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Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of computer networking equipment, announced plans to reduce its workforce by nearly 10% on Monday with some of the company’s top executives also expected to leave.

A total of 11,500 employees will no longer work for the San Jose, California-based company by the end of the first week of August, with 6,500 being laid off and another 5,000 being placed under the auspices of another company. The announced follows a report from last week that Cisco was planning to cut up to 10,000 jobs as part of ongoing efforts to reduce operating expensive.

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Of the 6,500 layoffs, about one third (2,100) opted for early retirement. Approximately 15% of those with titles of vice president or above also expected to be among those dismissed in early August.

Cisco’s 5,000-employee manufacturing facility in Juarez, Mexico will become the property of the Foxconn Technology Group — a Taiwanese contract manufacturer known for producing many Apple Inc. products such as the iPad — by the first quarter of the 2012 fiscal year.

Employees in the United States, Canada and “select countries” will be notified of their dismissal in the first week of August, though a Cisco spokesperson declined to provide details on how many of the company’s approximately 1,200 Canada-based staff will be let go.

The cutbacks are a part of Cisco’s recently announced plan to save US$1-billion in annual operating expenses.