Novell delivers toolkit for software appliance

With the availability of the SUSER Appliance Toolkit,Novell now delivers the industry8217;s most complete and integrated solution for building,testing,updating and configuring software

appliances across physical,virtual and cloud environments.

The Toolkit features an onsite version of Novells innovative appliance-building solution SUSE StudioTM and new management tools that enable ISVs and enterprises to reduce software development time,installation cycles and

maintenance costs.

8220;Software appliances can significantly simplify integrating and managing the applications and solutions that customers need,8221; said Dr. Bob Sutor,vice president,Open Source and Linux,IBM Software Group. 8220;The SUSE Appliance Toolkit from Novell can potentially help our business partners deliver IBM software to their customers quickly,efficiently and cost effectively.8221;

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.1

8220;Software appliances are an ideal solution for organizations faced with delivering projects on schedule,managing diverse development teams,and securely developing and deploying applications across multiple hardware and software platforms,8221; said Brett Waldman,research analyst,System Software

at IDC.