High-tech news site "Light Reading" cites an employee at AudioCodes Ltd. (Nasdaq: AUDC; TASE: AUDC) that the company will fire 70% of the employees at its Plano, Texas center, Netrake. This means that the company will lay off 35-40 employees.
AudioCodes' share fell 7.5% on Nasdaq yesterday to $3.46.
AudioCodes had 688 employees at the end of 2007, and laid off 25 during the second quarter of 2008. The layoffs at Netrake amount to 5-6% of AudioCodes' total workforce. AudioCodes develops VoIP solutions; Netrake develops session border controller (SBC) products, which connect IP networks. The acquisition of the company for $13.8 million in July 2006 put AudioCodes into a new business and it sought to integrate the SBC products with its own media gateway solution.
Another source suggested to "Light Reading" that Netrake has effectively been closed.
AudioCodes declined to comment on the layoffs to "Light Reading", saying only that it doesn't comment on individual business lines.
Oscar Gruss analyst Yohanan Kreizman said, "SBC is a growing field, but its growth is a little slower than expected. Ultimately, the whole world will be VoIP, but it will take longer than expected. That's the future, but, as usual, the question is the timing."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 10, 2008
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