PTI

New Delhi: Networking giant Cisco Systems today said it has frozen the hiring process and is adopting a wait and watch policy due to the global slowdown besides cutting costs up to $2 billion through various means.

“As we have earlier said, we have a hiring freeze... Looking at the present scenario, we will not be laying off people,” Cisco Systems Executive Vice-President and Chief Globalisation Officer Wim Elfrink told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s India episode.

Elfrink added, Cisco is adopting a wait and watch policy of 6-8 weeks before taking any decisions.

It also plans to cuts costs up to $2 billion through measures like slashing travel costs.

“We plan to save up to $2 billion by cutting travel costs and other expenses in the current scenario,” he said.

Cisco, which has a 30% market share in the Unified Communications (UC) space, is looking at doubling it even as its competitors, Microsoft and Avaya spruce up their product offering.

“We have a share of 30% and will increase it to 60% in the long term. The focus will remain on emerging markets like India to give us the necessary growth,” he said.

The global market for UC is estimated to touch $48 billion by 2012. In India, the UC market is still nascent, at about $600 million. But is growing exponentially as the small and medium enterprise segment begins to understand the benefits of deploying UC solutions.

According to a forecast from Frost & Sullivan, the UC market in India is likely to exceed $1 billion by 2010.

Asked about its plans to enter the consumer segment, Elfrink said, “We are focusing on the consumer segment through a programme called connected homes, but it will be difficult for me to talk about the timeline”.