Did Cisco lop 400 from Nexus 7000?

Cisco has apparently cut 400 employees from its Nexus 7000 data center switching product operations as part of the limited restructuring now underway.

Affected employees were notified last week, according to two sources and this website. Cisco did not confirm the number, instead referring inquiries to new CEO Chuck Robbins blog on “Preparing for New Chapters”:

We will continue to make decisions to prioritize our portfolio and our investments to accelerate our business. Part of this on-going prioritization is ensuring we have the right talent in the right places to drive our strategy and our growth in a very fast-paced market. Some functions and geographies across Cisco are making very focused changes to quickly re-align our investments to the top opportunities. A limited number of our employees will be impacted, but we will exit Q4 with our headcount up and, based on our current business assumptions, expect an increase in our headcount as we exit next fiscal year. It is our remarkable people who make everything happen at Cisco. We will treat our exiting employees with the respect they deserve and will continue to invest in our culture and talent to drive our success.

Word around the industry is that Cisco is looking to cut 1,500, or 2% of its current staff, during this LR. Cisco will likely fill in that workforce gap through acquisitions and hiring in areas it deems priority and strategic for growth.

The Nexus 7000 line is over seven years old. It is being squeezed in the data center by the Nexus 9000, which debuted in November 2013, and in the enterprise by the Catalyst 6800, the successor to the 15-year-old Catalyst 6500 line.

Cisco could cut 790 from the sale of its Connected Devices business unit to Technicolor. About 80 more cuts are coming from the shutdown of the Invicta flash storage product line.

Reports are that mobile acquisitions Ubiquisys and Intucell are also downsizing targets.

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