(Telecompaper) Cisco Systems reported net profit for its fiscal second quarter ended 26 Janaury up 44 percent from a year earlier to USD 3.1 billion. EPS rose 47.5 percent to USD 0.59. The result includes tax benefits of USD 926 million or 17 cents a share from a settlement with the IRS over R&D credits. Excluding this, net profit rose 6.2 percent, and EPS was up 8.5 percent. Cisco's revenues reached USD 12.1 billion in the quarter, up 5.0 percent year-on-year. Sales growth was strongest in the data centre segement, where revenues rose 65 percent to USD 548 million. Wireless sales were up 27 percent to USD 520 million after the takeover of Meraki, and the service provider video segment grew 20 percent to USD 1.22 billion. Sales of switches rose 3 percent to USD 3.72 billion, while IP routing was down 6 percent to USD 1.95 billion. The book-to-bill ratio for the quarter was slightly below 1, with product orders mainly weak in the EMEA region, down 6 percent. Across customer segments, orders were flat year-on-year, although Cisco said it saw some signs of pick-up in the commercial and enterprise sectors in the US. After operating cash flow of USD 3.3 billion, Cisco finished the quarter with total cash of USD 46.4 billion.