WHOOPS:

Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), Collaboration, Linksys and Advanced Services have been hit with the pink slips, mostly in sales departments, according to online buzz. Collaboration specifically was called out in Cisco's last earnings call as an execution disappointment; and Cisco historically has had a hard time catching Riverbed in the WAN optimization market.

The Linksys home unit -- virtually all that's left of Cisco's scuttled consumer business -- has been rumored for a while to be the target of further streamlining. And Advanced Services, Cisco's consulting and integration business, may have become a bit too fat for the company as its stock price and market cap decelerate in the face of heightened competition, market share losses and tightened customer spending.

LARGE SCALE?

Indeed, the 1,300 employees let go this week may be the tip of an iceberg that ultimately sees thousands more released as Cisco winds up a challenging fiscal year 2012. The current fourth quarter is due to ongoing economic challenges and conservatism in enterprise IT spending.