VA Linux sales increase 6-fold

Anyone doubting the upsurge of Linux based network servers only has to look

at the six-fold sales surge reported this week by VA Linux. The company has

generated $50.7 million sales in the fourth quarter compared to just $7.84

million a year ago.

Due to heavy investments in marketing, the company’s operations still lost

$4.08 million, down from a $7.87 million loss a year ago. After including

expenses associated with the $400 million acquisition of Andover.net (now called

Open Source Development Network ­ OSDN), the firm’s net loss was $47.5

million.

"We have continued to demonstrate, quarter after quarter, strong revenue

growth and improved financial results," said VA Linux president and chief

executive Larry Augustin.

Unlike Red Hat, TurboLinux, StormLinux and most other Linux distributors who

depend almost entirely on support services for their free Linux software, VA

Linux makes most of its money from the hardware it sells. Increasingly, the firm

is adding value-added software and support services such as those from OSDN. One

new service under development will let customers pick the software programs they

want shipped with the servers they buy from VA Linux.