Layoffs Hit Mitel; Nortel Next?Layoffs Hit Mitel; Nortel Next?

Mitel laid off an undisclosed number of its workers today, according to president and COO Paul Butcher, and Nortel is widely expected to lay off as many as 5,000 of its employees next week. Both are casualties of the deteriorating economic condition.

Mitel laid off an undisclosed number of its workers today, according to president and COO Paul Butcher, and Nortel is widely expected to lay off as many as 5,000 of its employees next week. Both are casualties of the deteriorating economic condition.Paul Butcher told me that the Mitel cuts go across the board in regions and parts of the company, and that Mitel will remain in all the markets it's in, but that, "If we're there, there's likely to be some level of cuts."

Butcher ascribed the cuts to the economic slowdown. "Everybody in the IT industry is going to see the same," Butcher said. "We're seeing all the things we've seen in previous slowdowns in the industry."

The one company that may avoid layoffs, Cisco, yesterday reported a large dropoff in orders, further darkening the skies over the IT/networking/communications market. Still, Cisco seems to be gearing up to use its $27 billion cash horde to take advantage of the downturn's likely effect on less-flush companies in order to consolidate its lead in markets such as communications.