Vitesse to cut 12% of its workforce

The company said severance and related charges will be incurred in the second fiscal quarter of 2009. Chris Gardner (pictured), chief executive officer of Vitesse explained that the steps were taken to reduce operating expenses while preserving investment in research and development and worldwide customer support. Garnder said: "While we do see a few positive indicators in the market, we remain cautious about the rest of 2009. It was important to take these actions now in order to achieve our goal to remain cash neutral or better for the fiscal year. We remain committed to introducing at least three new products per quarter and to implementing our strategy to enable Ethernet in Carrier and Enterprise networks." Prior to this announcement, Vitesse had previously implemented measures such as salary reductions, the discontinuation of bonuses and the suspension of over 400 employer match contributions.