SUSE Appliance Toolkit: Build, Test, Manage Software Appliances

Novell has made available a suite of new tools that significantly reduces the time and cost for independent software vendors (ISVs) and enterprises to develop, deploy and manage software appliances.

The SUSE Appliance Toolkit enables Novell to deliver one of the most complete and integrated solutions for building, testing, updating and configuring software appliances across physical, virtual and cloud environments.

The Toolkit features an onsite version of Novell's innovative appliance-building solution SUSE Studio and new management tools that enable ISVs and enterprises to reduce software development time, installation cycles and maintenance costs.

The SUSE Appliance Toolkit includes the SUSE Studio Onsite, a local, behind-the-firewall version of the online appliance creation tool, SUSE Studio Online. It comes with WebYaST, a tool for enabling remote, Web-based configuration of the SUSE Linux Enterprise; SUSE Lifecycle Management Server, a tool for authentication, entitlement and access control that makes it easier to distribute software patches and updates; and support for KIWI, the image creation tool behind SUSE Studio. KIWI is a command line tool for creating appliances.

"Software appliances can significantly simplify integrating and managing the applications and solutions that customers need," said Dr. Bob Sutor, vice president, Open Source and Linux, IBM Software Group. "The SUSE Appliance Toolkit from Novell can potentially help our business partners deliver IBM software to their customers quickly, efficiently and cost effectively."

For independent software vendors, the SUSE Appliance Toolkit is an essential part of the SUSE Appliance Program, a comprehensive program that enables ISVs to build, update, configure and go-to-market with fully-supported software appliances.

With the SUSE Appliance Program and the SUSE Appliance Toolkit, ISVs can quickly deliver existing applications to physical, virtual and cloud computing environments, reduce sales cycles and pursue new market opportunities. Since the July announcement of the SUSE Appliance Program, nearly 4,500 ISVs have registered for the Web-based appliance-building tool SUSE Studio. Members of the SUSE Appliance Program include Adobe, Black Diamond Software, BitRock, GroundWork Open Source, IBM, Ingres, SEP, ROC Software and Zmanda.

Application development today is time consuming and resource intensive. ISVs and enterprises are recognizing that tailoring the operating system to specific use cases can improve productivity, drive down support costs and enhance security. Software appliances - pre-configured combinations of an application, middleware and operating system integrated into a single image and tailored to run on industry-standard hardware - offer new possibilities for efficient and cost-effective software application deployment. According to analyst firm IDC, $1.1 billion in revenue is expected to be spent on software appliances by 2012 worldwide.