RANCHO BERNARDO ---- Unisys Corp. will close its Rancho Bernardo office in one year and transfer the operations to Mission Viejo in a consolidation, an official with the information technology company said Wednesday.

The company is now in negotiations to sell its Rancho Bernardo facilities, where 300 people work, spokeswoman Elizabeth Pecsi said. An as yet undetermined number of the employees will be offered jobs in the Mission Viejo location, Pecsi said, while others would be laid off.

Unisys announced that it would be taking steps "to reduce costs and enhance efficiency" in October of last year, Pecsi said. Wednesday's announcement, made to the Rancho Bernardo employees, is part of that initiative, she said.

"So we told employees that a year from now, we will be physically moving to the Mission Viejo facility," Pecsi said.

Gary Knight, president and chief executive of the San Diego North Economic Development Council, said he was concerned that the Unisys closure pointed to a pattern of workforce reduction among large technology companies in North County.

"In light of the recent reduction at HP, this will definitely have an impact on the community," Knight said, referring to layoffs last week at Hewlett-Packard's Rancho Bernardo plant.

About 100 employees took a buyout in May and 15 employees were laid off last week at HP, said Mitch Mitchell, a former spokesman who himself was one of those laid off Friday.

As with Unisys, Hewlett-Packard said it needed to cut staff as part of an efficiency drive to make it more competitive.

Knight said the layoffs pointed to a need to diversify North County's economy among a mix of business sectors, so a downturn in one sector doesn't hurt the overall economy.

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at (760) 739-6641 or bfikes@nctimes.com .