Ann Arbor's Linux Box doubles staff in last year

Linux Box started developing open source software back in 1999, when the only people interested in such a product were "innovators" who then influenced "early adopters," according to CEO Elizabeth Ziph. Now, open source is seen in a much more mainstream light, and the company is taking advantage of their longevity and stability to escalate their growth.

Linux Box primarily takes software that is in the public domain and customizes it for clients. Clients decide if the customizations will also become "freeware" or "shareware" or if the adaptation will be proprietary or "closed." A recent freeware project the company worked for is on integrating Moodle, a learning management software, with Oracle for Washtenaw Community College. Ziph says, "They chose us to do it so that we could help them publish it. We will continue to support [the integration], but now anybody can support it in the world."

Often the closed customizations are for other software development companies. "They call us their 'variable engineering capacity,'" Ziph explains. "They have 'fixed engineering capacity,' so sometimes they need to call us."

Linux employs about 10, a figure that has "almost doubled in the past year," says Ziph. They recently held a competition for 15 teams of MBA students from University of Michigan's Ross School of Business Evening that produced growth strategy proposals for a potential future Chicago office. "We get a fresh perspective," she notes.

Ziph makes it a goal to "to hire young people from Michigan schools," and says that the region needs to "use the intellectual power that comes out the schools that we have here to fuel knowledge growth in the state." She says the company is always looking "to discover new people," particularly those that "want to dig into code, understand how things work under the hood," she quips.

Current clients include Borders, Arbor Networks and The University of Michigan. Linux was recently certified as ISO 9001:2000.

Source: Elizabeth Ziph, Linux Box
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh