Computer server maker Sun Microsystems, whose revenue has declined four years in a row, said Wednesday it planned to cut 4,000 to 5,000 jobs in an effort to return to consistent profitability.
The cuts, which will reduce Sun's 37,500-person work force by 11 percent to 13 percent over the next six months, will cost Santa Clara, California-based Sun from $340 million to $500 million over the next several quarters, the company said. Sun executives expect the plan, which also includes selling real estate and exiting leases, to save the company from $480 million to $590 million once it is fully implemented sometime around June of next year.
The company, a major supplier of computer servers that run corporate networks and websites, was once a Wall Street darling but has struggled since the dot-com bubble burst in late 2000. Servers that run processors based on Intel designs and Microsoft's Windows or the free Linux operating systems have grown increasingly powerful, often performing the same jobs at a fraction of the cost of Sun products.
Microsoft's $50 security play: Microsoft said Wednesday that it is releasing software that aims to better protect people who use its Windows operating system from internet attacks. The move pits the world's largest software maker head-to-head with longtime business partners Symantec, McAfee and others.
Windows Live OneCare, which will protect up to three computers for $50 per year, marks the latest step in Microsoft's effort over the years to make its operating system less vulnerable to crippling internet attacks.
Windows, which runs on the vast majority of personal computers, has been a near-constant target of worms, viruses and other attacks, hurting countless users and forcing Microsoft to invest heavily in patching vulnerabilities and improving flaws.
The official release of the OneCare product comes after months of public testing. Redmond-based Microsoft has previously said that its main focus for OneCare was the 70 percent of computer users who, according to Microsoft estimates, have no additional protection at all.
Microsoft is hoping to gain an edge against Symantec and others by also including tools in OneCare to make computers run more smoothly and help people back up data. McAfee said Tuesday that it was preparing to release a new security service, code-named Falcon, this summer.
More online flicks: Disney is the latest Hollywood studio to offer movies for sale over the internet by providing films like recent thriller Flightplan to CinemaNow, the online service said.
Starting June 6, CinemaNow will offer Disney movies on a download-to-own basis for PCs and portable devices on the same day they are available on DVD. Disney's move follows a similar announcement made in April by rival studios to offer titles for sale through Movielink, which is a joint venture owned by five Disney rivals and a key competitor of CinemaNow.
Prices will be similar to DVDs, or about $20 per new title and $10 for some of the older films. The movies can be transferred to up to three more devices including laptop PCs and handheld electronic devices, which was a key factor for Disney movies that are often made for families. The CinemaNow purchasers will not be able to burn their downloaded copies onto DVDs, which is a feature consumers want but studios are not allowing until burned DVDs can be more strongly protected from illegal copying.
Radio interference: XM Satellite Radio said on Tuesday that it is suspending the sale of two products and reviewing others after a U.S. regulator said the devices exceeded limits for wireless signal strength.
XM said the suspensions applied to Audiovox and Delphi radios that let consumers play XM's satellite radio service on regular radios but declined to say if it stopped the sale of other products. The Federal Communications Commission ruled that the signal strength of wireless transmissions from the Delphi and Audiovox products exceeded FCC limits, potentially interfering with nearby FM radios using similar frequencies.
XM leads the U.S. satellite radio service with more than 6.5 million subscribers, compared with 4.1 million at its rival Sirius Satellite Radio. But XM has been battered this year with bad news, including probes by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Mega factory for microchips: Toshiba, the world's fourth-largest semiconductor maker, said on Wednesday it would spend over 50 billion yen ($450 million) in the next five years to build a new factory in Japan to make power microchips. Demand is growing for power chips, which control the flow of electricity in consumer electronics, personal computers, game consoles and hybrid cars.
Construction of the plant, which will be located in central Japan's Ishikawa prefecture and will process 200-mm silicon wafers, is scheduled to begin in September, with commercial production slated for the third quarter of calendar 2007.
Prior to the announcement, shares in Toshiba, which is also the world's second-largest maker of NAND-type flash memory chips behind Samsung Electronics, closed unchanged at 750 yen, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which fell 2.75 percent.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
