Ingres, rPath team up for 'database appliance'

Open-source database company Ingres has teamed with rPath to create a single installation for both the Ingres database and a stripped-down version of Linux. The package will be generally available by the end of the year, the two companies said on Tuesday.

Called Project Icebreaker, the integration of database and operating server, which can run on a server or a virtual machine, simplifies maintenance and administration of the database, said Dave Dargo, the chief technology officer at Ingres. The two companies are demonstrating the "software appliance" at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo this week in San Francisco. The product is in limited testing and will be more widely available for testing in October, Dargo said. rPath supplied the tools and the Linux operating system, which is about 20 percent the size of a standard Linux operating system, said Eric Troan, the chief technology officer of rPath.