Cisco Systems Inc. is moving to eliminate another 6,000 jobs in what is at least the fourth major round of cuts since 2009 as part of an effort by CEO John Chambers to free up resources to focus on growth areas like security and the cloud, where the company has been investing particularly aggressively recently.

The latest layoffs add up to about 8 percent of the company’s total headcount of 74,000 and brings the number of workers fired over the last four years past the 30,000 mark. Cisco expects the latest cut to incur charges of as much  as $700 million in fiscal year 2015.

The firings come hot on the heels of Cisco’s report last week that annual revenues dropped 3 percent to $47.1 billion in the fiscal year ended July 26,  a revelation that sent shares down four percent.

Many organizations have turned reluctant to buy more of the expensive switches and routers that make up company’s main revenue source amid the emergence of new programmable solutions hailed as better and cheaper than conventional proprietary products. Software-defined networking (SDN) is still a good few years from turning into enterprise reality, but Cisco is already feeling its bite, and so are its employees. Yet it’s not all doom and gloom for the vendor.

Proactive or reactive actions in today’s cloud-happy market?

SiliconANGLE founder John Furrier sees the latest reductions as a proactive step towards driving long-term growth rather than an act of desperation. “Cisco is retooling for the converged-infrastructure-meets-cloud game where they are behind, yet have a huge installed base to transform.  This will require a step back for a big step forward,” Furrier said. “Cisco hasn’t had the massive brain drain other companies have had, so analysts think they are well-positioned for growth.”

Wikibon analyst Stu Miniman agreed that the firm is not maneuvering around any immediate icebergs. “Cisco is a big company with many different businesses,” he noted. “Yes, things like SDN are important and have potential to disrupt Cisco’s dominant position in switching, but it’s still very early for this to have any direct impact on employment.”

With SDN trends on Cisco’s watchlist, the bigger question is regarding the company’s future as it transitions to the new world of cloud, noted Wikibon co-founder and chief analyst Dave Vellante. He considers Cicso’s tepid growth a symptom of the market’s recent shift towards software-led products, calling Chambers’ decision to layoff staff a “normal action” to manage the networking hardware provider’s lack of growth.

As Chambers frees up resources to focus more efforts on SDN and cloud capabilities, his company has already set into motion a series of partnerships and product releases, paving the path for Cisco’s future. Targeting the enterprise with its initial Cisco Cloud, launched earlier this year, the company has pledged $1 billion over the next two years on the effort. Cisco is also positioning itself as a strategic networking partner for an array of cloud services, most recently Telstra Corp. Ltd. to connect the telecommunications company’s global, cloud-based platform.

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