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."

Cisco Systems, a major Triangle employer and one of the world's most widely held stocks, will pay its first cash dividend.

The California technology company announced this morning that it will pay 6 cents a share on April 20 to shareholders as of March 31. That's a dividend yield of about 1.4 percent, Bloomberg News reported.

Cisco is returning cash to its investors to boost shares that have fallen 35 percent in the past year. Wall Street soured on the company as sales growth slows and competition increases.

Cisco Systems plans to buy Raleigh-based Inlet Technologies for $95 million, as the technology giant bulks up its online video business.

Inlet's digital-video tools are used by broadcasters, online content companies and other customers to convert content into digital format. That makes it easier and cheaper to distribute over the Internet.

Cisco, the California company with a large campus in Research Triangle Park, has been buying smaller firms in recent years to add promising new products.

The deal's total price also will include retention-based incentives, and Inlet employees will join Cisco's Service Provider Video Technology Group, Cisco wrote in a prepared statement.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.

Inlet's investors include Capitol Broadcasting, the Raleigh-based parent of WRAL, the Durham Bulls and other holdings.

When President Barack Obama sits down with the heads of the nation's biggest corporations for a business summit Wednesday, he'll meet with the bosses at some of the Triangle's biggest employers.

The 20 business leaders Obama is hosting in Washington will include John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, and IBM's Samuel Palmisano. The two technology companies employ an estimated 15,000 workers and contractors in this area.

The CEOs' opportunity to bend the Commander-in-Chief's ear on the tax code, export imbalances, national deficit, and other pressing issues could affect thousands of employees, as well as the fates of the unemployed, if the talks ultimately result in hiring or other economic activity.

A consolidation trend underway in the data-storage sector could bring about a marriage of two of Research Triangle Park's biggest employers.

Technology analysts are betting on NetApp as an attractive acquisition target, according to The New York Times. The company has been the subject of takeover speculation for the past two years, The Times says.

NetApp, with a market valuation of nearly $20 billion, has 1,200 employees and contractors in RTP in global technical support, engineering, sales and other functions. Its customer roster includes energy developers, retailers, airlines, government agencies, finance, insurance and special-effects shops in moviemaking that require enormous amounts of data storage. 

A likely bidder for NetApp's assets: Cisco Systems. Cisco, the world's largest computer networking designer, lacks a data-storage division and is sitting on $39 billion in cash.

It's a grim day for Cisco investors. Or maybe it's just a buying opportunity.

Shares of the technology bellwether fell as much as 17 percent this morning after it gave a sales and profit forecast late Thursday that disappointed Wall Street.

The stock fell $4.08 to $20.41 at 9:33 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, Bloomberg News reported. That was the steepest intraday drop since Oct. 5, 1998.

The earnings warning also raised questions about the strength of the shaky economic recovery, especially for tech spending. It is dragging down other tech stocks and the broader stock market.

Cisco's investors include many of the more than 4,800 employees and contractors the company has at its campus in Research Triangle Park.

Cisco Systems reported stronger results this afternoon, another sign of renewed spending on technology equipment.

The world's bigger maker of computer networking equipment is one of the Triangle's largest tech employers, with about 4,800 workers and contractors at its Research Triangle Park campus. It's also considered a bellwether for the broader tech sector.

The California company's total sales rose to $10.75 billion, up about 19 percent from a year earlier. Its earnings per share of 42 cents exceeded Wall Street expectations.

The results were tempered by CEO John Chambers, whose projections routinely influence the broader stock markets. In a prepared statement, he noted that Cisco has seen "capital spending moderate in some areas of our business."

Many workers worldwide believe they don't need to be in the office anymore to be productive, according to a survey commissioned by Cisco Systems.

About 60 percent of the 2,600 workers queried said working from the office is unnecessary for productivity. And 66 percent expect technology to allow them to access corporate networks and information anywhere, at any time.

Nearly half of the respondents admitted working up to three extra hours a day if they're able to connect from anywhere, but that they value having the flexibility to manage their work-life balance.

"Employee mobility is a fact of life," said Dave Evans, chief technologist with Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group, in a prepared statement. "Work is not a place anymore. It's a lifestyle."