This current earnings season has not been much to write home about for stocks in the Tech sector. But after the bell Wednesday, tech giant Cisco Systems ( CSCO - Analyst Report ) handily beat EPS estimates, with earnings of 47 cents per share (accounting for stock-based compensation) on revenues of $12.1 billion, which was a tad better than, but mostly in-line with, expectations. These are both all-time records for Cisco.

Cisco develops routers and switchers that make up the architecture of the Internet. The company cited the coming together of its various growth businesses -- cloud computing, mobile, data center, etc. -- as assisting this impressive performance, especially in light of a difficult environment for tech, in general. Reference the many big-time tech firms that missed expectations in the quarter.

Posting a 9.3% positive earnings surprise means Cisco has now beaten expectations for at least the past 5 quarters straight. It's Cisco's 8th straight record revenue total, and net income in the quarter was $2.7 billion, which was also above expectations.

Analysts were absolutely dormant in estimate revisions this quarter: 43 cents per share was expected 90 days ago, and 43 cents was expected before the earnings report. Cisco CEO John Chambers has been known to downplay guidance estimates, which is a good way to consistently maintain positive earnings surprises each quarter. Two analysts had revised upwards their estimates for next quarter and fiscal 2013 in the past week, and it is largely for this reason Cisco currently has a Zacks Rank #2.

We'll delve extensively into how well each of Cisco's segments performed in the quarter a little bit later. Cisco shares are dipping a bit in after-hours trading today (though they are still near 52-week highs), but investors should be pleased overall with Cisco's solid performance in the quarter.