Cisco to ‘cut up to 14,000 jobs within weeks’

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Cisco Systems, the largest networking equipment company in the world, is reportedly set to lay off about 14,000 employees, representing almost 20 per cent of its global workforce.

The California-based company is expected to reveal details about the cuts within the next few weeks, according to CRN, a technology news website.

The massive layoff of between 9,000 to 14,000 employees worldwide is a possible consequence of the company’s transition from its hardware roots to a software-centred company.

The company has reportedly already offered many early retirement package plans to its staff.

“They need different skill sets for the software-defined future than they used to have. In theory the addressable market could be higher and margins richer, but it will take some time to make this transition,” a source told CRN.

A spokesperson for Cisco told the Independent that the company declines to comment on speculation or rumour.

Cisco had more than 73,000 employees as of April this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company last announced a large round of firings in August 2014, when it eliminated 6,000 positions, about 8 per cent of its total workforce at the time.

Cisco has been investing in new products such as data analytics software and cloud-based tools for data centres, to offset the impact of sluggish spending by telecom carriers and enterprises on its main business of making network switches and routers.

Additional reporting by Reuters