Cisco does a road runner from Wile E Coyote plan

Cisco has scaled back plans to expand its campus into one of the few undeveloped portions of Silicon Valley.

The Coyote Valley Development, which was opposed by environmentalists, was originally set to involve the construction of 6.6 million square feet of office space to house 20,000 workers but will now be between 1-3 million square feet, enough for between 3,000 and 9,000 staff.

A slowdown in telecoms spending has forced Cisco to rethink its expansion plans. Operations in Texas, Boston, Britain and Australia, are also scaling back their expansion.

"After the economy slowed, we revised forecasts of our space needs and made changes to our real estate plans," Cisco chief financial officer Larry Carter said in an explanation to staff of the change of plan. "We still believe Coyote Valley is a great location for a corporate campus and will still be able to build there in the future if we need to."

Carter stated that Cisco would only begin building when it needs more space and there has to be some doubt whether the expansion will happen at all. Earlier this year, Cisco announced plans to make 8,500 workers redundant. At its peak the firm employed 40,000.

In August, Cisco posted profits for its fourth quarter of just $7 million, down 99 per cent from $796 million profits in the same period last year

Cisco is a partner in a partnership that owns the land, and originally hoped to be its sole user. The plan now is for its property developer partners to look for other businesses interested in using the land. ®

External Links

Coyote Valley and Cisco (from environmental campaigners' Web site)

Related Stories

Cisco splits into 11 technology groups
Cisco loses $2.69 billion on declining sales
Where have all the Cisco customers gone?
Cisco boss apologises for slashing jobs
Cisco's Borg-like acquisition spree may be curtailed
Further blackouts likely as Californian power crisis deepens