rPath Launches New Version of Software Appliance Builder

A software appliance combines an application with a tailored version of the Linux operating system and runs on industry standard hardware or in a virtualized environment.

CGIDir
Friday, August 18, 2006; 08:38 AM

rPath, provider of the first platform for creating and maintaining Linux software appliances, announced today the general availability of rBuilder 2.0. This latest release of rPath’s flagship product allows software developers to transform their applications into software appliances. A software appliance combines an application with a tailored version of the Linux operating system and runs on industry standard hardware or in a virtualized environment. 

“The rapid adoption of virtualization is changing the way computer resources are allocated and consumed, and how applications and their underlying operating systems can be provisioned and managed through their lifecycle,” said Al Gillen, research vice president, system software, at IDC. “IDC believes that software appliances can and will leverage this virtualized infrastructure and empower customers to simplify their IT environments by using application-specific software appliances for some workloads.”

“With rBuilder 2.0, software developers can easily create and maintain software appliances for their customers,” said Erik Troan, founder and CTO, rPath. “As a result, end-users receive software that is simple to install, administer, and use.”

rBuilder 2.0 allows application developers to:

• Streamline appliance administration. The rPath Appliance Agent provides baseline functionality such as first-time configuration, activity scheduling, event notification and logging. It also has an extensible framework so that ISVs can customize the administrative interfaces.
• Simplify the ability to build updates. The integration with rMake, a facility to reliably build software updates using a known environment, allows the software appliance vendor to create updates that can readily be applied to software appliances deployed at customer locations.
• Accelerate the delivery of maintenance and enhancements. Integration with rPath Mirror and rPath Entitlement Appliance enables updates to software appliances deployed at customer locations. These access-controlled updates are efficiently delivered via the Internet.
• Easily create demos and trials. The ability to produce CD/DVD images suitable for demonstration purposes allows customers to boot and run the software appliance without installation on the underlying hardware, giving customers an easy way to try before they buy.

According to Dave Dargo, CTO of Ingres, “rBuilder has allowed us to develop an industry first solution that combines the Ingres database with the Linux operating system to create a database software appliance called Project Icebreaker. The combination of the two solutions will provide our customers with integrated maintenance and a single point of contact for support, a capability unique to Ingres. This would not have been possible in such a short time frame without rPath’s technology and the collaborative nature of open-source.”