Cisco Systems Inc. will add 550 jobs in the next four years as it expands its campus at Research Triangle Park, boosting its local headcount by nearly 10 percent, under an agreement formalized Friday.

The networking giant (Nasdaq: CSCO) has accept a state tax incentive package of $12.9 million, which will be paid in annual installments. The grants are part of the state’s effort to lure the new jobs to North Carolina, which was competing against Georgia and Texas for the project. The competition was “very intense,” a Cisco spokesperson said. 

The company will invest $1.6 million, according to the state’s Economic Investment Committee. Cisco will receive tax rebates worth 75 percent of state income tax withholding for each new job created.

The positions, which will include finance, operations and advanced network services, will have an average annual salary of $72,700. The average salary in Wake County is $49,410.

Cisco RTP Site Executive Ed Paradise said the jobs aren’t linked to one specific project. However, other jobs could be coming to RTP, with Cisco launching a new “Managed Threat Defense” for network and data security. Some jobs related to that project are likely to come to RTP, Paradise said.

“Cisco has long been a strategic and valued partner of our great state,” Gov. Pat McCrory said after touring parts of the Cisco campus and meeting with company executives. “With more than 4,600 full-time employees already spread throughout North Carolina, we are proud to have Cisco expand its presence. These new jobs will support innovation, add to a strong base of tech-savvy workers and strengthen the Triangle’s economy.”

Paradise noted that Cisco actually has some 6,000 workers in RTP – 4,500 employees and 1,500 contractors – making it second in size to IBM.

McCrory said the incentives package made a difference “because other states were throwing everything at them.”

Cisco Chief Operating Officer Gary Moore said other factors also were at play, such as the educated workforce in the Triangle.

“We recruit more people from North Carolina State into Cisco’s engineering programs than any other university,” Moore said to applause.

McCrory personally lobbied Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive John Chambers for the jobs. In addition to several meetings that took place using Cisco virtual conference gear, McCrory visited Chambers recently in person at Cisco’s Silicon Valley headquarters.

Moore said the first step is to fill jobs opened through layoffs – 143 in the last year.

“We will rehire all that number before the 550 starts, and we’re very comfortable in being able to do that,” Moore said.

“That’s a win-win for both Cisco and the state of North Carolina and the many families that are going to be dependent upon the jobs that Cisco is creating right here,” McCrory said.


Recent Cisco Coverage in WRAL TechWire:

  • Cisco’s D-Day salute to the US: More jobs in RTP
  • Cisco picks RTP as a hub for security service
  • “Thank God:” Cisco COO says crisis forced reorganization
  • Cisco to invest $1B in global intercloud
  • Cisco picks Canada for 1,700 new jobs

CISCO ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of Cisco stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]


The announcement is the second in just a week for new jobs in RTP. NetApp, which operates adjacent to the Cisco campus, dedicated a new data center last week that is expected to lead to 150 new jobs.

More than 70 percent of the more than 170 companies in RTP have fewer than 50 employees. Only 5 percent employ more than 1,000 people.

Cisco’s RTP campus is already the company’s second-largest outside its corporate headquarters in California. The local operation includes 12 buildings spread across three groups.

No additional space is required to handle the additional employment, Paradise said. The 12 buildings can accommodate about 10,000 people, which he said could be reached over time.

On April 22, the company announced the launch of the “Managed Threat Defense” product offering, and RTP was designated as one of the hubs for the new operation, according to Network World.

In March, Cisco also said it would invest $1 billion in a new “global intercloud” offering, focusing on related cloud computing and data services.

The addition of jobs in the U.S. rebuffs remarks made by Chambers over the past couple of years in which he has vowed to acquire companies and grow Cisco outside of the U.S. He is upset with U.S. corporate tax policy, and Cisco is one of numerous companies that has stashed profits overseas in order to avoid U.S. taxes.

In December, for example, Cisco announced plans for 1,700 new jobs and a $4 billion investment in Canada, with that expansion is to be spread over 10 years.