Six months after cutting 50 staffers, Paul Allen 's Vulcan has laid off more workers. The Seattle company -- which operates the billionaire's real estate, financial and personal holdings -- cut 17 employees today in the technical department.

Vulcan spokesman David Postman confirmed a tip to TechFlash, noting that the layoffs were the result of some projects being canceled or delayed.

"It is a another hard day here," said David Postman, a spokesman for Allen. "It is unfortunate any time we have to see good people go and it is a particularly hard day in the technical department."

The technical department is one of the biggest at Vulcan with more than 100 employees. Staffers in the group manage everything from Allen's cell phones to new technology projects. Postman declined to say what specific projects were impacted.

The timing of the layoff announcement is interesting in part because Allen just this week received a lot of attention for the introduction of Xiant Filer, a new email organizer that is being incubated at Vulcan. He's also placed bets on some early-stage projects such as Gist and Evri, which are separate companies but are closely connected to Vulcan.

Postman said that Allen continues to invest in innovation, and that new concepts will be coming out under the Xiant name later this year.

But Postman said the layoffs were necessary to "streamline" operations as the company deals with a tough economy. Vulcan now employs about 600 people.

Allen has lost a lot of money in recent years, especially on Charter Communications. The cable company is now in bankruptcy, with Allen recently selling most of his Class A Common shares for less than $1,000. (He still holds shares in the company).

Allen, who at one time was the second richest person in the world, was ranked 32nd by Forbes earlier this year.