Linux Fever

Record-Breaker: VA Linux Systems Inc., a provider of servers and workstations designed to work with the Linux operating system, set a new record for best first day performance, reports ABC News.com. The Sunnyvale-based company offered 4.4 million shares at an initial price of $30 per share, and immediately jumped to $299 in early trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, reports ABC.

At the end of the day, it closed at $250 a share, with 7.7 millions shares exchanged.

The Linux operating system is a free platform, created by Finnish program Linus Torvalds and programmers across the world, explains ABC. It currently powers a third of all Web servers, says ABC. "Linux fever has replaced dot com mania," joked one observer.

L&H Supports Linux: Lernout & Hauspie has announced that its new L&H iTranslator Online, a Web-based e-comerce translation service, will support the Linux operating system through software development kits.

L&H also announced plans to support Linux developers who want to incorporate its speech and language technologies into their operations, including L&H Voice Xpress Software Development Kit.

Red Hat Acquisition: Red Hat Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., has announced plans to acquire Cygnus Solutions,of Sunnyvale, Calif., in a transaction valued at $674 million. The deal is expected to close by Jan. 27, the companies report.Red Hat offers consulting, training and support for its Red Hat Linux operating system software and applications; Cygnus offers Internet software based on an open source code model.

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NetReality: Bittco Solutions, of Alberta, Canada, has released a Linux version of its NetReality software tool, for searching and visualizing the Internet. NetReality analyzes and organizes Web sits and searches with "neural-net" technology, says the company.

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New Support: Enhanced Software Technologies Inc., which produces Linux backup systems, says it is now offering support for Hewlett-Packard Co.'s One-Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR) tape drive capability.

The company is bundling BRU Backup & Restore Utility 15.1 for Linux with CRU for Linux (Crash Recovery Utility), it says. The upgrade supports HP's latest series of 4MM DAT drives, including the SureStore DAT40/24/ and 8 drives. OBDR allows the HP tape drive to emulate a bootable device during system reboot, by simply pressing the drive's eject button while power cycling the device, says Enhanced.

The company also announced development alliances with SuSE Inc., of Oakland, Calif., which distributes Linux in Europe; and with Red Hat, a Linux developer and service provider based in Durham, N.C.

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