Cisco Systems Inc, the largest networking-equipment make plans to lay off 6,500 employees, or about 9 percent of its full-time, global workforce as part of a restructuring plan that will save $1 billion in annual costs, the company said in a statement Monday.

The company's downsizing will include a reduction of about 15 percent of its employees holding positions at the vice president level and above, Cisco said. Some 2,100 of those being laid off have chosen to participate in a voluntary early retirement program.

Cisco is also selling a set-top box manufacturing facility in Juarez, Mexico, to Foxconn Technology Group, a move that the company said was not expected to result in job losses for the 5,000 or so employees at the plant.

The company said  pre-tax restructuring charges related to severance and other one-time termination benefits are expected to exceed $1.3 billion over several fiscal quarters. About $750 million will be recognized during the fourth quarter of 2011, including $500 million associated with the voluntary early retirement program, and the remaining balance will be charged in 2012.