Symantec makes local engineers redundant in restructure, but software market still going strong

The local office of international software giant Symantec will make redundancies in its development and product engineering division, saying the company is undergoing a consolidation process that will last for the rest of the year.

The move comes just over a year after local software firm Avaya Labs told SmartCompany it would be making redundancies in its research and development division.

Symantec confirmed in a statement this morning it would be making some redundancies within one of the company’s engineering teams, although it would not confirm how many.

Symantec says the move will not impact on consumer-related software divisions, including the team running PC Tools, which was acquired by Symantec in 2008.

“Symantec is consolidating a small number of positions in certain development and product engineering roles to improve productivity and drive operational efficiencies,” Symantec said in a statement.

“At the present time, we are in consultation with the affected staff whose roles may be impacted by this decision and are exploring the viability of alternative employment options within the organisation.”

The firm also said it will be undergoing a consolidation process throughout the rest of the year, and that the decision was made at a global level.

Symantec would not confirm a report in The Australian that the decision was driven by the high Australian dollar.

In the quarter ending April 1, Symantec recorded a 9% increase in year-on-year GAAP revenue to $US1.67 billion. The company also prints a report dedicated to currency movements, saying it provides data on currency fluctuations “to help analysts estimate the impact of currency fluctuations on our financial metrics” due to the wide geographic spread of its business.

Symantec says it is still has a strong R&D team in place that will continue to work normally.

Telsyte research manager Foad Fadaghi says overall software engineering market is quite strong in Australia, and comments while there will be fluctuations in company and division sizes from time to time, overall the industry is going strong.

“I think traditionally we’ve been recognised as having a strong ability in terms of creativity. The guys who created Google Maps and so on are here, Atlassian is here, and there are examples of existing and emerging companies doing good things.”

“The future is really about how we become a part of that global development economy, working with other countries and so on where we have competitive advantages or skills.”

Last month Accel Partners partner Ryan Sweeney, who sits on the board of Atlassian and 99Designs which both received millions in funding from the venture capital group, told SmartCompany Australian software and IT firms now have much more of a global focus.

“It’s obviously becoming more expensive to do things here than in the US,” Fadaghi says, “and outsourcing is a growing trend, but there is still a good level of qualified engineers here.”