Hitachi Vantara: Layoffs Are Underway
The Hitachi Vantara layoffs appear to be across the board and are happening as the company deals simultaneously with both a fast-growing digital transformation market and a maturing storage market.
Global analytics, IoT and storage technology developer Hitachi Vantara confirmed Thursday that it has begun laying off some of its 12,000 employees.
The layoffs could impact up to 1,500 Hitachi Vantara employees across the board, according to online news site Blocks & Files, which first reported the layoffs.
Hitachi Consulting was merged into Hitachi Vantara in January. The combined Santa Clara, Calif.-based entity brings together the former Hitachi Data Systems storage and data center infrastructure business, the Hitachi Insight Group IoT business, and the Pentaho data analytics business. The firm also own REAN Cloud, which was No. 403 on CRN’s 2019 Solution Provider 500 list.
A Hitachi Vantara spokesperson confirmed via email to CRN that there are layoffs happening but did not provide details on the number of employees or areas of the business that will be impacted.
The spokesperson denied that the layoffs would impact 1,500 people, saying the number is substantially lower.
The spokesperson wrote that, thanks to the recent integration with Hitachi Consulting and the January acquisition of intelligent data management technology developer Waterline Data, Hitachi Vantara is transforming into a new kind of digital infrastructure and solutions company.
"We are now simultaneously operating in the fast growth data management and analytics market and in the mature global data storage market. The global storage market is currently delivering only modest growth – a trend many of our competitors have also noted.
"We remain committed to the success of both our infrastructure and digital solutions businesses, however, like many of our industry peers, we have had to make some tough decisions to simplify and streamline our operations, improve our financial performance and position ourselves for long-term success – this includes headcount reductions to optimize our organization," the spokesperson said in the email.
The spokesperson further wrote that Hitachi Vantara is taking steps to provide assistance and support to affected employees. And, the spokesperson wrote, the company is continuing to focus on its storage business even as the industry continues to mature.
"We remain optimistic that we can take share from our storage competitors with the recent introduction of the Hitachi VSP 5000 – the world’s fastest and most reliable data storage array. Initial customer response to the VSP 5000 has already surpassed expectations and we have other exciting innovations in the pipeline for 2020," the spokesperson wrote.
A solution provider who works closely with Hitachi Vantara told CRN that there has been word that there were going to be layoffs. However, the solution provider said, there was no word about where the layoffs were happening.
This story has been updated.