Inprise/Borland Allies with TurboLinux

Inprise/Borland Corp. (Nasdaq: INPR), a provider of Internet access tools and services, announced a strategic alliance Wednesday with software vendor TurboLinux, Inc. to work cooperatively on integrating their products for Linux users worldwide.

Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement, the companies will test, certify, integrate, enhance and market their Linux products.

“This initiative supports our commitment to partnering with companies that have illustrated the ability to deliver superior solutions to enterprise customers,” commented TurboLinux CEO Cliff Miller. “TurboLinux and Inprise/Borland plan to provide customers with the products, service, support, education and training they need to build and deploy e-business enterprise solutions using the Linux OS.”

Inprise/Borland and TurboLinux will additionally focus on incorporating Inprise/Borland’s Project Kylix into integrated product releases. Kylix is a component-based visual Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool for Linux that is scheduled for release later this year.

The Corel Merger

The TurboLinux alliance is the second recent major deal in which Inprise/Borland has been involved. Last week, software solutions developer Corel Corp. (Nasdaq: CORL) announced a merger agreement with the company in a stock deal worth close to $2.44 billion (US$).

The merger of the Linux-focused companies is intended to create a single entity — operating under the Corel name — that will offer a range of solutions, including development tools, productivity applications and professional services for the open-source operating system and other major platforms.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Inprise/Borland interim President and CEO Dale Fuller will be appointed chairman of Corel’s board of directors. The combined company will be headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, and share research, development, sales and marketing resources.

Inprise/Borland is a provider of Internet access infrastructure tools and services for the Linux, Solaris and Windows platforms. The company recently announced a free download of JBuilder 3 Foundation, its Linux Java development environment.

About TurboLinux

TurboLinux recently moved to escalate its challenge to Linux vendors Caldera Systems and Red Hat. By completing its second round of funding, the company pulled in close to $57 million from some of the tech industry’s biggest players.

Computer manufacturers Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) and Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) topped a list of investors that backed the provider of Linux-based business and desktop software solutions. Other backers included Applix, BEA Systems, Fujitsu, Inprise/Borland, Novell, Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) and Toshiba.

Initial investors August Capital, Broadview International, LLC and Intel — which collectively supplied some $5.5 million in funding in October 1999 — also participated in the follow-up round, which is being viewed by some analysts as a preview of an upcoming TurboLinux initial public offering (IPO).

Oracle8i 2 for Linux

In other Linux-related news, Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) has announced the upcoming availability of its Oracle8i Release 2 for Linux. The new release will incorporate several new capabilities designed for e-commerce, including built-in analytical functions for data warehousing, Java 2 and XML support, and data protection to secure information in-storage and in-transit.