“Linux may still be venture capitalists’ definitive open source
software, but sendmail, one of the earliest progenies of the open
source movement, is vying for attention. Sendmail Inc., a company
that’s based its business model on the original open source
sendmail code, this week announced an influx of $35 million that
the company will use to improve its technologies and ramp up global
sales efforts.”
“Cofounded in 1997 by sendmail creator Eric Allman, the company
is leveraging the ubiquity of sendmail — code that Sendmail Inc.
says now powers an estimated 75 percent of Internet mail servers —
to drive commercial versions into businesses seeking added
security, encryption technologies, or even just a warrantied
product or service.”
“Sendmail Inc.’s commercial success relies on its ability to
convince companies that they need email support and services.
Flush with cash from investors, including Morgan Stanley Dean
Witter Private Equity, Red Hat (which owns editorially independent
Wide Open News), and the Intel IA-64 Fund, Sendmail Inc. president
and CEO Greg Olson agreed to talk to Wide Open News about how its
open source roots are informing its growth model.”