By Clint Boulton,
www.InternetNews.com
Open source leader Red Hat
Inc. Monday bought privately-held C2Net Software Inc. for about $42 million
in stock.
Red Hat will issue 1,992,883 shares of common stock in exchange
for all of the outstanding securities of Oakland, Calif.-based
C2Net. The transaction will be valued based on an average closing
price of Red Hat’s common shares for the seven-day period ended
Aug. 16.
Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT)
said C2Net was chosen because of its Apache-based Stronghold Web
server. Commanding more than 30 percent of the Web server market,
according to Security Space, C2Net’s Stronghold server was a
preferred choice for Red Hat to bolster their line of secure
product offerings.
“Powerful, secure solutions like C2Net’s Stronghold and the
rapid technological advancement of the open source development
model, which finds and fixes holes faster than proprietary
development, delivers organizations a safe, advanced foundation for
e-business initiatives,” said Matthew Szulik, president and chief
executive officer of Red Hat.
Red Hat Linux itself is the most popular open source operating
system for Web servers and sites, with more than 72 percent of all
Web sites running Linux choosing Red Hat according to the latest
Netcraft survey.
International Data Corp. reports that paid Linux shipments grew
faster than any other server operating system over the past two
years, and their preliminary figures for 1999 show Linux shipments
hold 24.6 percent of the server operating system market, up from
15.8 percent in 1998.
C2Net’s clientele includes such Amazon.com Inc., AmeriTrade Holdings Group (NASDAQ:AMTD)
and IBM Corp.
C2Net is the fifth major acquisition of Red Hat’s modest
shopping spree this year. In July, it completed the acquisition of
WireSpeed, a leading
developer of network and telecommunications software that helps
connect post-PC and embedded devices to the Internet and secure Web
servers like Stronghold.
In May, Red Hat acquired Bluecurve, whose performance
management solutions allow organizations to simulate and measure
user activity and demands placed on the Internet infrastructure and
applications.
In January, Red Hat snagged payment processing provider Hell’s
Kitchen Systems Inc. and platform specialist Cygnus Solutions.
Red Hat’s acquisition of C2Net is expected to close by Aug.
31.