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VMware will soon eliminate 900 jobs among the 13,800 employees with which it ended 2012. But the layoffs will not amount to a reduction in force; it will also add a total of 1,000 more employees this year, as it brings its workforce in closer alignment with its key business objectives.

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger, COO Carl Eschenbach and CFO Jonathan Chadwick didn't specify where the layoffs would occur, other than to single out VMware's SlideRocket division, an application unit whose software allows Web-based presentations to be updated in real time. Dazzling in its potential, it nevertheless left some VMware watchers scratching their heads as to how it would be used as part of a virtualization specialist's repertoire.

VMware has made six acquisitions over the past three years -- iTHC, Wanova, Pattern Insights, Cetas, DynamicOps and Nicira -- and added 6,700 employees.

The pending layoffs were one surprise as VMware reported on its fourth-quarter earnings and 2012 fiscal year results Monday. A second was the continued strength of its revenue, which grew 22% in 2012 to $4.6 billion. Inside that figure was a 13% increase in new license revenue; license revenues amounted to $2.1 billion. The 22% figure, however, marked a decline from the 32% rate of revenue growth recorded in the previous year.