Intel Corp. and VA Research Linux Systems have signed an agreement for VA to port the Linux operating system to Intel's future IA-64 architecture.

VA Research will deliver the optimized port, in synch with Merced-based system availability mid-year in 2000.

Intel is expected to announce on Monday that it will make an investment in VA Research, according to industry sources quoted by Reuters.

Additionally Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics Inc. have focused efforts on Linux development for IA-64. HP will contribute operating system kernel expertise and system optimization technologies, and SGI will provide operating system and compiler technologies to further extend the robustness of the Linux port.

More information is available online at www.varesearch.com .