Loudcloud To Ship Licensed Product; Cuts 1Q Loss

Loudcloud

Code-named Archimedes, the licensed product should begin shipping this month, said Ben Horowitz, CEO of Loudcloud, during an earnings call this week.

"Early momentum behind this product is strong," Horowitz said, adding that many enterprises showed interest in using Opsware to manage their in-house web operations vs. outsourcing the management of their operations.

Three customers have signed on so far, including an international insurance firm, a department of the government and JPMorgan Chase, he said.

For its first quarter ended April 30, Loudcloud cut its loss in half compared with the year-ago quarter. For the period, Loudcloud lost $30.4 million, or 46 cents per share, vs. a loss of $60.3 million, or $1.25 per share, during first quarter of 2001.

Revenue for the quarter grew 50 percent to $17.4 million from $11.7 million last year.

Enterprise customers make up the majority of its customer base after accounting for only half of all business a year ago. During the quarter, Loudcloud signed 31 new contracts with existing and new customers, with 85 percent of the contracts signed coming from enterprise customers.