Oracle Corp. will lay off 2,000 workers as it integrates the recently acquired Siebel Systems Inc. into its organization. Oracle said that the cutbacks will occur throughout the company and that it expects to retain 90 percent of Siebel's support and development engineers, sales representatives and technical sales consultants. Oracle's workforce will total about 55,000 when the layoffs are completed.

Microsoft to Issue Two Critical Patches

Microsoft Corp. this week will release seven patches for several of its software products, including at least two critical updates for known vulnerabilities. The Patch Tuesday batch will include four updates for Windows, including one rated critical. The company is also releasing a critical patch for the Microsoft Windows Media Player. At the same time, Microsoft will bring out a new version of its Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.

NTT Finishes Secure Messaging System

Engineers at NTT Communications Corp. have developed a secure instant messaging system that supports logging and archiving of messages to comply with regulations and can interact with some third-party IM networks. The system, expected to ship by early next year, includes an IM server through which all communication passes.