Cisco plans to slash thousands more jobs amid AI, cybersecurity push Networking goliath Cisco will reportedly slash thousands of jobs as it focuses on growing its cybersecurity business and capitalizing on AI demand. According to a Reuters report citing unknown persons "familiar with the matter," the second round of layoffs is expected to be similar in scope, or potentially slightly larger than …
"We've been disappointed by get-rich-quick schemes before, but surely this scheme will get us rick, and quickly!"
As someone with an old friend who (last I checked) works for Cisco, I'm disappointed to hear about the layoffs. (I mean, I'd be disappointed anyway; as far as I'm concerned, layoffs are an admission of failure by the corporation.)
As someone who has to use Cisco end-user software such as Webex and Jabber on a regular basis, I feel acquiring more software is not a great way for them to be applying resources.
You can now buy 400Gb ports from a number of OEMs/ODMs for about $250 a port. They are so cheap it makes more sense to buy 400Gb ports and clock them down to whatever you need than to buy anything less.
SonicOS is out there and can do just about anything needed, including the RoCE and other exotic tunings for the new AI mania.
Cisco is a 40 year old business model of charging a premium for hardware, a premium for support, and premium for anything else they can think of...they actually last had a superior product sometime late in the 20th century.
Now that ethernet ports are finally becoming commoditized and there are practical open source alternatives, sales are shrinking. The holdouts will be the shops with CIOs that are either being greased on the back end by Ciscos oh-so-ethical sales droids, or just select Cisco based on Layer 10 implementation.
(For those that don't know, the OSI model has 10 layers, not seven. Besides the practical 7, there is also:
Layer 8: Financial
Layer 9: Political
Layer 10: Religious
Cisco usually gets selected because of compliance with Layer 10 "We're a Cisco shop!" CIOs - which overcomes the Layer 8 objections despite the fact the people who actually work and tune networks know damn well there is better stuff out there)
Anonymous because of Layer 9.
If I could upvote more than once!
For years Cisco have charged over the odds for equipment that is no longer that special. There are others that have good enough networking kit for a fraction of the cost and unless you are deeply wedded to the Cisco system it is a no-brainer to go for them instead. It is insulting these days to have to "license" ports on hardware you have already bought! A pox on them all...
Like so many, they used to be a shop that championed inhouse development. Then, along with the others, it discovered that innovation was something you buy. As a result Cisco's software offerings look like what they are: a collection of disparate packages that haven't been updated for years because the original developers left before they were sacked after the acquisition.
Only $1.9 BILLION net for Q3. How can we, mere peons, stand by while they make so little money??
We simply *must* acknowledge their 4,000 person layoffs as wrote doctrine, lest the C-Suite lose their year-end bonuses and Wall Street sees a $0.01 dividend loss.
Perish the thought.
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