Networking gear maker Cisco reported net earnings of $2.2 billion or 40 cents per share in its third quarter ended April 28–a rise of just under 20 percent over the $1.8 billion, or 33 cents per share the company reported for the same period last year.

Revenue rose 6.6 percent from last year to $11.6 billion from $10.9 billion. Both sales and profit remained almost completely flat quarter-over-quarter, but at the same time the company managed to meet the market’s expectations.

These figures break down to minimal growth across its core verticals – Cisco’s next-generation networks unit remained flat at $2.1 billion, with switching up 5 percent to $3.6 billion and data center sales ahead of the rest with a 67 percent YoY climb. Products accounted for a $9.1 billion chunk of total revenue, 5 percent more than last year, while services, up 13 percent, chipped in another $2.5 billion in the third quarter.

The Q3 results however were not the biggest highlight of the call – the pessimistic prediction for the next quarter was. Reuters reports that Cisco’s stock fell 9 percent today in premarket trading after it produced a Q4 forecast pointing at non-GAAP earnings per share of 44 cents to 46 cents, compared with the 49 cents analysts had expected. The company fears economic instability that may impact some of its international clients, especially those in Europe.

“The weak fourth-quarter guide is indicative of near-term macro-driven uncertainty in enterprise IT spending,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff.”

Beyond Wall Street, Cisco is making other sorts of predictions that don’t seem to stir such dramatic reactions. Speaking at InterOp 2012, Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior cited a study that says the internet will double in size every 5 or so years, and video will account for a massive and just as fast growing portion of that traffic.