Novell cuts 21 percent of Asia staff

Yesterday, Provo, Utah-based Novell Inc said in a statement that it would reduce 1,400 jobs globally and undergo restructuring to restore profitability in the face of poor market conditions.

Prior to this latest round of job cuts, Novell had 96 people in its Asia operations, which span Asean (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines), Greater China (Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Korea, said Novell Asia managing director Cliff Smith.

In a telephone interview today, he revealed that 15 employees from Asean were affected by the job cuts, which took place last week. Of these, 7 staff were from its Singapore office. The Republic is Novell Asean's headquarters. Another 5 workers from Novell's Taiwan and Hong Kong offices were also affected. --Anand Menon, Special to ZDNet News