Cisco Systems Inc., the huge San Jose, Calif.-based Internet network-systems company, plans to move its Spokane regional office into a bigger space soon in anticipation of substantial growth here over the next five years.


Mike Peterson, who manages the regional office, says the branch hopes to move by late this summer into an 8,000-square-foot space in the Rock Pointe Corporate Center north of downtown Spokane. The company, however, hasnt completed lease arrangements yet.


It currently leases about 2,000 square feet of space in that complex.


The regional office, which handles sales and engineering for Cisco in Central and Eastern Washington, Idaho, and Montana, could more than triple in size within five years, growing until it employs as many as 40 workers, up from 12 employees currently, Peterson says.


In addition to the main office here, Ciscos intermountain regional operation includes small sales offices in the Tri-Cities, Boise, and Helena, Mont., that report to the Spokane office. The Tri-Cities and Helena offices likely will grow at the same rate as the operation here, but the Boise office could grow at an even quicker clip since that market has experienced strong growth in recent years, Peterson says.


Cisco Systems sells network routers, other Internet hardware, and software and other components.


The projected growth rate of the Spokane regional office, which opened with just two employees in 1996, is consistent with that of the company as a whole, Peterson says. He says Cisco Systems currently employs about 31,000 people and projects it will employ 100,000 workers within five years.