Cobalt Networks was a maker of low-cost

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

-based

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

s and

server appliance A computer appliance is a computer system with a combination of Computer hardware, hardware, software, or firmware that is specifically designed to provide a particular computing resource. Such devices became known as ''appliances'' because of ...

s based in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...

. The company had 1,900 end user customers in more than 70 countries. During the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

, the company had a

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

of $6 billion despite only $22 million in annual revenue. In 2000, the company was acquired by

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

and in December 2003, Sun shut down the Cobalt product line. Cobalt was considered a pioneering server appliance vendor, the first to market a 1 RU rackmounted server, and was credited by the founder of RLX Technologies as paving the way for

blade server A blade server is a stripped-down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. Blade servers have many components removed to save space, minimize power consumption and other considerations, wh ...

History

The company was founded in 1996 by Vivek Mehra as Cobalt Microserver. In June 1998, the company changed its name to Cobalt Networks, Inc. The company introduced products as follows: On November 5, 1999, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. Its stock price rose as much as 618% above its $22/share initial price. On March 23, 2000, the company announced the acquisition of Chilisoft from Charlie Crystle for 1.15 million shares of Cobalt common stock, then valued at $69.9 million. In September 2000,

announced the acquisition of the company for $2 billion in stock. The acquisition was completed on December 7, 2000. Many disgruntled engineers left the company in the months following the acquisition. In December 2003, Sun shut down the Cobalt product line.

References

{{Dot-com Bubble 1996 establishments in California 1999 initial public offerings 2000 disestablishments in California 2000 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1996 American companies disestablished in 2000 Computer companies established in 1996 Computer companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Defunct online companies of the United States Dot-com bubble Server appliance Sun Microsystems acquisitions