Seagate, one of the world's leaders in the computer storage market, has announced today new restructuring plans that are meant to reduce the company's operating costs and enable a positive end of its fiscal 2010 year. According to a recently-released statement by the Scotts Valley, California-based company, it plans to reduce its global workforce by 2.5%, which will account for approximately 1,100 employees.

Seagate, as some of the other major companies in the IT sector, continues to feel the pain of the global recession, which is why it needs to take a number of steps to remain competitive and reduce its operating costs. This more recent announcement comes as confirmation that Seagate still needs to take the necessary precautions that will enable it to see positive numbers for its 2010 fiscal year results. The company expects its restructuring plan, which should be completed by the end of July this year, to result in total pretax restructuring charges of approximately $72 million.

According to Seagate, the workforce reduction of 2.5% is expected to generate approximately US$125 million in annual savings. The company also mentioned that, since the beginning of the year, its global workforce had been reduced by 25%, including today's 2.5% plan. This adds up to the closing down of its two recording media facilities and its Pittsburgh research facility, as well as the reduction of salary on a company-wide level, measures that were announced back in January 2009.

Seagate announced that it would continue to look for options to further reduce its manufacturing operating costs, to help it better handle the pain of the slow demand for storage solutions. Unfortunately, there were no details regarding the possibility of an upcoming Flash-based SSD line, which could allow the company to compete in the emerging market.