Cisco plans to cut 4,000 jobs

The company aims to reduce costs and refocus on growth areas in the face of uncertain demand for its networking equipment

Network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc is cutting 4,000 jobs, or five per cent of its workforce, as it makes a fresh attempt to reduce costs and refocus on growth areas in the face of uncertain demand for its networking equipment.

Shares of the world's biggest network equipment maker fell more than nine per cent after hours, their biggest drop in more than a year if reflected on Nasdaq on Thursday.

A lukewarm revenue forecast dashed expectations that Cisco could overcome muted demand for tech infrastructure. Its shares had been up more than 50 per cent in the past 12 months.

Cisco has been whittling away at its workforce and selling off consumer businesses such as home networking, in a turnaround begun in 2010, when it started losing ground to nimbler rivals like Juniper Networks and Palo Alto Networks.

The company that once specialised in providing the backbone of the internet now sees software and equipment for datacenters and corporate cloud networking as its keys to growth. But Wednesday's results suggest the pace of expansion has been slower than anticipated, analysts said.

"The environment in terms of our business is improving slightly but nowhere near the pace that we want," said Chief Executive John Chambers on a conference call following quarterly earnings. "We have to very quickly reallocate the resources."

Cisco said last month it plans to buy cyber security company Sourcefire Inc for $2.7 billion. The company has made it a priority to improve security across its hardware, software and cloud products.