Sonus cuts 17% of work force

Sonus Networks today said it would cut 85 employees, or 17% of its workforce, in an ongoing effort to reduce costs.

In connection with the reduction, the softswitch vendor expects to record a restructuring charge of approximately $3 million in the third quarter.

“What this reduction is all about is managing our expenses and accelerating our return to profitability,” Hassan Ahmed, president and CEO of Sonus, said today in a conference call. “We’ve made the adjustments based on being able to deliver on all of our customer commitments. They’re not particularly severe in any geographic or product area.”

Separately the company reiterated its guidance for the remainder of the year.

In July, Sonus reported a net loss of $17.8 million on $21.3 million in revenue.

--Vince Vittore, Executive Editor