Vintela: Microsoft's Secret Unix/Linux Weapon?
Microsoft made a minority investment Monday in Unix/Linux management vendor Vintela. Neither Microsoft nor Lindon, Utah-based Vintela would comment on the size of the investment. But sources said the amount was less than $10 million. Vintela has acted as a key participant in Microsoft's Unix/Linux interoperability strategy. Nonetheless, Vintela is an unlikely Microsoft partner.
Vintela is a spinoff of Caldera, the company that sued Microsoft for antitrust violations and settled for an undisclosed amount in 2000. Vintela also has deep roots in the Unix/Java worlds. In spite of these two factors, Vintela has been working with Microsoft on a number of current and future initiatives, ranging from systems management to security. Microsoft and Vintela are working together on Microsoft's ADFS (Active Directory Federation Services), the technology formerly code-named "TrustBridge," which is slated to be incorporated into the Windows Server "R2" release. R2 is expected to ship in late 2005.
