Cisco Systems Inc. is about to lay off as many as 14,000 workers, or almost 20 percent of its workforce, according to a report from CRN.com.

CRN says the maker of networking gear and software, which is set to announced its fourth quarter fiscal results Wednesday, will announce the job cuts “within the next few weeks.” It adds that numerous employees have already been offered early retirement packages, citing “multiple sources close to the company.”

Cisco, which Reuters says had more than 70,000 employees as of April 30 this year, is cutting staff numbers as part of its transition from an organization with hardware roots to one that’s more software-centric, the report said. The company’s shift to a “software-defined future” means that it requires “different skill sets” in order to capture a higher share of the market and boost its profit margins, CRN’s report said.

In recent years, Cisco has invested heavily in new software-defined products for data centers and data analytics, in order to offset lower spending from telecoms and enterprises on network switches and routers, which are still the core of Cisco’s business.

The rumored layoffs follow a prediction from analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research earlier this year that Cisco could slash up to 14,000 employees from its workforce this year. At the time, Chowdhry said Cisco wouldn’t need so many employees in the back-end process as more of its customers transition to the cloud.

Giving further credence to CRN’s report is that Cisco has historically announced major layoffs at the end of its fiscal year. Back in August 2012, Cisco said it would cut 1,300 jobs, then again in 2013 it announced a further 4,000 layoffs. In 2014 the company made 6,000 more employees redundant, around 5 percent of its total workforce at the time.

Cisco declined to comment on the report.

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