Occam cuts jobs amid stimulus paralysis

Occam Networks, which as a key vendor to rural independent telcos stands to benefit from broadband stimulus funds that will be awarded to those service providers in the coming months, is set to cut about 10 percent of its workforce, partly because the uncertainty surrounding the awarding of stimulus grants has caused some carriers to slow their buying patterns.

Will this sort of stimulus paralysis be a new concern for the vendor community? Vendors have been hopeful about the potential for the stimulus program to deliver new revenue, and even a trade show was rescheduled around the prospect of the positive effect the program could have on telecom.

Occam announced the cuts while reporting its first-quarter earnings, which included a 39 percent revenue decline sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2008.

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