Comments on: Cisco Lays Off Texas Broadband Telephony Employees

By: Who Killed the VoIP Revolution? - GigaOM

Who Killed the VoIP Revolution? - GigaOM — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:08:23 +0000

[...] Sonus Networks, once a high flier at $95 per share in 2000, trades at about $2.29. Even Cisco has thrown in the towel, discontinuing its BTS series of softswitches (which provide the routing logic for VoIP networks). [...]

By: BroadSoft Cuts Jobs As Sales Slow - GigaOM

BroadSoft Cuts Jobs As Sales Slow - GigaOM — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:00:52 +0000

[...] high hopes for the future. It seems the economy has stopped BroadSoft in its tracks. Notably, Cisco Systems just last week said it planned to shut down its broadband telephony business in Texas, a sign that the demand for [...]

By: doug

doug — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:47:11 +0000

Lots of cuts in the Cisco Boxborough MA facility a couple of weeks ago. Company policy is keep everything quiet.

By: Dirk

Dirk — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:47:58 +0000

Comcast was also a big user of the BTS 10200. Does this measn that the BTS is EOL?

By: Don Draper

Don Draper — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:33:15 +0000

Not sure if it’s still the case, but for a while the Time Warner Digital Phone system was based off the BTS 10200 softswitch. I don’t believe they were making much traction with other carriers, but others can chime in with details there. The softswitch providers were struggling like crazy because they all brought in ex-telco people to run the operations, and they expected to be able to create business models similar to the old lock-in Class4/5 models. But this just wasn’t working with the constant pace of technology, and constantly fluctuating standards.

As far as the severence packages, Cisco’s actually been very good to employees ever since the 2001 layoffs. Typically they receive a package that is equivalent to 6 months salary. It’s often called a “2/4 plan”, where you have 2 months to find something else internally, and if that doesn’t work out, you then get an additional 4 months after you’re outside the company.

By: Ian Andrew Bell

Ian Andrew Bell — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:15:41 +0000

The bigger story here is: What’s happening to the softswitch vendors? There has been enormous consolidation and a major shakeout in this market over the last five years. Whose softswitch are all the Cable Telephony guys using?

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:01:40 +0000

I heard that if you were part of the “transition” team and worked an additional 6 months, you received an “award” = 6 months pay + 2 months to look for a new job within Cisco + 4 months severance . Can anyone confirm? That’s a pretty good package if I’m correct…

By: John

John — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:50:34 +0000

The number is more likely to be 154….

Very sad for those fellow Telephony guys….

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:05:42 +0000

Thanks, Don. And I’ll keep an eye out for further RIFs in the area.

By: Rohit

Rohit — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:59:42 +0000

Om,

My acquaintances in Richardson area(TX) got laid off, they were informed that the division has been dissolved and nothing else. They have been given a 2 month notice, they are free to find positions in Cisco or walk out at the end of notice period.

Not a good deal for fresh graduates who just joined Cisco, including their H1 hopes.

By: Don Draper

Don Draper — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:43:38 +0000

Stacey,

That BU was focused on their BTS 10200 product line, the one that was being used to sell Residential Telephony to cable companies. It originated from the IPCell acquisition around 1999-2000 (same day as Vovida acquisition). This probably won’t be the first of the “consolidation” announcements from Cisco as they move into FY09 and refocus around areas where they have strength or can be very innovative.

By: Benjamin Wright

Benjamin Wright — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:46:57 +0000

As employees are shown the door, an employer is wise to hang onto their e-mail records. –Ben http://legal-beagle.typepad.com/wrights_legal_beagle/2008/10/retain-e-mail-of-former-employees.html

By: Marc

Marc — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:29:42 +0000

My buddy at Cisco claims that it was consolidation.

By: G

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:29:15 +0000

Stacey – Have you checked into the other big players in the Telecom corridor down there? Cisco is perhaps the first of many others cutting back. “Might” shed some light on your question “if this is indicative of weak broadband telephony sales, the macroeconomic climate or simply a consolidation effort.” And would be interested in knowing too!