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Scientific Atlanta Inc, a Cisco company, is a Georgia-based manufacturer of cable television, telecommunications, and broadband equipment. Both Scientific Atlanta and Cisco can trace their roots to academia. Scientific Atlanta was founded in 1951 by a group of engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, while Cisco’s founders were computer scientists from Stanford University who started the company in 1984.

Scientific Atlanta is a leading supplier of transmission networks for broadband access to the home, set-tops, cable modems and digital interactive subscriber systems for video, high-speed Internet, voice over IP (VoIP) networks, and worldwide customer service and support. Products for the cable TV industry, such as fiber optic network equipment, digital cable boxes (as well as universal remotes to go with them), and cable modems, dominate Scientific Atlanta's sales. Scientific Atlanta also supplies distribution technology to networks such as Bloomberg Television, CNN, ESPN and many others.

On November 18, 2005, Scientific Atlanta announced that it would be purchased by Cisco Systems in a US$6.9 billion cash deal.

On February 25, 2006, Cisco Systems announced that it had completed acquisition of Scientific Atlanta in a cash deal that paid $43 per share. The total cash value of the deal was roughly US$7 billion, or US$5.1 billion net of Scientific Atlanta's cash balance, and also about US$5.1 billion over their 2005 shareholders' equity. In its fiscal year 2005, Scientific Atlanta earned $1.36 per common share (diluted).

Scientific Atlanta is still led by CEO Jim McDonald as a part of Cisco's Service Provider Routing Technology Group under the direction of Senior Vice President and General Manager Tony Bates. One of Scientific Alanta's biggest success stories in the last couple of years has been the European division that is located in Kortrijk, Belgium. The European team is led by George Laszlo Stromeyer.