Ingres, which was spun off from Computer Associates last November, is working with rPath, a company that is developing software for assembling and updating hosted software, said Dave Dargo, chief technology officer of Ingres. The rPath software is based on its own distribution of Linux.
The goal of the bundle is to simplify installation and maintenance of applications built on Ingres and make the open-source database an appealing choice for independent software vendors, or ISVs, that write custom applications.
Ingres is one of a handful of open-source database companies seeking to unseat incumbent providers.
"Oracle and Microsoft talk about getting software from one place -- the whole stack," Dargo said. "With this software appliance, you extend Ingres to include Linux as a single entity...You can maintain it as an integrated unit."
He added that tight binding between the database and operating system are becoming more important because of the growing interest in virtualisation, where several instances of a program can run independently on one machine.
Ingres expects to have a prototype working this summer with a final product available this year, Dargo said.
