and believed the API offered far more advantages and allowed for a fully hardened system, that is, Lineo utilized a custom Linux kernel. Through the six companies Lineo acquired, they were able to extend the same Linux technology across multiple chip architectures and add real-time capabilities. The acquisitions gave broader Linux support, from very small microcontrollers, through traditional platforms like x86, and up to high end, high availability systems. Lineo's president and CEO, when it reformed under the new name, became Bryan Wayne Sparks, who also had been one of the original founders of Caldera, Inc., in 1994. At the time of its creation, Lineo had 14 employees. Lineo's main product was Embedix, a lightweight Linux distribution for embedded systems, licensed from Caldera Systems, Inc., another subsidiary of Caldera, Inc. Another product was DR-DOS, a DOS–compatible operating system, previously developed by Caldera UK Ltd. between 1996 and 1999 and originally acquired from Novell by Caldera, Inc., on 23 July 1996. Through its acquisitions Lineo also had a range of products in many different product categories. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers, Lineo eventually ballooned to a peak of about 350 employees, with offices in seven countries. The companies that it acquired or merged with were: Zentropix – realtime Linux specialists Rt-Control Inc. – uClinux creators, very small board (uCdimm) vendors Moreton Bay – VPN/Router vendor (located in Brisbane, Australia) United Systems Engineering (USE) – Japanese Linux consulting company Fireplug – Canadian Linux consulting company (ThinLinux product) Inup – High availability Linux Embedded Power Corporation – Realtime and DSP OS (RTXC product) Decline In October 2001, Lineo refreshed and expanded a free license for the redistribution and modification of original Digital Research binaries and sources related to CP/M and MP/M through "The Unofficial CP/M Web site" a license originally issued by Caldera in 1997. After some assets were auctioned off in April 2002, by July 2002 the company had reformed as Embedix, Inc. under the lead of Matthew R. Harris, formerly a Summit Law attorney for Caldera, Inc. However, Embedix, Inc. was short-lived and ceased to exist later that year, when the Embedix division was purchased and absorbed by Motorola's Metrowerks. The remaining Digital Research assets fell back to the investor Canopy Group, and parts of the DR-DOS sources were acquired by DeviceLogics in 2002. Parts of the embedded modules and uClinux software assets (formerly Rt-Control Inc.) were acquired by