Components maker T-Networks Inc. is rumored to have cut about a dozen people, but the company isn't talking. "We don't share our employment practices with the press," says human resources director Lauren Turkel.

How odd. Headcount wonders: If this were true, why would the company issue press releases on any employment matters? For example, a press release about Dave Gagne joining as VP of sales and Greg Dougherty joining its board of directors? (See T-Networks Adds to Board and T-Networks Names Sales Chief.)

Cenix Inc. is a bit uptight these days. The company confirmed that it cut all but 40 employees, according to a recent report in The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pa. Headcount tried to dig deeper with some cell phone calls to Cenix brass (who haven't been reachable in weeks). We found Sung Joon Kim, Cenix founder and senior VP of product development and marketing, who suggests we talk to someone at the company's Pennsylvania headquarters. There we found Ed Coringrato, Cenix founder and senior VP of business development and operations, who says he can't talk because he has a full day of meetings.

Alas, Headcount will continue to hold, waiting to see which lucky executive ends up with the "no comment" hot potato that so many troubled startups are passing around these days.

Convergent Networks Inc. hasn't fared so well since its CEO split and it began galloping into the cable market (see Panditi Puts Spurs to Polaris). "We have had a significant reduction (in workforce)," writes current CEO Mike Dagenais in an email to Headcount. "A small core team is continuing to provide services to our customers."

Dagenais declined to elaborate on how small a core team he's talking about, but other press reports estimate that the company has cut 80 people and left 20.

Get this: Kirana Networks, a startup led by Tachion Networks founder Satish Sharma, is hiring. The company's Website advertises job openings in eight different categories. Benefits include a "generous stock option plan." Headcount wonders if they also have "free sodas" and "casual Fridays." For more on what's happening under the covers at Kirana, see What's Kooking at Kirana?.

PMC-Sierra Inc. (Nasdaq: PMCS) did indeed cut 16 percent of its staff, as predicted (see More Cuts at PMC-Sierra and PMC-Sierra Reports Q4). The 175-person cut takes the company down to 924 employees.

The cuts came mostly from four facility shutdowns: two in Ireland and one each in India and Maryland, according to Doug Brownridge, PMC-Sierra's vice president of corporate marketing. Service-provider products suffered the deepest cuts, and some from those groups were shuffled to enterprise and storage jobs.

Jabil Circuit Inc. (NYSE: JBL) is cutting 380 jobs at a telecom assembly plant in England, according to a report in Electronic Buyer's News. The site being ransacked was formerly owned by Marconi.

Here's a summary of other industry appointments, disappointments, and training news from the past several days:

Alliance Group Adds Directors

Opvista Switches on Cable

Agilent COO Expands Role

Broadcom Reorgs, Picks VPs

Big Day at Broadcom

Bessemer's Soni Exits VC Firm

Light Reading University Is Now Open

The World Is Our Classroom Okay, we're out of breath, so it's time to take a knee. As always, if we missed any big hirings and firings, send a tip to [email protected].

— Phil Harvey, Craig Matsumoto, and Marguerite Reardon, Senior Editors, Light Reading
www.lightreading.com