“Server appliance vendor Cobalt Networks became the first Linux
company to recoup its April stock market losses this week, but to
hear company insiders tell it, Linux had only a minor role in the
resurgence.”
“The operating system doesn’t matter to us,” says Kelly
Hill, Cobalt’s vice president of marketing. “It’s the service we
provide on top of the operating system that counts….“
“As an appliance vendor, Cobalt Networks’ business strategy
differs slightly from fellow Linux hardware players such as VA
Linux Systems and Penguin Computing. Instead of using the free
operating system to undercut market leader Sun Microsystems (SUNW)
in the workhorse server market, Cobalt is using Linux as a platform
for building application-specific machines, or “appliance”
servers.”