As Cisco Systems confirms its plans to cut 5,500 jobs, reducing its worldwide workforce by 7%, Irish thoughts turn to what that means for the 300 employees in its Dublin and Galway operations.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Vincent Wall voiced his optimism that the Irish workforce would be insulated from the cuts, given the recent investments the San Francisco-based company has made on these shores.

"The company's changing focus from hardware to software, like a lot of other tech companies," Wall said.

"But the key question is will this have implications for the 300 Cisco employees based in Galway and Dublin here.

"It seems unlikely – although they haven't confirmed it – because there has been a big investment in the Galway plant in particular. €26 million over the last two or three years, specifically in research and development.

"So you'd like to think that they will be at the forefront of innovation in Cisco, and would be relatively protected."

Early reports yesterday had put planned redundancies at up to 14,000 globally.

Cisco has focussed principally on developing hardware equipment such as switchers and routers for global telecoms companies and other large corporations but it is now switching more of its focus to software development, in the areas of data analytics and cloud-based support for data centres.

Meanwhile, Zevas Communications has announced that it will increase its Dublin and Cork workforce by 40, bringing its Irish total up to 185 employees.

Zevas is a leading provider of outsourced customer contact services to the likes of Google and Paypal.