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CollabNet adds Web site designers with buy

The open-source programmer site says it is acquiring New York-based Web design company Alphanumerica.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
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Stephen Shankland
Open-source programmer site CollabNet today announced it is acquiring New York-based Web design company Alphanumerica.

The expected acquisition will provide San Francisco-based CollabNet with employees to create sophisticated Web sites that will host the contributions of programmers worldwide. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed.

The acquisition will increase CollabNet's employee count by 15 to the mid-70s, a spokesman said. The company is hiring aggressively, with 22 positions open Friday.

CollabNet hosts sites where larger companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems and Oracle can try to foster the growth of open-source programmer communities. In open-source programming, such as Linux and Apache, anyone may modify and redistribute software.

The movement, in some cases, has driven teams of excited volunteer programmers hoping to make their mark on the world, but corporate efforts to foster these communities isn't always successful. CollabNet builds Web sites to foster such communities and also offers consulting services to companies hoping to tap into the open-source movement.

Alphanumerica's connections with the open-source movement included sponsorship of early meetings of Mozilla, Netscape's effort to turn its Web browser into an open-source project.

Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen is a board member, and Dell Computer, HP, TurboLinux, Novell, Sun and others are investors. Benchmark Capital provided venture capital.