Exabyte Corp is to cut around 200 jobs from its workforce of 1,275 employees, the company said late Thursday, part of its previously announced restructuring plan (CI No 3,720). Approximately 140 of the jobs will be cut by the end of the month, with the remainder to go by the end of the year, as Exabyte outsources its service repair business. All but 15 or so of the jobs will be lost from the company’s Boulder, Colorado headquarters.
Exabyte says the result of restructuring will be to simplify management structure, as several marketing and operational units are combined under common management. It expects to save around $12m annually from the changes, but will take a one-time charge of around $2.8m during the third quarter to pay for them.
The company will be organized into four principle groups: the data storage products division, storage network and solutions division, services division, and the sales division. Data storage combines drive and library hardware operations into a single unit. The storage network and solutions division will stay focused on storage area network and network attached storage opportunities, a newer area for the company, and will seek hardware and software partners to collaborate on its NetStorM initiative. Field and technical support services and internal support functions will move into one services organization for greater efficiency, and the channel marketing and direct sales groups will also be combined under sales – though Exabyte says it remains committed to both OEM and reseller channel initiatives.
Exabyte has seen its revenue decline 26% over the first six months of this year. It hopes a new generation of Mammoth tape products due out in the fall and its recent move into storage area network management will help revive its fortunes.
