Sun decides to buy Kealia Inc

SAN FRANCISCO: Sun Microsystems Inc. said it agreed to acquire closely held Kealia Inc., a start-up focused on advanced computer server technology and run by Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim.

Specific terms of the stock-for-stock purchase were not disclosed, Sun said. Kealia has 58 engineers on staff.

"I'm really excited about the opportunity here before us," said Bechtolsheim, who Sun's first employee. Sun was founded in 1982 and first made powerful computer workstations used by scientists and engineers.

Scott McNealy, Sun's chairman and chief executive and also a Sun co-founder, said Bechtolsheim built "the world's coolest computers."

Bechtolsheim will return to Santa Clara, California-based Sun as senior vice president and chief architect within the Volume Systems Products group, which sells servers that typically cost $25,000 or less.

After leaving Sun, Bechtolsheim founded and subsequently sold a start-up company to networking equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc., then left Cisco to found Kealia, McNealy said at a press conference on Tuesday in San Francisco to announce new computer servers, software and services.

© Reuters