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Troubles at VA Linux Systems. On December 9, 1999
VA Linux Systems had a wildly successful IPO. The first day the
stock skyrocketed to $320 before closing at $239/share. It was too good
to be true for those who bought stock at the opening price of $30. Well,
at least for those who sold while the stock was high. As of this writing VA Linux
is at $7.12, reflecting the general trend of the Nasdaq since those
halcyon days of late 1999 and the recent announcement that the company
lowered its expectations for its second fiscal quarter revenue. (Covered
on this week's Front Page.)
VA Linux has been named in a class action suit for alleged SEC violations
along with Credit Suisse First Boston Corporation, and VA Linux execs
Larry M. Augustin and Todd B. Schull. Several law firms have announced
their participation. Oddly, a number of these law firms make the same
mistake in their press releases: VA Linux Systems, Inc. is shortened to
simply "Linux". In the worst case, this usage could be seen as a
violation of the Linux trademark; at best references to "the Linux IPO"
make these law firms seem clueless. Press releases from
Milberg
Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP in New York, Cauley
Geller Bowman & Coates, LLP in Boca Raton, Fla.,
Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz, LLP in New York and Seeger
Weiss LLP also of New York, all shorten VA Linux Systems, Inc. to
"Linux".
For the press release containing the most information and one that
refers to "VA Linux" rather than "Linux" see this one from
Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP of New York.
Also involved are
Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP of Bala Cynwyd, PA and
Charles J. Piven, P.A. of Baltimore, MD. More law firms are sure to
jump in as well. There are a number of firms that make their living from
cases such as this. The sharks are circling.
It is not clear how much VA Linux Systems itself was involved in the
alleged violations. VA is charged with filing a false and
misleading prospectus, but the suit mostly revolves around the
conduct of Credit Suisse with regard to the VA Linux IPO. It will
likely be some time before this issue is resolved.
All of the law firms are looking for "lead plaintiffs" to help their
cause. If you bought VA stock before December 6, 2000 and are
inclined toward such things, you may be able to participate. See any of
the above press releases for more information.
This suit could hurt VA Linux badly. Just how much remains to be
seen. It's worth considering, just as a thought exercise, what could
happen to VA's community resources (such as SourceForge) should all of
those lawyers succeed in dragging the company down. This is ugly stuff.
2.4 Kernel Pre-Production Release Available
from VA Linux. VA Linux Systems, Inc. announced the
availability of its
first pre-production release of the new Linux 2.4 kernel,
offered via ftp at
ftp://ftp.valinux.com/pub/kernel/, is available as an executable
binary compiled and packaged by VA Linux in RPM and DEB formats.
IBM and NCSA Create Worlds Fastest Linux
Supercomputers in Academia. IBM and The National Center for
Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign announced that NCSA will
install two IBM Linux clusters, containing more than 600 IBM
eServer xSeries systems running Red Hat Linux. NCSA's clusters will
have two teraflops of computing power and will be used by
researchers to study some of the most fundamental questions of
science, such as the nature of gravitational waves first predicted
by Albert Einstein in his Theory of Relativity.
IBM Expands AIX Affinity With Linux. IBM today announced its
Linux affinity initiative with the introduction of AIX Toolkit
for Linux Applications. Available for download over the Web, the
toolkit allows developers to build and package Linux applications
for use on the IBM eServer(a) family running AIX.
NuSphere MySQL, new version, training
offerings. NuSphere Corporation has
released version 1.13.5 of its MySQL distribution.
NuSphere has also
announced that it has been granted exclusive rights to the
"official" MySQL training materials. The training program was
developed by Polycon and Monty Widenius; courses will be offered in
Massachusetts and California.
Open Source Infrastructure - A Manifesto for
the Coming Big Bang. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown equity research
analyst Phil Rueppel today published an industry report, "
Open Source Infrastructure -- A Manifesto for the Coming Big
Bang." Additionally, yesterday he expanded his coverage of the
Linux Market industry by initiating coverage of Red Hat,
Inc. (Nasdaq : RHAT) with a BUY rating ($7.0). "Linux and other
Open Source technologies continue to demonstrate the characteristics
of strong growth, increased customer penetration, and disruptive
change -- all factors that create investment opportunities in our
view."
Linux Stock Index for January 11 to January 17, 2001.
LSI at closing on 11-Jan-01 38.32
LSI at closing on 17-Jan-01 38.71
The high for the week was 38.72
The low for the week was 38.32
Press Releases:
Open Source Products
Unless specified, license is unverified.
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B2B ITS Corp. (STAMFORD, Conn.) has released .FIXantenna
Engine under an Apache-style license.
- Lineo, Inc. announced that VPN
support, based upon the IPSec standard, has been added to NETtel
devices. NETtel devices are released under the GNU General Public
License.
- North
Fork Networks (Palo Alto, CA) announced the availability of its
new SANiq solution for Linux-based companies. This
alpha release of the software is available from NorthForkNet.com under
the GNU General Public License.
- Trustix has released a software
updater called SWUP for its secure Linux distribution.
Proprietary Products for Linux
-
Caldera Systems, Inc. (OREM, Utah) announced the release of
Caldera Volution, a comprehensive Linux management solution
that reduces the cost of implementing and managing Linux systems.
-
Motorola Computer Group (TEMPE, Ariz.) announced that its
Advanced High Availability Software for Linux (HA Linux) was
awarded Product of the Year by both Internet Telephony Magazine and
Communication Solutions Magazine.
-
Real-Time Innovations, Inc. (SUNNYVALE, Calif.) released
StethoScope for Linux, the visualization tool for monitoring
and analyzing embedded and real-time applications.
-
SteelEye Technology Inc. (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) announced an
extension of its LifeKeeper Next Generation Enterprise Reliability
platform to protect the uptime of Linux-based print servers.
- SuSE announced the availability of a
2nd generation email server package called SuSE eMail Server
II.
-
Tamino Software AG (SAN RAMON, Calif.) announced its native XML
database, now runs on SuSE Linux AG's Linux Enterprise Server for
S/390.
Products and Services Using Linux
-
Conversay (REDMOND, Wash.) announced its speech recognition
technology will be licensed to a Linux PDA being developed by
Language Bank and Shin Information Systems (SHINS), both of Seoul,
South Korea.
-
Corridor Software, Inc. (GREENBELT, Md.) announced a February 28
release date for its Linux-based Connection Server software.
The first beta versions are undergoing internal testing and Corridor
will begin shipping the software to qualified testers and resellers
around the country in the next two weeks.
-
Fujitsu-ICL Systems Inc. (NEW YORK) announced the
Liberator, a new Linux-based point-of-sale software solution
that supports and enhances existing IBM 4690 point-of-sale (POS)
applications.
-
HELIOS Software GmbH (HANNOVER, Germany) announced the
availability of remote Internet Printing, a major new feature
of HELIOS PDF Handshake 2.0 now shipping on HELIOS distribution CD016.
-
LAND-5 Corporation (SAN DIEGO, CA) announced that it has certified
ICP vortex Corporation's PCI RAID controllers with its Linux-based
iceNAS software for network attached storage.
-
Sphera Corporation (NEW YORK) announced AutoHost, a
dedicated Linux server line designed for premium Web hosting.
Products with Linux Versions
-
Access360 (IRVINE, Calif.) announced that its flagship software,
enRole, now has the capacity to provision access rights to over
50 computing resources - from databases and operating systems to
security systems and applications.
-
AMD and Virtutech (SUNNYVALE, Calif.) announced the two companies
are working together to further enable the development of software
supporting AMD's next-generation Hammer family of processors. They
have jointly developed a high-performance tool, codenamed
"VirtuHammer", that will allow software developers to write and
test 64-bit programs in preparation for the planned commercial
introduction of the next-generation AMD processors in the first half
of 2002.
-
AVIDWireless (IRVING, Texas) announced the release of
AVIDRapidTools 1.2, a wireless application server for the
desktop.
-
BindView Corporation (HOUSTON) announced the bv-Control
Security Management Suite, an enterprise-class security and policy
enforcement solution.
-
Cyrusoft International, Inc. (PITTSBURGH) announced a February 2nd
ship date for the Unix-based version of their Mulberry Email Client
package. The software is currently available for public testing
and download at the company's website. Versions of Unix currently
supported by Mulberry include Red Hat Linux versions 5 and later and
equivalents, Linux PPC 2000, Solaris 8 and later (x86 and Sparc).
-
FirstPeer (SAN DIEGO) announced the release of Personal
Servant, an open unifying platform for bringing together
applications, devices and people in the new peer-to-peer paradigm.
Personal Servant can be downloaded for free.
-
iMimic Networking Inc. (HOUSTON) announced the new release of
DataReactor Core Version 2.1 Web caching software.
-
Ipedo, Inc. (REDWOOD CITY, Calif.) introduced the Ipedo
Directory Cache, a dynamic LDAP directory cache. It's available
for Red Hat Linux, licensed on a per server basis starting at $25,000.
-
MAPICS, Inc. (ATLANTA) announced the immediate availability of
Point.Man release 6.0, providing customers with expanded
international and collaborative e-business capabilities.
-
MetiLinx, Inc. (SAN MATEO, Calif.) announced the general release
of iSystem Enterprise, a solution for system optimization of
networked server systems.
-
MicroVault Corp. (HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.) announced the release
of NetCourier Secure Document Delivery System, Version 2.0, an
e-mail-based solution that permits message recipients to receive and
decode encrypted documents.
- ParaSoft (Monrovia, CA) announced the
release of WebKing 3.0, a development and testing tool that
improves the reliability of dynamic n-tier Web sites.
-
Sanchez Computer Associates Inc. (MALVERN, Pa.) announced it has
extended the logical dual site database replication feature of its
GT.M database product to run on multiple operating platforms,
including x86 GNU/Linux.
-
SSH Communications Security (HELSINKI, Finland) announced SSH
Secure Shell 2.4, a new version of its encryption technology.
-
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (PALO ALTO, Calif.) introduced Sun
StorEdge T3 array support for Windows NT, HP-UX, IBM AIX and
Linux system platforms.
-
V Communications (SAN JOSE, Calif.) announced that
DriveWorks, a wizard driven integrated solution for hard drive
management including partitioning, copying, imaging and backing up
hard drives, is shipping now.
-
YesSoftware (SAN FRANCISCO) announced the launch of the
pre-release version of CodeCharge, a code generation
application for database publishing on the web.
Books and Training
- InfoCan Management is launching a
world tour on Internet, Kylix and Palm cross platform
development. This is a 2-day seminar that is designed for both Delphi
and Linux users. Kylix is Borland's component-based rapid application
development environment for Linux.
-
Kaivo (DENVER) announced that they will be partnering with Python
developer Mark Lutz to deliver Python education and training with a
three day course, "Python for Programmers".
-
Red Hat, Inc. (RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.) announced the
expanded availability of its RHCE training and certification
program, as well as other Red Hat training offerings.
Partnerships
-
BluePoint Linux Software Corp. (LOS ANGELES) announced that it has
signed an agreement with Shenzhen Launch Computer Co., Ltd.
According to the agreement, BluePoint will develop BLUEPOINT EMBEDDED
based PDA Operating System for Launch Computer. BluePoint will also
provide BLUEPOINT EMBEDDED Development Kit, training and technical
support. Launch Computer intends to develop automobile diagnostic
tools and other automobile service related applications on the PDA
Operating System.
-
BSDi (COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) and Korea Telecom Internet
Solutions (KTIS) announced a channel partnership through which
KTIS will provide BSDi software and solutions to the Korean market and
provide technical support for the FreeBSD open source operating
system.
-
DecisionOne (FRAZER, Pa.) announced that it has been selected by
Data Engines as the exclusive installation support provider for
the company's iServiceOne product, a Linux-based Security
Gateway Server.
-
Digital Creations (RICHMOND, Va.) announced a partnership with
bayMountain, a provider of Linux-based managed hosting
services. As part of this partnership, bayMountain will provide
server clustering expertise and services in support of Zope.org,
Digital Creation's high-traffic Open Source development site. In
addition, bayMountain will provide the infrastructure foundation for
Digital Creations' new content management solution, to be released
later this year.
-
Merilus Inc. (VANCOUVER, British Columbia) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with Sun Wah Linux Ltd. The two companies will
cooperate in the development, offering and promotion of network
security, management and communications systems in the field of
education and specifically to education institutions of the Hong Kong
Education Department and to the Education Ministries of the provincial
governments of the People's Republic of China.
-
Motorola (SCHAUMBURG, Ill. and BRISBANE, Calif.) announced an
alliance with CollabNet to provide free web-based project
hosting, a collaboration environment, and code storage as part of the
Motorola iDEN Subscriber Group's comprehensive developers' support
program.
-
WordWalla, Inc. (FREMONT, Calif.) has joined three key industry
organizations to participate in the development and understanding of
new, emerging technologies and markets -- the Embedded Linux
Consortium, LISA and the Unicode Consortium.
-
Zend Technologies (BALTIMORE) announced that it will provide its
expertise in PHP for use with the Intel Itanium architecture.
As part of this working relationship, Zend will provide developers
with a custom PHP solution for optimum performance on Intel's
forthcoming Itanium processor.
-
ZF Linux Devices (PALO ALTO, Calif.) announced that the company
will bundle Wind River's VxWorks real-time operating system
with ZF Linux Devices' MachZ SOC.
Personnel
-
Digital Creations (FREDERICKSBURG, Va.) announced that it has
hired industry executive Thomas Morling to expand its sales and
marketing operations.
-
Mission Critical Linux, Inc. (LOWELL, Mass.) announced that former
Senior EDS Executive Dennis Hickey has joined their team as Vice
President of Sales.
- Penguin Computing Inc. (San
Francisco, Calif.) announced that it has appointed Martin D. (Marty)
Seyer as its president and chief executive officer. Seyer will also
join the Penguin Computing board of directors.
Linux At Work
-
1mage Software Inc. (DENVER) announced that the Grandview Heights
Public Library, Grandview, Ohio, has selected the document imaging and
management system from 1mage. The library plans to have digitized
images, maintained on a server using the Linux operating system, made
available via the Internet worldwide and through the library's online
catalog.
Other
-
CollabNet (BRISBANE, Calif.) announced that the online community,
mozdev.org, is rapidly gaining developer support and is
becoming the premier online community for Mozilla-based projects that
are not hosted by mozilla.org.
-
eWEEK (MEDFORD, Mass.) announced OpenHack III, an open
challenge to penetrate and corrupt a fictitious Internet service
provider (ISP) and e-commerce site being established by Argus Systems
Group.
- LinuxPPC Inc. (WAUKEHSA, Wisconsin)
gave away more than 1,000 LinuxPPC CD-ROMs at Macworld Expo in
San Francisco.
-
The PHP Group (BALTIMORE) announced that PHP (PHP Hypertext
Preprocessor), the open-source Web scripting language, is now found on
more than five million Web domains, according to Netcraft.
Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol.
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January 18, 2001
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