Cisco is preparing to cut as many as 14,000 roles across the company, representing nearly 20 percent of the tech giant’s current workforce.
Sources close to CRN in the US claim that the cuts will range from 9,000 to 14,000, as the networking vendor continues its “transition from its hardware roots into a software-centric organisation.”
Following a spate of acquisitions across the world, the market widely expects Cisco to streamline its workforce across the board, a tradition it has become infamous for during the years.
From 2011 to 2014, the vendor announced four-figure layoffs at the end of every fiscal year - which closes July 31 - a trend which was stopped by new CEO Chuck Robbins.
Yet despite media estimates, other industry figures believe the 2016 cuts will be much smaller than the 14,000 tipped, after previous summer shuffles resulted in the loss of 6,000, 4,000 and 1,300 staff during a three year period.
Cisco declined to comment.
