The compulsory redundancies take effect in November and are concentrated primarily in Dedicated Micros' sales, customer service and technical support areas based in the North of England. Employees have already been informed of the decision in a series of internal briefings by senior management.

Said Nigel Petrie, chairman, Dedicated Micros: "As a business, we constantly review our overheads. The economic climate is inevitably causing us to revise growth expectations as is the case with many other Security Brands. A particular reticence in the UK Security Sector Supply Chain is an added contributing factor. We are confident that these, preemptive, efficiency measures will ensure that at Dedicated Micros we are in the best possible position to cope with potentially tough economic times ahead. To put this into context even with the announced reduction - which represents less than 2 percent of Dedicated Micros total workforce - employee levels are still historically high and comparable to 2006 numbers."

"We believe that with Dedicated Micros evolving DV-IP product platform, which requires a different hybrid route to market model, that the high level of service and support we provide to customers will not be impacted by this move. We also feel that Dedicated Micros is in a strong position compared to our rivals to weather the storm, as over the past two years we have embarked on the most ambitious product development programme ever undertaken by the business, from a CCTV solutions point of view, with a range of innovations including new user interfaces and enterprise solutions now coming on stream," Nigel continued.

"Looking ahead, the Dedicated Micros' Board plans to maintain the high level of investment in research and development, and all important marketing activities, as we see these as very much the cornerstones of future business success," he concluded.