Cisco to cut 5,500 jobs in shift away from switches, routers

(Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc said it would lay off up to 5,500 employees, or nearly 7 percent of its workforce, as the world's largest networking gear maker shifts focus to areas such as security, Internet of Things and cloud. Cisco's traditional business of switches and routers has been struggling with sluggish demand from telecom carriers and enterprise customers and intense competition from companies such as Huawei and Juniper Networks Inc. Revenue in the company's traditional routers busine