“The appliance, which is really software that runs on
Intel-based server hardware from a variety of system makers, was
designed to host applications for the Oracle8i database without the
need of an operating system. Instead, the appliance (code-named Raw
Iron) sports a modified version of the Solaris kernel from Sun
Microsystems Inc.”
“The principal benefits of the appliance are that it enables
quick and easy deployments of e-business applications, according to
Oracle officials in Redwood Shores, Calif….”
“Oracle has also come around to the concept that companies won’t
want to develop a whole new set of applications to run on the
appliance. So the appliance, as it’s shipping today, will not
only support applications written to Oracle’s namesake application
server but also applications written to run under Linux on Apache
Web servers and even Windows NT applications, Rocha said.”