Storage giant EMC Corp. plans to lay off about 1,000 workers, or 4 percent of its workforce, during 2006. The company said it will take an US$80 million fourth- quarter charge to cover the costs of the action. At the same time, EMC said it expects to increase its total head count this year as it adds staffers to its research and development efforts and worldwide sales and marketing operations. The layoffs will affect unspecified parts of EMC's global businesses, officials said.

Sun to break out software sales

A Sun Microsystems Inc. executive said the company plans to break out the financial results of its software business on its financial statements. Currently, Sun breaks out only systems, storage and services revenue. President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Schwartz would not disclose a timetable for the change, saying only that it will occur soon.

Outage causes delays for United

A four-hour computer outage affecting passenger ticketing, baggage check-in and printing of boarding passes caused delays of United Air Lines Inc. flights across the country early last week. Cendant Corp., which partners with IBM and others to provide IT services to United, could not provide details on what caused the problem.