Prospectus Summary
The following summary is qualified in its entirety by the more detailed information and the financial statements and notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary may not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our common stock. You should read the entire prospectus carefully.
Our Business: Andover.Net is the leading Linux/Open Source destination on the Internet. Our network of web sites provides an independent, unbiased source for content, community and commerce for the Linux and, more generally, the Open Source communities. We provide products, online tools, news and other services for programmers, software developers, web site designers, technology managers and corporate buyers. Our network generates over 40 million page views with over two million unique visitors on a monthly basis. With our recent acquisitions of Slashdot.org and Freshmeat.net, we believe that traffic on our network represents over 50% of the visits to Linux resource sites on the World Wide Web, or web. This leading position in the Linux market allows us to provide advertisers targeted access to the Linux/Open Source communities. We have over 100 advertisers on our network. Our top five advertisers based on cash revenues for the six months ended August 31, 1999 were IBM, Compaq, Silicon Graphics, Hewlett-Packard and Intel. Our Network: We combine our Linux/Open Source web sites with other web sites to provide programmers and developers with a leading online resource regardless of operating system. Our closely integrated network consists of web sites that are deep and rich in content. Our network includes:
LINUX/OPEN SOURCE CROSS-PLATFORM WINDOWS
- Slashdot - DaveCentral - Slaughter House
- Freshmeat - MediaBuilder
- FreeCode - Andover News
- IT Manager's Journal
- Internet Traffic Report
Our Strategy: Our goal is to maintain and enhance our position as the leading destination for content, community and commerce for the Linux and, more generally, the Open Source movement. The key elements of our strategy are to: - grow the size and share of our dominant Linux/Open Source position; - facilitate and guide the transition of Windows developers to Linux/Open Source; - expand our e-commerce offerings to our targeted, high volume traffic; - acquire complementary Linux/Open Source web sites; - expand the number and participation of major advertisers; and - strengthen the Andover.Net brand.
Linux/Open Source The Internet has accelerated the growth of the Open Source Movement: movement. The Open Source movement is a collaborative approach to the development and distribution of software and has emerged as a viable alternative to traditional proprietary software development. The growth of the Internet has greatly increased the scale and efficiency of Open Source development by enabling large communities of independent developers to collaborate online. The best-known example of Open Source is the Linux operating system, or Linux, created by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Due to the growing number of Linux/Open Source operating systems and related applications, a number of major technology industry leaders, including IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard, have recently announced support for Linux-based operating systems. According to International Data Corporation, Linux-based operating systems represented 17% of all new licensed shipments of server operating systems in 1998, which was an increase of 190% from the previous year.
We were founded in 1992 as Andover Advanced Technologies, Inc., a Massachusetts corporation. We reincorporated in Delaware and changed our name to Andover.Net, Inc. in September 1999. Our headquarters are located at 50 Nagog Park, Acton, Massachusetts, 01720 and our telephone number is (978) 635-5300. Information about Andover.Net is available at www.andover.net. Information contained on our network of web sites does not constitute part of this prospectus.