Other than Cisco are there any other companies worth looking into?
Also best as in pays the most or best as in well known... Cisco is only one of those things ;)
If we’re talking innovators...well..
To add on to what Jocker said, wireless, IoT, cloud. Find out what makes you tick first, then go from there. Brocade is another networking company that's notable.
What's left at BRCD?
nothing ... was sold pieces to multiple companies
Welp... guess that's why I haven't heard their name lately.
BRCM bought Brocade 3 years ago ...
Yeah, that's what I thought. May very well happen to F5...
There's arista networks..
For actual networking, all big service providers.
There are no good companies on networking. All of them are a career vortex that most people never escape.
Juniper, Arista, loads of Startups. Depends on your interest in each of these verticals - DC/ENT/SP/Security/collaboration. So, what's your interest?