By Staff Report Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

Simi Valley-based Qualstar, a maker of tape-based hard-drive backups and power supplies, has laid off 13 percent of its workforce.

The company said the employees were related to unprofitable technologies that it is phasing out, and the move is expected to save the company about $480,00 a year. The announcement came days after Qualstar said it lost $4.1 million on $17.1 million in revenue for its fiscal 2012.

“Although these actions are never easy, this is one of the many steps we are taking to more effectively manage costs and streamline our operations to focus on key market opportunities,” Larry Firestone, president and CEO of the company, said in a release.

Firestone, along with the rest of Qualstar’s board and management, recently survived an acrimonious proxy fight to oust the company’s top brass.

Qualstar did not specify the number of positions it cut. However, in 2011 filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it had 70 full-time employees. A 13 percent workforce cut would equal about 9 positions.