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Cisco Systems Inc is laying off about 14,000 employees, representing nearly 20 percent of the network equipment maker's global workforce, technology news site CRN reported, citing sources close to the company. San Jose, California-based Cisco is expected to announce the cuts within the next few weeks, the report said, as the company transition from its hardware roots into a software-centric organization. Apart from Cisco, two other big software companies, Microsoft Corp and HP Inc, have also announced job cuts this year.Microsoft said in July that it would lay off about 2,850 jobs over the next 12 months, taking its total...

SAN FRANCISCO — Cisco Systems may be doing a little better than Wall Street expects, considering its technology and sales challenges. But that doesn’t mean the company will avoid layoffs in the coming months. On Wednesday, Cisco released fourth-quarter earnings that illustrated its troubles as one of the tech industry’s giants competing in a rapidly changing environment. Fourth-quarter revenues, Cisco said, were $12.36 billion, down from $12.42 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Net income was $2.25 billion, or 43 cents a share, down from $2.27 billion a year ago. Using nonstandard accounting common to many tech companies,...