Sun Microsystems confirmed that it has made good on its promised
work force reduction plan with another round of layoffs, this time
affecting about 1,500 workers.
When the server giant announced the work force reduction in November
2008, Sun said it would slash about 6,000 employees at a cost of around
$500 million to $600 million. The company said then that the layoffs
would save between $700 million and $800 million in expenses. In
January 2009, Sun cut about 1,300 employees as part of the plan.
"This week, Sun can confirm that notifications are being given to
approximately 1,500 as part of this effort," according to a Sun
spokesperson. "Reductions are being made across all levels, including
vice presidents and directors,” the spokesperson said.
While there are rumors that many of those affected by the layoffs
are Sun’s direct salesforce, Sun did not confirm these speculations. In
these tough economic times, it’s conceivable that Sun would prefer to
rely more heavily on its reseller channel to drive new server, storage
and software sales and services to large enterprise clients.
Another unconfirmed rumor—which Sun neither confirmed nor
denied–involves the closure of the vendor’s entire New York City sales
office – which mostly caters to the financial services and media
industries.
Despite the layoffs and talk that Sun will be acquired by IBM, a Sun
spokesperson said that “Sun remains committed to its strategy with a
consistent focus on providing innovations that enable customers to
address their business needs. We continue to see great opportunities
for our technologies globally and are focused on our customers and
partners. We will continue to provide updates on our progress against
the work force reduction plan as they come available."