rPath announced that Progress Software has certified rPath's rBuilder for its OpenEdge platform. This allows independent software vendors (ISVs) to use rPath technology to create Software as a Service (SaaS) applications as virtual appliances that include/leverage the Progress OpenEdge business application development platform.

“By teaming with rPath, Progress Software is addressing a growing need in the ISV community to reduce application deployment costs while accelerating time-to-market,” said Colleen Smith, managing director, SaaS, at Progress Software. “Virtual appliances built with rBuilder and certified on Progress OpenEdge give ISVs deployment independence, dramatically reducing complexity and costs.”

A virtual appliance is an application combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) to run optimally in any virtualized environment. Virtual appliances eliminate the time consuming task of installing, configuring and maintaining complex application environments. rPath's rBuilder and the rPath Appliance Platform are comprehensive technology solutions for creating and managing application images that can be delivered to customers as appliances or on-demand applications running in a compute cloud.

QAD, which uses Progress’ OpenEdge platform, leveraged the rBuilder technology to significantly enhance business efficiency. “We chose to create a virtual appliance to perform more efficiently and continue to stay ahead of the competition,” said Paul Knopf, vice president of technology at QAD. “We used rPath to create a downloadable appliance, saving our users time and money.”

The Progress OpenEdge platform is the first integrated platform optimized for the development and deployment of service-oriented business applications. It isolates developers from the complexities of today's computing environments, allowing them to concentrate on what really matters - creating the business logic of their application.

“The unique combination of rBuilder and Progress OpenEdge offers deployment independence for ISVs without a significant expense or investment in data center resources,” said Billy Marshall, rPath CEO and founder. “rPath’s support for Progress OpenEdge offers ISVs a dramatically more efficient approach for delivering their application value to their customers.”