Vyyo to Cut 16% of Work Force

In an effort to cut costs, Vyyo will eliminate 16% of its work force in the third quarter of 2007, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.

Vyyo had 139 employees as of the end of 2006. The Norcross, Ga.-based company said it began the layoffs July 23.

The company expects to record about $400,000 in one-time cash severance payments and related expenses, according to the SEC filing.

Publicly held Vyyo, which provides spectrum-expansion systems for cable operators, has posted losses for the past three years. In 2006, it had revenues of $8 million and a net loss of $29.4 million.

Amid the cuts, however, the vendor hired Jon Koval as vice president of sales.

Koval had been regional VP of sales with responsibility for the Time Warner Cable account at BigBand Networks.

At Vyyo, he will be responsible for all sales activity at the corporate and system level to Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and Bright House Networks.

“We have begun to shift our emphasis from development toward customer-facing activities to meet cable’s increasing interest in long-term solutions that can compete effectively with telco fiber,” Vyyo CEO Wayne H. Davis said in a prepared statement. “The addition of well-regarded executives like Jon Koval and the overall growth of our sales team will increase our ability to work with customers to create deployments that address their specific needs.”