‘Cisco wants to lay off almost twenty percent of its employees’

Network equipment company Cisco wants to lay off nearly twenty percent of its employees, according to insiders, which would equate to 9,000 to 14,000 employees. The company would like to focus more on software instead of hardware.

CRN reports based on anonymous sources that it is expected that Cisco will announce the layoffs within the coming weeks. A source tells the site that the company “needs different skills for a software future.” Arrangements have also been made about early pensions with employees. The layoffs would be the largest in the company’s 32-year history, which has about 73,000 employees. It is unclear whether new employees will also be hired. Cisco has not yet responded to the report.

Cisco acquired CloudLock in June for an amount of 265 million euros. That company specializes in security between enterprise infrastructure and ‘cloud services’.

In 2014, Cisco already cut 6000 jobs, at the time, the reasons were disappointing results and increasing competition. Also in 2013 there were layoffs at the company; then 4,000 jobs were cut. The motivation was that sales in Japan, China and Europe had come under pressure. Reorganizations also took place in previous years.

The American Cisco is known for its hardware products in the field of network equipment, including switches, routers and firewalls.