INDUSTRY

Penguin Computing today announced that it has closed $9 million in Series 2 financing, led by vSpring Capital, with participation from existing investors, San Francisco Equity Partners, Weber Capital and Convergence Partners. The injection of funds will help Penguin Computing take advantage of the increasing demand for Linux High Performance Computing (HPC) solutions, both among its strong customer base in the commercial, government and academic fields, and beyond to rapidly expanding enterprise markets such as web infrastructure. In connection with the transaction, Ed Ekstrom, managing director at vSpring, has joined Penguin Computing's Board of Directors. The capital will be used to enhance the capabilities of the company's Scyld ClusterWare cluster management software, whose unique architecture enables users to manage large pools of Linux servers as a single, virtual, consistent system, drastically reducing complexity and cost. The new investment will also be used to help grow its salesforce and professional services organization to meet rapidly increasing customer demand and to drive aggressive marketing efforts to expand its customer base in the enterprise, technical and scientific computing and commercial high performance markets. "vSpring Capital's team is extremely well-versed in our space. We value their knowledge and expertise highly and look forward to welcoming Ed Ekstrom to our Board," commented Enrico Pesatori, Chairman and C.E.O., Penguin Computing. "By ramping up our investment in software development and professional services, we will accelerate our innovation in the design, integration and support of scalable Linux clustering systems that are highly efficient, simple, affordable and extremely flexible. In particular, the new funds will help to speed up the development and growth of our ground-breaking technology, Scyld ClusterWare, which is fast becoming the de facto standard for Linux clustering." Founded in 1998, Penguin Computing has developed an exceptional expertise in Linux systems. In 2003, it acquired Scyld Computing Corporation, a trailblazer in Linux clustering for high performance computing, to take advantage of the huge market demand for clustering solutions. Penguin Computing is a pioneer in this market which has grown 103% since 2002, causing a "growth revolution", according to industry analyst firm, IDC. Its customers have come to depend on its powerful combination of competitively-priced, energy-efficient Linux systems and its industry-leading Scyld ClusterWare clustering software, which is complemented by a team of highly-skilled, responsive service professionals. "Penguin Computing's value proposition is compelling for several reasons -- we've been impressed by the company's strong customer base, the experience of its management team, talented Linux experts, and the strength of its product offering," said Ed Ekstrom, managing director at vSpring Capital. "The momentum of the Linux cluster market coupled with Penguin Computing's unique capabilities, make us confident in the continued growth and profitability for the company and its partners." Merriman Curhan Ford and Company advised Penguin Computing in the transaction.