George A. Chidi Jr

Besides reporting a revenue drop and continuing losses in the third quarter, Lucent Technologies Inc. announced Tuesday that it will reduce its head count by an additional 15,000 to 20,000 employees, and that it has sold its fibre-optics unit for US$2.75 billion to Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd.

Seeking to promote the use of optical Ethernet technology in metropolitan networks, several networking companies have banded together in a forum, the group announced last month in a conference call from San Francisco.

Corning Inc., a maker of optical telecommunications components, plans to cut 1,000 workers from its rolls and close three manufacturing plants by the end of the year, and also take a US$5.1 billion charge against earnings to write down inventory and the value of acquisitions, the company announced late Monday.

Software developer Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. announced Tuesday that it has begun shipping its next generation of VPN (virtual private network) software, featuring new remote-management capabilities.

Nortel Networks Inc. unveiled a series of components intended to boost performance and decrease costs for metropolitan optical networks during a conference of fibre-optic engineers in Baltimore, Md., on Monday.

To cut costs, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) is asking its 88,500 employees worldwide to volunteer to take either eight-vacation days off without pay or a 10 per cent pay cut. Alternatively, employees may opt to take both four-vacation days without pay and a five per cent pay cut.

Apple Computer Inc. sliced the Power Mac G4 Cube PC from its production lines, saying in a Tuesday news release that there is "a small chance" it will re-introduce an upgraded model in the future, but it has no plans to do so now.

Expanding on a year-old partnership, AT&T Wireless Group Inc. and America Online Inc. plan to offer cobranded mobile phone services for wireless data, e-mail and instant messaging, the companies announced Wednesday.