Duke Energy and Progress Energy have fine-tuned their staff-reduction estimates in their pending merger as the two North Carolina companies continue working on their merger integration plan.

The two electric utilities told the N.C. Utilities Commission today they expect to eliminate 1,860 positions over three years. That's down from an earlier estimate that placed the maximum potential staff reduction size at 2,000.

The N.C. Utilities Commission, which is reviewing the proposed merger, requested the updated data. Merger critics argue that the enormity of the staff cuts during one of the most severe economic downturns in decades means the merger is not a public benefit for the state.

Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress also disclosed that they expect 347 workers would be laid off or would leave on their own over the next three years, but the layoff total will depend on how many workers leave on their own. Those laid off will be redundant workers who did not take an early buyout offer or did not leave for another job.

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."

Progress Energy and Duke Energy moved a step closer to cutting staff by notifying workers this afternoon that both companies will offer a voluntary buyout program later this year.

The two electric utilities, which announced a corporate merger in January, expect to shed employees through buyouts and layoffs as they integrate business divisions and cut costs. Raleigh-based Progress and Charlotte-based Duke expect to complete the merger this year, after receiving regulatory approval from state and federal agencies.

Progress sent an e-mail notice this afternoon to all 11,000 workers in the Carolinas and Florida. The eligibility requirements for the voluntary buyout will be announced this fall, but they will target employees in endangered jobs.

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.

Thirty-one newsroom colleagues are leaving today. That’s a number those of us remaining can’t even process really, especially when you add in the number of those we’ve lost already.

Used to be when someone left, there’d be cake in the newsroom, a few kind words, or many kind words if that someone had been here a decade or two, words that included a recognition of the appreciated contributions. As far as I know, there’s no cake today. And I don’t know whether there will be any words at all. Because finding any that are a comfort at this point is nearly impossible.