Good Word Boosts Linux Companies
Wednesday February 2 2:37 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Linux companies surged on Wednesday after a coalition developing a version of the up-and-coming software system to run on Intel Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) next-generation microprocessors said they were ready to release the software to developers at large.
VA Linux Inc. stock posted the strongest gains, jumping 20-1/8 to 128, up more than 18 percent on the day, following the announcement at a Linux trade show taking place here this week.
Shares of Red Hat Inc. (NasdaqNM:RHAT - news), the best known distributor of Linux, rose 9-1/8 to 101-5/8, while Andover.net Inc. (NasdaqNM:ANDN - news) added 3-5/16 to 32-3/16. All three stocks trade on the Nasdaq stock market.
At a joint press conference, a virtual who's who of Linux distributors and key computer industry backers taking part in the so-called Trillian Project said they had released the programming source code required to create Linux software ready to run on Intel's IA-64 chip due out later this year.
``As Linux becomes mainstream we are seeing major commercial companies working together in the open source environment,' said Ron Curry, Intel's director of marketing for the IA-64 chip.
The Trillian Project was formed last spring to prepare the Linux operating system to run on Intel-64 chips, which are scheduled to become available in the third quarter of this year.
Participants include VA Linux, Red Hat's Cygnus unit, and three other Linux distributors -- Caldera, SuSE and TurboLinux. Other backers include CERN, the European physics research lab, and computer industry heavyweights Hewlett Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news), IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) and SGI (NYSE:SGI - news).
The effort marks the broadest undertaking by the computer industry to transform Linux into a software system capable of running key business operations. To date, Linux has largely found favor on computers used to manage Internet Web sites.
The operating system source code is publicly available at kernel.org, in line with the common practice of the Linux software movement, which openly publishes all technical innovations in a bid to speed adoption of new features.
Trillian Project backers are seeking to woo software developers in the broader industry to embrace Linux, which is seen as an alternative to the upcoming version of Microsoft Windows 2000, a version of which is also being fine-tuned to run on Intel's faster generation of IA-64 processors.
The project is a break with the anarchic tradition of Linux software development in the past, which has relied on a loose-knit fraternity of software programmers to develop features for the system.
``In some regard, this is a new environment for the open source movement,' Curry said. ``It is also catching up to how other software companies develop their product.'
Instead, Trillian involves Linux developers in the actual development of the new Intel chip, allowing participants some sway in defining final products and thereby allowing new Linux versions to be ready at the same time IA-64 chips ship.
``We are going to have the software out there as soon as the processors hit the street,' said Sridhar Chilukur, director of business development for VA Linux. |
