Mission Critical Linux

About Mission Critical Linux

Mission Critical Linux, Inc. was established in July 1999, positioning itself as a specialized provider of software and services aimed at enhancing the Linux operating system for enterprise-level deployment. The company was founded by Moiz Kohari and a team largely composed of former Compaq engineers, including several architects of the Digital Unix (Tru64) and OpenVMS operating systems. This background provided the team with deep expertise in building robust, high-availability systems, a cornerstone of the company's strategy.

The firm's business model centered on bridging the maturity gap between Linux and established Unix systems by offering sophisticated software and expert services to corporate clients. Its target market consisted of large companies requiring highly available and efficient Linux environments for mission-critical applications. A significant milestone was achieved in June 2000 when the company secured a $20 million investment from General Atlantic Partners, which was intended to bolster marketing efforts and solidify its competitive position against rivals like Red Hat and IBM's global services division. At that time, the company had approximately 80 employees.

The flagship product developed by Mission Critical Linux was 'Convolo,' a suite of software designed to provide high-availability clustering. A key feature of Convolo was its 'failover' capability, which allowed a standby server in a cluster to automatically take over the operations of a primary server in the event of a crash, ensuring continuous system availability. This was particularly critical for businesses running applications where downtime could result in significant revenue loss. The company actively contributed to the open-source community by releasing software packages under the General Public License (GPL).

Despite its strong technical foundation and initial funding, the company faced significant challenges. By March 2002, amid a difficult economic climate and increasing competition, Mission Critical Linux underwent a major restructuring. This involved paring down its business to focus solely on the Convolo product line, ceasing its general Linux support and professional services work. The workforce was drastically reduced to just six employees. The company's inactive status was noted in a profile last edited in early 2011.