Stephen & Intel Investors - More on Intel, Linux & VA Research
This "deal" has been in the works for well over a month.
Paul
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infoworld.com
Silicon Valley start-up expands its Linux drive
By Dana Gardner InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 8:51 AM PT, Feb 2, 1999 Betting that Linux will become an enterprise platform to be reckoned with, a Silicon Valley company restructured Tuesday with the aim of offering the breadth of Linux products.
VA Research Linux Systems (VA), calling itself the first "Linux systems company," is the progeny of VA Research Inc., which was started in a Stanford University dormitory room as a mail-order Linux-box business in 1993 by VA's current president and CEO, Larry Augustin, according to a VA spokesman.
The restructured company, which has entered a business relationship with Intel, says it offers Linux-based hardware, software, and service/support solutions to meet enterprise needs. The company is focusing on cultivating the Linux-on-Intel market.
Linux is an open-source community-based operating system that can provide the kernel and services to allow a limited but growing range of applications and servers to run and be managed on a range of client/server platforms.
The company plans to ship a variety of Intel-based servers. For example, in December 1998 VA began shipping the VArServer 4100 system, a Red Hat Linux server that features four 450-MHz Intel Pentium II Xeon processors with 1GB of RAM on each, upgradable to 2GB. Pricing starts at $49,995.
"Advances like this show that the Linux platform is up to the task of handling large scientific and corporate data-serving needs while remaining the most stable, fast, and reliable platform available," Augustin said in December.
Now with 40 employees, VA has assembled an expanded executive team and board of directors, as well as secured funding from venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, according to a VA representative.
Among those serving VA's cause are Gregg Zehr, a former Apple Computer engineering executive; Greg Chabrier, called the first salesman and early planner in forming Sun Microsystems; Doug Leone of Sequoia Capital; and Eric Raymond, author of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, which helped mobilize and popularize the open source-code community.
VA is expanding its Linux presence with a business partnership with Intel Financing, and plans to lease its systems to corporate customers, said VA officials. The company says it already has Cox Interactive, McGraw Hill, France Telecom, Bayer, Kaiser, and Southwestern Bell among its enterprise customers.
VA Research Linux Systems Inc., in Mountain View, Calif., can be reached at www.varesearch.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire.
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