Xdrive Trims Staff

Xdrive Technologies of Santa Monica, Calif., has laid off 16 employees from its 200 staff members as a result of shifting emphasis from free individual user services to enterprise software services, the company announced today. Xdrive is an infrastructure and software services company.

The layoffs will occur across the board in all departments.

In December 2000, Xdrive received $50 million in Series D funding from investors Aether Systems, Network Appliance Inc., NEC Corp., Pilot House Associates, Softbank Corp., and StorageNetworks Inc.

Prior to that, the company received more than $40 million in May 2000, totaling $120 million to date in venture funding.

Xdrive did not say when the company expects to reach profitability but said it currently does not plan to seek additional financing.

In January, Xdrive struck a deal with one of its investors Softbank Broadmedia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Softbank Corp., to launch Xdrive’s hard drive and Internet services in Japan under the name Xdrive Japan.

Softbank is the largest shareholder of Yahoo! and E*Trade, and its activities in Japan encompass online financial services, online media and marketing, Internet business solutions, and joint ventures with industry heavy hitters such as Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo!, and the National Association of Securities Dealers.

According to a company spokesperson, the project with Softbank is moving forward and will not be affected by today’s announcement.