A startup founded by former SnapGear CEO Bob Waldie will unveil a family of open source KVM switches (keyboard, video, monitor) and console management products in mid-February. Opengear will sell products based on open source KVM software that the company says it will actively support.

Waldie formerly founded Moreton Bay, a hardware-oriented embedded company based in Brisbane, Australia, that specialized in uClinux-based security solutions. In the spring of 2000, Moreton Bay was acquired by Lineo, where Waldie served as COO. The company was subsequently spun back out as Snapgear in the fall of 2001.

Opengear's executive team also includes President Tony Merenda, former CTO of Stallion Technologies, the remote connectivity hardware company that Waldie founded prior to founding Moreton Bay.

Opengear says it has received “angel funding” that will enable it to demonstrate KVM-over-IP and console management products at the February LinuxWorld show in Boston. The funding will also enable it to rapidly expand its sales, marketing, customer service, and business development efforts, it says.

Opengear says it actively supports and draws from the okvm project. It says open source technology provides a simple, secure, cost-effective way to configure distributed networks of servers and devices.

According to Opengear, an IDC study projected worldwide revenues of $925 million for the 2005 KVM market, up from $725 million in 2004. Other vendors marketing KVM equipment based on Linux include Avocent, Cyclades, and Digi International, according to Opengear.

Mr. Waldie commented, “Our solutions reduce legacy complexities [and] offer the highest level of performance at a fraction of the cost."

 
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