rPath Continues Momentum with Addition of $9.1M in Funding

RALEIGH, NC – rPath, provider of the first platform for creating and maintaining software appliances, today announced several milestones that highlight continued acceleration of software appliances as the most important emerging category for software application distribution and sales.

$9.1 million venture funding
The company’s recent closing of a $9.1 million round of venture financing is the second vote of support from the company’s existing backers. Investors in the Series B round are General Catalyst, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Wakefield Group. The company plans to use this new capital to expand its market leading position as the provider of technology for creating and maintaining software appliances.

“Interest in software and virtual appliances has exploded over the last year, and we are thrilled to be part of the driving force behind this revolution,” said Billy Marshall, rPath founder and CEO. “We will continue to drive software appliance innovations that enable application providers to grow license sales and serve new markets.”

Software appliances represent a new opportunity for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to increase new license sales, serve new markets, and expand channel opportunities by simplifying the customer experience. With software appliances, ISVs can ship thoroughly tested, standard configurations that require minimal installation and maintenance effort – sparing customers the complications of installing and maintaining multiple components to run the application. Software applications that are easier to install and maintain are also easier to sell.

Numerous Customer Wins
Since launching rBuilder in February 2006, rPath has signed numerous clients including Digium, Ingres, agámi, Newbury Networks, Zimbra, and the US Department of Energy.

Scott Dietzen, President and CTO at Zimbra states, “rBuilder allows us to quickly and cost- effectively create a range of new software package distributions that enable us to reach the largest audience. At Zimbra, we wanted to ensure that our innovations are available to administrators who are looking to run or test our software on a virtual, Linux or Mac server.”

Surge in Downloads, New Projects, & Users
rBuilder Online (rBO), rPath’s community for developers, grew to over 250,000 downloads in 2006. With over 5,000 projects and 8,000 users, the community has become the most active catalog for software and virtual appliances in the industry. rBuilder Online offers software and virtual appliances in numerous categories including content management, VOIP, CRM, network management, Wiki management, photo sharing, collaboration and many more. Experience the simplicity of software appliances today at www.rpath.com/rbuilder.

Market Analyst Firm Predicts Growth
A recent report by IDC titled “Worldwide System Infrastructure Software 2007 Top 10 Predictions*”, projects that Software Appliances will become a household word over the coming year. According to Al Gillen, research vice president of system software for IDC and co-author of this report, “The convergence of virtual machines and a new initiative by several tool vendors is giving birth to this new form of software packaging."


Industry Accolades
rPath added The Linux World Grid Computing Award to its growing list of endorsements by technical and business organizations. Those awards include:

“One to Watch”, Forbes Sneak Peak 2007
"Startup of the Year 2006", NC Center for Entrepreneurial Development
"Top 10 Open Source Companies to Watch", NetworkWorld '06
"Best Systems Management Tool", LinuxWorld '06
"Best Grid/Utility Computing Solution", LinuxWorld '06
Finalist, "Best Virtualization Solution", LinuxWorld '06
Finalist, "Best Open Source Solution", LinuxWorld '06
Finalist, "Red Herring's Top 100 in North America" '06
Finalist, "Early Stage Company of the Year", NC Technology Association '06
"One to Watch", Open Source Business Conference West '06


About rPath
rBuilder and rPath Appliance Platform transform applications into software appliances. Software appliances simplify server applications by eliminating the hassles of installation, configuration, and maintenance. Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can expand their markets and simultaneously reduce development and support costs by adopting the software appliance approach. rPath is also the first and only company to automate support for all the major virtualization formats. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.rpath.com.

Media Relation Contacts:
Jill Dykes
Crossroads Public Relations
919.749.8488
jdykes@crossroadspr.com


Gerald Kimber White
RFBinder Partners
781.455.8250
Gerald.kimberwhite@rfbinder.com


*IDC, Worldwide System Infrastructure Software Predictions for 2007 Top 10 Predictions, Doc 204567, Dec 2006