Enablence Technologies Inc. (Toronto: ENA) has trimmed staff a bit, reportedly cutting some key employees from the recently acquired Pannaway Networks in the process. (See Enablence to Buy Pannaway.)

One source says the cuts were minor, coming out to barely more than a dozen employees. But another confirms that Pannaway's vice president of engineering, Michael "Kip" Lebar, was among those laid off.

Lebar, who's still mentioned on Pannaway's Website, will be leaving at the end of the year. Pannaway executives did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Sources disagree on the size of the layoff, but one close to the company estimates it at about 14 employees out of roughly 200.

Enablence CEO Arvind Chhatbar wouldn't discuss specifics of the layoffs, nor would he confirm Lebar's departure. He did point out, in a email to Light Reading, that the layoffs shouldn't have come as a surprise. Enablence just completed its roughly $7.6 million purchase of Pannaway, and the company already had an access-gear vendor on its roster in the form of Wave7 Optics Inc. (See Enabling Enablence and Enablence Acquires Wave7.)

"One of the reasons and benefits of the Pannaway acquisition were the synergies between the two and the opportunities for significant cost reductions that would allow us to merge Pannaway with our FTTx Networks Division [aka Wave7]," Chhatbar wrote.

One source notes that Wave7 lost some employees too, although another indicates Pannaway took the bigger share of cuts.

Chhatbar tells Light Reading that Enablence expects to continue supporting both Pannaway's Magnm products as well as Wave7's Trident7 line.

There does seem to be some benefit to carrying both, as Pannaway offers copper-access options that Wave7 didn't have, while Wave7 has the stronger international sales presence of the two. (See Wave7 Wins Paris Deal.)

Pannaway CEO Mark Carpenter recently sat down with LRTV to discuss GPON, access networks, and the merger. Check out the video:

{videoembed|167903} — Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading