Cisco Systems, one of the region’s biggest employers, saw its stock close today at its highest point since February, a sign that CEO John Chambers' reorganization of the company is impressing investors.

This latest bump came after the company reported solid first-quarter earnings Wednesday.

Net sales for the three months that ended Oct. 29 were $11.3 billion, up from $10.75 billion the prior year. Minus one-time charges, net income was $2.3 billion, or 43 cents per share, compared to $2.4 billion, or 42 cents per share, a year ago.

That beat the consensus among analysts who cover the company of 39 cents per share.

Cisco Systems, one of the region's biggest employers, is set to unveil a new $100 million data center in Research Triangle Park that was touted by CEO John Chambers on his visit here over a year ago.

The two-story facility will showcase a lab where Cisco will develop and test software applications as well as a data recovery site for use during emergencies.

Cisco, the nation's largest computer networking company, hopes to sell its customers on buying routing and switching equipment to build similar data centers. The Silicon Valley company, which employs 4,800 in RTP, is so high on the data center it's hosting an open house next week to show off the facility.

The company says the dual function -- R&D lab and disaster recovery -- are unique in the industry.
 

Less than a week after Cisco Systems announced it would lay off 170 workers in Research Triangle Park, the site's top executive has left the company.

Cisco RTP Site Executive Joe Novak's departure on Aug. 15 was not a layoff but a personal decision to retire, the company said. Novak, who was also Cisco's vice president of services, had been with the company since it established a Triangle office in 1993.

The new site executive is Ed Paradise, Cisco's vice president of engineering. If Paradise's name sounds familiar, that's because he was also RTP site executive from 2003 to 2009.

Cisco could lose several hundred employees from its RTP site, which employed 4,900 earlier this summer. The RTP site is Cisco's largest in the U.S. after its San Jose headquarters.

Earlier this year Cisco implemented a voluntary buyout program and will lay off contractors this year as part of a worldwide move to cut 6,500 workers and trim $1 billion from annual operating expenses.

"The decision was mine, and a very difficult one because it involves leaving an extraordinary group of friends and colleagues, and a remarkable company with a very bright future ahead," Novak said in a Cisco release. "After leaving Cisco, I’ll be spending time with my family and taking some time off before I begin my next chapter in life."

Cisco Systems, one of the Triangle's biggest employers, said today it notified about 170 employees in Research Triangle Park they will be laid off as part of the computer networking company's strategy to reduce global operating expenses by $1 billion next year.

Additionally, the company said 2,100 employees agreed to take early retirements and 1,200 contractors are slated for elimination. Cisco did not disclose RTP-specific details for the retirements and contractor reductions.

Most of the affected workers will leave in the first quarter of 2012, suggesting that the head count at Cisco's RTP complex could go down by several hundred from a peak of 4,900 this summer. The company has said it expects to shed about 6,500 workers globally to reduce overhead and adjust expenses to new economic realities.

The company made the staff cut disclosures in connection with its fourth-quarter earnings release, in which Cisco beat analyst expectations and calmed investor anxiety after a string of weak quarters.

Cisco Systems, one of the Triangle's biggest employers, said today it will cut 9 percent of its global workforce as part of a corporate restructuring designed to cut $1 billion in annual operating expenses.

The cuts will total 6,500 employees, including 2,100 who took early buyouts earlier this month.

A 9 percent staff cut would eliminate about 450 jobs in North Carolina. Most of those cuts would happen at Research Triangle Park, where Cisco employed about 4,900 workers and contractors as of May, the latest figures available.

The computer networking company, which employed about 100 people in Charlotte and Greensboro, is not providing details about regional effects of the staff cuts.

Those to be laid off will be notified during the first week of August, but Cisco will notify some workers later to comply with foreign laws, it said.

Cisco Systems, one of the Triangle's biggest employers, has been able to trim $7 billion from its income tax bill since 2005 by booking roughly half its global profits at a Swiss subsidiary that employs just 100 people.

Bloomberg News laid out Cisco's tax-avoidance strategy, which experts say is legal, in a news article issued today. The Silicon Valley computer networking company has used the tax strategy to reduce its international tax rate to about 5 percent, Bloomberg reported.

As part of the strategy, Cisco and other U.S. companies move their taxable income from this country and from other operations to tax havens. In this country, Cisco reported an effective corporate income tax rate of 17.5 percent last year.

Cisco, which employs over 35,000 worldwide, has 4,900 employees and contractors at Research Triangle Park.

Cisco Systems, one of the Triangle's biggest technology employers, plans to slash $1 billion in annual expenses as it undertakes a major reorganization that could result in significant job losses locally and worldwide.

CEO John Chambers is trying to revamp the company's operations to offset slowing sales, boost profit and restore investor confidence. As the company reported its latest quarterly earnings this afternoon, Cisco also gave a financial forecast for the current quarter that missed analyst expectations.

Cisco has previously disclosed that it's offering early retirement buyouts to thousands of U.S. and Canadian workers. Chambers told Wall Street analysts on a conference call today that various cost-cutting moves will save about $1 billion, but didn't say how many jobs he expects to eliminate.

That savings represents about 6 percent of annual expenses. Cutting that much of Cisco's workforce could amount to 4,400 of the company's 73,400 employees.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company employs about 4,900 workers and contractors at its campus in Research Triangle Park. A 6 percent cut in RTP could mean 300 jobs.

Cisco Systems began offering early retirement buyouts to some U.S. and Canadian employees this week, the latest cost-cutting effort by the technology company.

Cisco didn't disclose details of the program, including how many people will get an offer, or how many the company hopes will take it.

But hundreds could be affected at the California company's Research Triangle Park campus, where it employs about 4,900 people. The minimum age for the buyouts is 50 for Cisco workers with 10 years experience with the company.
 

Cisco Systems announced a major restructuring today that is sure to send shudders through the company's facility in Research Triangle Park and other sites worldwide.

The computer networking giant said this morning it's planning to cut 550 positions in the fourth quarter of this year. It wasn't immediately clear what the moves mean for Cisco's operations in Research Triangle Park, where the company employs 4,900 workers and contractors.

Cisco said its is shutting down some operations, refocusing others and evaluating functions that are not profitable and may not have a future.

The moves signal that Cisco is getting back to its core business as a designer of the pipes and valves that carry and regulate Internet data.

John Chambers sent shivers down the spines of 4,800 high-tech workers in the Triangle.

The CEO of Cisco Systems warned employees in a memo on Monday that the technology company needs to make major changes to improve its business and focus its strategy. Chambers didn't specify what steps he's planning, but wrote that "you will see Cisco make a number of targeted moves in the coming weeks."

"Today we face a simple truth: We have disappointed our investors and we have confused our employees," Chambers wrote. "Bottom line, we have lost some of the credibility that is foundational to Cisco's success -- and we must earn it back. ... It's time for focus."