TurboLinux

About TurboLinux

Turbolinux was a company that developed and sold Linux-based operating systems and software solutions, with a significant focus on the enterprise market in Asia. The company's history began in 1992 when it was founded as Pacific HiTech in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Cliff and Iris Miller. The firm initially rebranded Red Hat distributions and was an early commercial vendor providing professional support and packaged software for Linux.

The company changed its name to Turbolinux, Inc. in 1999 to align with its flagship product and expand its North American operations. A major milestone occurred in January 2000, when Turbolinux secured over $50 million in investments from technology giants including Dell, Compaq, Intel, IBM, and Oracle. This funding was intended to fuel its expansion into Europe and North America to compete with rivals like Red Hat. Turbolinux's product line included server and workstation operating systems, and it was particularly noted for its clustering software, TurboCluster and EnFuzion, which allowed multiple computers to work together for tasks like web serving and high-performance computing. Its business model focused on selling the Linux OS and related products, targeting enterprise-level computing and emphasizing localization for Asian languages. Clients included JP Morgan, Procter and Gamble, and Yale University.

Despite its early success and strong position in the Japanese and Chinese markets, the company faced significant challenges. In July 2000, founders Cliff and Iris Miller were terminated following disagreements with venture capitalists. The company experienced several rounds of layoffs and eventually canceled a planned IPO in 2001. In 2002, the parent company was acquired by the Japan-based Software Research Associates (SRA) and merged into its Japanese branch. Turbolinux continued to operate and even completed an IPO on the Osaka Stock Exchange in 2005. However, its global influence declined as competitors like Red Hat and SUSE became dominant in the enterprise Linux space. The company was officially dissolved at the end of 2019, with its remaining assets sold to Turbo Systems Co., Ltd.