French Connection: Mandriva Acquires Linbox

On Oct. 5, Paris-based Mandriva, formerly MandrakeSoft, announced plans to acquire open source infrastructure management ISV Linbox for roughly $1.7 million.

Linbox, of Lorraine, France, has developed open source and Linux authentication, backup and asset management solutions for medium- to large-sized organizations for more than a decade, Mandriva said.

Linbox's two flagship products, Linbox Directory Server and Linbox Rescue Server, are used by significant customers including Renault, EADS, Arcelor and multiple French ministries, Mandriva said. Linbox employs 12 people and reported roughly $844,000 in revenues in 2005.

Following the deal, Mandriva, a Linux distribution provider, will begin integrating Linbox technologies into its Mandriva Pulse enterprise software deployment and management products, the company said

Mandriva also has offices in Brazil and San Diego, Calif, and has been attempting to make gains in the U.S. Linux market now dominated by Red Hat and Novell. See CRN Online Mandiva also acquired Linux distributor Conectiva in Brazil and assets from U.S. Linux desktop publisher Lycoris last year.

Mandriva is distributed on select HP and Dell systems. The company is wel known for its desktop technology but also provides integrated server products for SMB companies and enterprises.

In late September, Mandriva introduced its Mandriva Linux 2007 platform as well as its Mandriva Corporate Server 4.0

Mandriva 2007 offers support for both AIGLX and Xgl 3D-accelerated desktops, an enhanced graphical user interface, LinDVD player for Linux, and a high availability firewall cluster system called Invictus Firewall.

The Corporate Server 4.0 offers a variety of core services, security and new virtualization offerings. The latest versions supports Xen, VMware and OpenVz code, the company said.