Cisco is laying off 5000 employees as technology shifts from HW to SW

Cisco Systems is  laying off 5,000 employees worldwide, as general IT consumption models shift from hardware to cloud.

The layoff will represent 7% of the global workforce and will begin in early 2017.

An earlier report by CRN, and reported by ITP.net, had claimed the networking giant intended to lay off 14,000 people, or nearly 20% of its workforce.

The move supposedly comes as the company begins to transition from hardware into a software-centric business. 

To mark this move, Cisco has been expanding its portfolio with newer products, such as data analytics software and could-based applications for data centres, as it has experienced slow sales by telecom carries and enterprises within its main business. 

As of April this year, Cisco's headcount accounted for 73,104 employees, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. However, Cisco has had a history of layoffs as 6,000 jobs were cut in 2014, 4,000 employees in 2013, 1,300 jobs in 2012 and 6,500 positions in 2011.