Computer equipment maker 3Com Corporation, which employs more than 1,000 people in Blanchardstown, Dublin, will lay off workers as part of a global cost-cutting plan.

The firm wants annual cost savings of $200 million (#213 million) through a rationalisation programme involving lay-offs and cuts in discretionary spending.

The announcement is the latest in a series of rationalisation plans announced by multinationals with significant Irish operations.

Last week, PC maker Gateway said it would cut 10 per cent of its global workforce while Nortel Networks is shedding 4,000 job worldwide.

A spokesman for 3Com's Irish operation said yesterday it was not yet known if the job cuts would affect 3Com's Dublin plant. A final decision is expected by late February.

3Com employs 11,500 people worldwide and completed a major restructuring programme last year which cut its global workforce by 3,000. 3Com has not turned a profit since it spun off the division that makes the Palm line of computers in 2000. Mr Bruce Claflin, chief executive of 3Com, said last month he hoped to get the company back into the black in the first quarter of fiscal 2002.