Cisco to cut up to 5,500 jobs

US tech giant Cisco Systems is cutting up to 7% of its global workforce, or 5,500 jobs, starting this summer.

A report had suggested earlier in the day that the firm could cut as many as 14,000 jobs worldwide.

Cisco said it was taking the "decisive" move so it could reinvest in faster-growing areas such as security and cloud computing.

The US company employs about 70,000 people globally, with around 5,000 in the UK.

"Today's market requires Cisco and our customers to be decisive, move with greater speed and drive more innovation than we've seen in our history," the company said in a statement.

Cisco plans to reinvest the money saved from the job cuts in "key priority areas" for the company, including developments in the "internet of things" (connecting everyday objects to the internet), next generation data centres and cloud computing technology.

Acquisitions

Cisco's traditional business of selling network switches and routers has struggled in recent years as demand from telecom carriers has fallen and competition from other suppliers has increased.

In the fourth quarter revenue from the router unit fell 6%, while revenue at the switch unit grew by only 2%.

The company has focused more of its attention on its firewall business that offers computer protection software.

It has also devoted more resources to acquiring other businesses. In the last year Cisco has purchased 10 companies, many of which offer cloud-based services to connect or secure internet enabled equipment and devices.

Overall, Cisco reported a $2.8bn (£2.1bn) profit for the fourth quarter, up 21% from the same time last year.

It is the second tech giant this year to announce major layoffs.

In April, competitor Intel announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs or 11% of its global workforce.