Cobalt Networks was a maker of low-cost

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

-based

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

s and

server appliance A computer appliance is a home appliance with software or firmware that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. Such devices became known as ''appliances'' because of the similarity in role or management to a home ap ...

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

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

, 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 t ...

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

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...

and in December 2003, Sun shut down the Cobalt product line. Cobalt was the most successful web server appliance vendor of its time, and that success motivated the founding of blade server pioneer

RLX Technologies RLX Technologies was a computer company based in The Woodlands, Texas. Founded in 1999 by Christopher Hipp, one of the inventors of the blade server, and former Compaq employees, the company pioneered the use of blade servers, a compact, strippe ...

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 stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

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 investment ...

. 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 mergers and acquisitions Defunct online companies of the United States Dot-com bubble Sun Microsystems acquisitions Server appliance