Briefs: May 9, 2005

IBM CUTS WORLDWIDE PAYROLLS AFTER LACKLUSTER 1Q RESULTS

The move came as IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano pledged "aggressive action" to cut costs and improve performance after lackluster first-quarter results.

IBM also will take a pretax charge of between $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion for its second quarter ending June 30.

Another 10,000 IBM workers shifted to Lenovo when that company's purchase of IBM's $11.5 billion PC business was completed.

OKI DATA ADOPTS NEW BRAND, UNFURLS MULTIFUNCTION LINE
Oki Data is entering the crowded field for multifunction printers and moving to a new brand name.

Oki Data's Americas unit rolled out three new color multifunction printers: the ES3640e, which prints at up to 36 ppm in color and 40 ppm in black-and-white; the network-ready ES1624n, targeted at small or midsize workgroups; and the C5510n, which Oki Data is billing as a "communications center" with a desktop footprint. All devices print, copy, scan and fax. The ES3640e carries a street price of $13,499. The ES1624n runs $2,799, and the C5510n is priced at $1,399.

Oki Data also unveiled two lines of digital LED tabloid color printers. The C9800 series printers, which range in price from $6,889 to $7,189, are targeted at commercial printing shops, the company said. The C9600 series, priced between $3,399 and $4,099, are aimed at workgroups needing solutions for brochures. Along with the new printers, Oki Data said it is bringing its product line under the Oki Printing Solutions brand.

EX-SUN EXEC TURNS UP AT LINUX SYSTEMS VENDOR
Sun Microsystems' former head of U.S. sales, Bill Cook, resurfaced last week at a Linux systems vendor, just as news emerged that his former boss, Robert YoungJohns, is preparing to depart the company.

Cook, former senior vice president of U.S. sales at Sun, joined Penguin Computing as senior vice president of sales and services.

Meanwhile, Sun confirmed that YoungJohns will leave at the end of May to join Callidus Software as president and CEO. Callidus provides enterprise incentive management solutions.

Before his most recent position as executive vice president of strategic development and Sun financing, YoungJohns was executive vice president of global sales at the company, overseeing the entire Sun sales team, including Cook.

Stuart Wells will assume YoungJohns' role. Wells, currently Sun's senior vice president of financial services, will focus on developing business opportunities related to the delivery of computing utilities through the Sun Grid and the Sun Financial Services team, according to a Sun spokeswoman. He also will help drive Sun's Web business.

MANY HP IMAGING EMPLOYEES ACCEPT SEVERANCE PACKAGES
About 1,900 Hewlett-Packard workersmore than half in the Northwesthave accepted voluntary severance packages, according to a company spokeswoman.

The company began offering voluntary severance packages April 1 to an undisclosed number of workers in its Imaging and Printing Group in the United States and Puerto Rico.

The response significantly reduces the chance of any immediate layoffs, the spokeswoman said.

Employees who took the payout will receive between five months and 14 months pay, depending on how long they were with the company.

BLACKBERRY BESTS PALM IN LATEST HANDHELD RESEARCH
Driven by its success in the enterprise, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion toppled PalmOne in the first quarter from the No. 1 slot in the handheld computer market, a position the latter company has held for a half-dozen years, a market-research firm said.

The change was not unexpected, given PalmOne's decision to focus on the nascent smartphone market with its Treo device, said Todd Kort, Gartner analyst. In the past 12 months, PalmOne has introduced only the Tungsten T5 handheld and the Tungsten E2.

In the first quarter, PalmOne's shipments fell by 26.3 percent to 614,750 units from 834,591 units a year ago, Gartner said. Its market share plummeted to 18 percent from 30.5 percent.

In capturing the top slot, RIM increased unit shipments in the first quarter by 75.6 percent to 711,000 units from 405,000 units in the same period a year ago. The company's market share increased to 20.8 percent from 14.8 percent.

Close behind PalmOne in the first quarter was Hewlett-Packard, which was No. 3 in the handheld market with a 17.6 percent share. HP increased shipments by 4.4 percent to 601,352 units from 575,853 units a year ago.