Novell Expands SUSE Appliance Program with Ingres

Novell and Ingres Corporation today announced the Ingres database is available within SUSE® Studio™as part of the SUSE Appliance Program. Both companies have entered into a cooperative agreement to make it easier and more cost-effective for independent software vendors (ISVs) and system integrators (SIs) to build appliances that deliver business critical software applications which require an enterprise-class database. As part of the agreement, Novell and Ingres will jointly support and market the SUSE Studio Appliance Template for Ingres Database to a large ecosystem of ISVs who are seeking a simplified appliance infrastructure.

The SUSE Studio Appliance Template for Ingres Database creates a single, seamless on-ramp for ISVs to integrate their applications and quickly get to market with a software appliance. This template enables ISVs to focus on their core businesses by eliminating the burden of managing the life-cycle of the operating system or the middleware database component within their appliances. A collaborative support model ensures certified appliances are supported by both companies with no additional work required by the ISV. The result of these efforts is that an ISV or SI can reduce appliance setup and build times by as much as 80 percent and more cost-effectively sell appliances with a fully-supported, enterprise-class database and operating system.

"We’ve long been believers in the value of software appliances and our early users reported dramatic reductions in effort and increases in speed to market," said Roger Burkhardt, CEO, Ingres. "We are now pleased to be working with Novell as part of the SUSE Appliance Program to bring the benefits of software appliances to ISVs along with our respective global support capabilities. Using SUSE Studio enabled us to quickly build the SUSE Studio Appliance Template for Ingres Database. We look forward to working with the many ISVs who will boost profit margins, reduce setup costs and drive down the cost of support as a result of our joint efforts."

In today's highly-competitive software market, ISVs and SIs demand solutions that spark innovation and accelerate sales cycles amidst tight timelines and budget constraints. Software appliances—pre-configured combinations of an application, middleware and operating system integrated into a single image and tailored to run on industry-standard platforms—offer new possibilities for efficient and cost-effective software application deployment. According to a January 2010 survey by analyst research firm IDC, software appliance adoption is growing within companies. One out of every four (25%) of the 307 respondents in this survey say that they now are either evaluating or using software appliances, double the percentage from a survey conducted two years ago.1

To address this market demand, the SUSE Appliance Program, a comprehensive business and technology program was launched to help ISVs rapidly build, test, manage and go to market with software appliances. Based on a fully-supported version of SUSE Linux Enterprise, the SUSE Studio Appliance Template for Ingres Database is part of the SUSE Appliance Program and demonstrates the flexibility of SUSE Studio Online, a free web-based appliance creation tool. Since July 2009, SUSE Studio Online has built more than 286,500 appliances and has nearly 67,000 registered users worldwide, including 4,770 ISVs.

"By leveraging the SUSE Studio appliance build tool and go-to-market support offered by the SUSE Appliance Program, Ingres has a unique opportunity to expand its market reach and increase revenue," said Markus Rex, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "Ingres has taken this opportunity one step further by integrating its database technology with SUSE Studio and making it easier for SIs and ISVs who need an enterprise-class database to build an Ingres based software appliance within SUSE Studio."

The SUSE Studio Appliance Template for Ingres Database is available now within SUSE Studio Online. SUSE Studio Online is available at www.susestudio.com. For more information about the SUSE Appliance Program, visit www.novell.com/appliances.

At the Open Source Business Conference, Novell is presenting a panel discussion entitled, "A Software Appliance Roundtable – How Open Source Drives a $1.2 Billion Market." The roundtable is scheduled from 9:45 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. on Thurs. March 18. Executives from Novell, GroundWork Open Source, Ingres, IBM and SAP will discuss how trends, such as cloud computing, are driving the explosive demand for software appliances, how appliances are transforming the software delivery paradigm and why open source is the key enabler of this growing market.