With so much in the news about job cuts and closures of well-known dot com companies, we at SearchtheWeb.com thought we would track these companies and Internet related sites and provide you with updated short news announcements on their status.

Dot Com News from Week of September 30, 2002

10/4/02 SmartForce PLC said it slashed 60 positions in Ireland and expects to reduce its staff by another 60 to 80 Irish workers during the next several months. Information on the company's total staff size wasn't immediately available. The reductions are part of SkillSoft Corp. and SmartForce's integration; the companies merged in September. SmartForce, headquartered in Nashua, N.H., said it doesn't plan to alter a long-term commitment to base its corporate headquarters in Ireland, and will continue to locate its primary research and development operations in the country, where it employs about 250 people. 10/4/02 Commerce One Inc. will reduce its work force by more than one-third by the first quarter to about 700 employees in an effort to control costs amid the slump in the software market. The business-to-business software company said it is maintaining its focus on delivery products and services along with preserving its cash position. A Commerce One spokeswoman said the onetime technology highflier previously had 1,100 employees before the job cuts. 10/3/02 CTC, a "next generation" Integrated Communications Carrier utilizing advanced technology and providing its customers with converged voice, data, Internet and video services on a broadband, packet-based network, called the PowerPath(R) Network, announced a voluntary Chapter 11 filing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. 10/3/02 Universal Instruments Corp. said it will lay off a "substantial number" of its 1,200 workers later this month. The closely held company wouldn't say exactly how many jobs would be impacted. About 800 of the company's workers are in the Binghamton, N.Y., area. Universal last year laid off more than 600 employees, most of them at its five Binghamton-area facilities. 10/3/02 EMC said sales of its data-storage devices have slowed sharply and that the company is laying off another 7% of its work force, or about 1,350 employees. 10/2/02 Storage Technology Corp. plans to outsource certain development and manufacturing activities and expects to cut 200 jobs, or 3% of its work force, by 2004. The Louisville, Colo.-based storage-systems maker said it will outsource development activities and the manufacturing for the StorageNet 6000 product at its facilities in Minneapolis and Toulouse, France. 10/2/02 Agway, Inc. announced that it filed for Chapter 11 protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of New York. The petitions for Agway and certain of its subsidiaries include the following business units: Agway Feed and Nutrition, Agway Agronomy, Seedway, Feed Commodities International, Country Best Produce, CPG Nutrients, Agway CPG Technologies, and Agway General Agency. 10/2/02 Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe's biggest telephone company, said it is accelerating a program to cut nearly 30,000 jobs to revitalize its earnings. The work force at its T-Com German fixed-line business will fall by 7,200 this year. Another 14,000 are to go in 2003 and the remaining 8,300 jobs cuts will be completed by 2005. Spokesman Stephan Broszio said the company had previously planned no more than 10,000 reductions a year under the program announced in May. 10/1/02 Alcatel Canada Inc. will cut about 400 jobs, or about 12% of its overall work force, under accelerated cost-management initiatives to make its operating budget more efficient. The telecommunications-equipment maker owned by Alcatel SA said the employees affected by the reduction will receive separation packages and outplacement services. Alcatel SA has announced restructuring moves totaling US$1.68 billion aimed at slashing total staffing to 60,000 by the end of next year from 83,000 as of June 30. 10/1/02 Leap Wireless International Inc. will cut 8% of its work force, or 130 positions, and consolidate the San Diego company's five operating regions into three, as it adapts to current market conditions and the slowdown of the wireless industry. In May, it cut 50 jobs, or 3% of its work force, on top of job cuts in the first quarter. Leap will have about 1,500 employees after the latest round of layoffs. 9/30/02 Israeli telecoms equipment provider VocalTec Communications Ltd said it was eliminating a third of its staff and scaling back long-range research and development efforts. Prompted by ongoing difficult market conditions, marked by customers reducing orders and delaying or cancelling long-term projects, VocalTec said it has reviewed its organization with particular focus on research and development. The company said it was eliminating70 positions, 56 of them in Israel, resulting in a company with 149 employees.

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