VA Linux opens ten new offices

VA Linux Systems, a leading Linux computer maker, has opened ten new sales offices throughout North America, the company said.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, the company has opened offices in New York, Toronto, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, and several other cities, VA plans to announce tomorrow. In addition, VA said its second-quarter revenues grew 220 percent over the quarter before, though it didn't release dollar figures.

VA Linux is one of the more prominent Linux companies, having won investments from Intel, SGI, and others. The manufacturer has been selling computers running the Linux operating system since 1994, and more recently has been expanding its Linux support plans. Founder Larry Augustin has said VA plans to go public, a move that could make it the second Linux IPO after Red Hat, which sells the operating system and support.

VA Linux is aiming at the higher end of the Linux computer sales strategy, modeling its sales method after Dell and its array of products and services after Sun Microsystems. Several other companies also offer Linux servers, including the industry's biggest computer manufacturers.

VA also said its Linux.com Web site currently receives 400,000 page views each day. By comparison, Red Hat's page, which is more tightly tied to its business model, received 1.25 million in the month of March, which averages out to about 40,000 views per day. Both companies are trying to attract visitors to their Linux portals.

Linux is an open-source operating system modeled after Unix. The software is most often found in servers but increasingly seems to be potential competition for Windows as an ordinary desktop operating system as well.