Aussie Brocade staff may face axe

Beverley Lu, marketing manager for Brocade in the Asia Pacific, said Brocade had set a corporate target of nine per cent reduction in staff across the organisation to save on operating expenses.

“We have merged the South East Asia and Australia regions as part of this process, allowing us to better meet the needs of our customers and partners. We are not in a position to discuss individual markets as we are continuing to realign our internal resources and processes,” she said.

Brocade announced on Tuesday it was cutting its workforce by nine per cent, or 115 employees, to 1200 staff worldwide. The company has been reportedly under pressure from relatively new entrants to the lucrative storage market, such as Cisco.

Brocade said the layoffs would “better align and optimise” its business model. The company would take a one-time charge related to the layoffs in its second quarter, ending 31 March. Brocade said it would disclose the amount of the charge on 14 May when it releases its second-quarter financial results. Brocade announced the cuts one week after it held its annual analyst day, when it said it was on track to reach its revenue projections of between $US128 million and $US133 million for its second fiscal quarter. In November, Brocade laid off 160 employees or 12 per cent of its workforce.