Viant Corp. laying off 125

BOSTON — Viant Corp. announced that it was laying off 125 employees and closing its office in Dallas, Texas. The Internet consulting firm reflects a growing tendency in the industry, which thrived during the era of ascendant dotcoms. As the dotcoms recede, some disappearing altogether, the consultants also contract. Such companies as Cambridge Technology Partners, Inc., which eliminated 400 jobs last October and whose stock slumped from $27 a year ago to less than $2 a share recently and Cambridge-based Sapient Corp., considered one of the most stable of the consultants, which lost 80 percent of its stock value in a year have set the pattern in the field.