Cisco Systems, the networking equipment maker, was poised today to step up its drive to help corporate customers secure their networks against a growing list of viruses, worms, spam and spyware that bogs down systems and costs corporations billions of dollars a year.

The US company, which makes gear that directs traffic over the internet, was expected to launch a series of new devices and software upgrades to round out its portfolio and enable it to catch up with rivals in a handful of key areas.