 |
Cisco to create 300 jobs in Ottawa and Toronto
 |
The Toronto Star- By Michael Lewis
Ontario is investing $25 million to help networking equipment maker Cisco Canada Co. add 300 high-tech jobs in Ottawa and Toronto.
The deal is expected to preserve another 300 research jobs that otherwise could have been lost.
Cisco Systems last month said it would lay off 6,500 employees — about 9 per cent of its global staff — as it followed up on a plan announced in May to eliminate thousands of jobs in an effort to cut costs and raise profits.
A spokeswoman for Cisco Canada — a unit of San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco Systems Inc. — said the staff cuts were concluded last month and about 75 jobs were eliminated across Canada to bring Cisco’s workforce in the country to about 1,200.
She said Cisco would start the hiring process for the 300 jobs for recent engineering graduates in January, noting they are new positions, separate from the worldwide restructuring initiative.
The memorandum of understanding Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello signed with Cisco Canada will see the company invest up to $455 million over five years on technology projects aimed at promoting social and economic development.
The R&D will focus on areas such as advanced web routing, next-generation cellular technologies and new ways to share online video.
Cisco has about 900 employees in Ontario, with about 350 at sales and research offices in Ottawa and the remainder employed at its Canadian head office and research facilities in Toronto. The company, which currently invests about $65 million a year in research and development projects in the province, said most of the new jobs will be created in Ottawa, with roughly 50 earmarked for Toronto.
“There is enormous potential to build a solid R&D springboard in Ontario,” said Cisco Canada president Nitin Kawale.
Cisco Systems chairman and chief executive John Chambers, who is in Toronto meeting with employees and customers, said the public investment was needed to make the partnership with Ontario work. Such private-public arrangements can only succeed, he added, if both sides “have skin in the game.”
Chambers said research will focus on areas including health, energy, and education and will include a project aimed at increasing the speed and reliability of wireless networks.
He said Canada is Cisco’s third-largest market, posting 22 per cent growth in orders last year, adding he sees the memorandum with Ontario as a building block for more investment and collaboration down the road.
Pupatello said a key goal of the partnership is to develop technologies that will expand digital delivery of health services outside cities.
Cisco Canada signed an agreement in July with Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter to develop digital connection strategies to support economic development, and efficient energy use.
424 page views
|
|
|
|