RPath, who claims to be the provider of the first
platform for creating and maintaining software appliances, has
launched software that allows the creation of virtual appliances
that run on the Xen 3.0.3 hypervisor.
The new rBuilder platform allows software developers to combine
software applications with Linux and related open source components
to create virtual appliances that can be provisioned and run on the
Xen hypervisor and XenSource’s XenEnterprise virtualisation
platform.
The company says that it is responding to the demands of the
many IT managers who complain that there is a general inability to
quickly move new applications from development, through testing and
into production.
Packaging key applications as virtual appliances, says rPath, makes
them easy to distribute and deploy on the Xen hypervisor. Using
rPath Linux with rBuilder, developers can directly generate virtual
appliances that are certified to run on the Xen hypervisor.
”Xen 3.0.3 is the acknowledged open source industry standard for
virtualisation, developed collaboratively by the Xen community and
backed by all leading enterprise IT vendors,” says Simon Crosby,
chief technology officer of XenSource.
”XenEnterprise, XenSource’s packaging of the Xen hypervisor for
the Windows and multi-OS virtualisation market, is an ideal
platform for enterprises seeking to adopt packaged virtual
appliances to streamline their software lifecycle management. The
availability of
technology such as rBuilder will accelerate the adoption of Xen
virtualisation and software appliances.”