rPath, provider of the first platform for creating and maintaining Linux software appliances, today announced that its solutions have been selected as finalists in three categories for the upcoming LinuxWorld San Francisco 2006 Product Excellence Awards. The categories are comprised of Best Utility Grid Computing Solution (rBuilder), Best Virtualization Solution (rBuilder Online) and Best Open Source Solution (Conary). These awards honor product and service innovations and excellence by exhibitors at LinuxWorld and will be presented on Wednesday, August 16 in the Press Conference Room (#110) at 11:30 a.m.

rBuilder is a platform for creating and maintaining software appliances. A software appliance combines an application with a tailored OS in a format that readily installs on industry standard hardware or runs as a virtual machine file, eliminating the hassles of software installation and configuration. rBuilder Online is free of charge for developers who make their software project available for download via rPath's online software appliance repository. Conary is rPath's core software management technology, and the foundation on which rPath’s products are built. Conary is a melding of Software Configuration Management and package management.

This is the second time rPath has been honored by LinuxWorld. rBuilder won Best Systems Management Tool and rBuilder Online was a finalist for Best Virtualization Solution at LinuxWorld Boston in April 2006.

“We are excited to be honored a second time by LinuxWorld,” said Keith Boswell, vice president of marketing for rPath. “Being chosen as a finalist for these awards serves as validation for all our hard work, and shows that we are progressing toward our goal of making the software appliance the preferred format for distributing applications.” rPath will exhibit at LinuxWorld in booth #1344. For more information on the awards and LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, visit: www.linuxworldexpo.com/sanfran.

About LinuxWorld Conference & Expo LinuxWorld Conference & Expo is the premier event exclusively focused on Linux and open source solutions. As the world’s most comprehensive marketplace for Linux and open source products and services, LinuxWorld provides business decision-makers with information and resources to implement Linux and open source solutions into business infrastructure and enterprise networks.

About rPath rPath provides rBuilder and rPath Linux, the first platform for creating and maintaining software appliances. Using rPath’s technology, application developers can evolve their business from delivering an application to providing a complete solution via software appliances. For customers, software appliances bring the simplicity and value of Software as a Service (SaaS) to on-premise application deployments. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, please visit: www.rpath.com.