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Filing details Intel's $3 million eSoft stake

The investment is one of several the chip giant has made in companies using the open-source Linux software.

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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  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland
The stake Intel took in special-purpose computer maker eSoft was worth $3 million, the companies disclosed today.

The size of the chip giant's investment in eSoft wasn't disclosed when the deal was announced in November, but it was enough to send eSoft's stock rocketing upward. The $3 million figure was released in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today.

The investment is one of several Intel has made in companies using the open-source Linux software. Intel also has invested in Red Hat, SuSE, TurboLinux and VA Linux Systems.

eSoft makes server "appliances," computers designed to handle specific tasks on a network more easily, more cheaply or more quickly than their general-purpose brethren.

Cobalt Networks, another manufacturer of Linux-based server appliances, raised $110 million in its IPO in November. CyberNet Systems, which writes software for Linux-based server appliances, plans to go public as soon as March.