.) In honor of the four-day holiday weekend, we rounded up some interesting statistics about Cisco and patriotism:

Cisco ranked No. 6 on Fortune's 2008 100 Best Companies to Work For list. So, of all the spots in the U.S. where one can earn one's bread, Cisco is among the Top 10. When it comes to the political process itself, people who identified themselves as employees of Cisco have so far contributed $16,124. This money went to favored candidates in the current presidential campaign ($2,916 to Republicans and $13,208 to Democrats), according to the Huffington Post.

As for charity that benefits the needy in the United States, statistics on Cisco's 2008 contributions were a little harder to find (contributions the company made to assist the needy in other countries were better publicized). But here's such project of note: since 2002, Cisco has partnered with an organization called TechSoup which distributes technology to libraries and non-profits throughout the U.S. Between the years of 2003 and 2007 (the last year figures are available), Cisco donated goods valued at $24.8 million to about 4,000 non-profits via TechSoup. It does seem that the post 9/11 era has closed with blatant patriotism now blasé, while "global" citizenship and eco-friendliness in vogue. But on the fourth of July, red, white and blue is the fashion. And we at Cisco Subnet wish you a safe and happy holiday. If you have stories of patriotism in the networking industry to share, please post them here!

More from Cisco Subnet:
Cisco, others create organization to protect against patent suits
Cisco, Nivis demo 6LoWPAN IPv6 network
Real deal or PR move? Cisco, IBM, Intel, Juniper and Microsoft form new security consortium
Go to Cisco Subnet for more Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, book giveaways, and more.