(Raleigh, N.C.) rPath, an innovator in automating system deployment and maintenance, today announced “Connecting the Software Supply Chain,” a free, technical white paper that defines the integrated software supply chain that enables organizations to automate and streamline IT system construction and change. “Connecting the Software Supply Chain” is available now as a free download at http://bit.ly/clvt8C.

“IT executives looking for a way to deal with scale and change, contracting budgets and growing expectations from business lines will find useful insights in the field of manufacturing,” said Jake Sorofman, chief marketing officer for rPath. “Just as manufacturing was forced to industrialize due to changing economics and massive product and supply chain complexity, IT needs a new approach—a centralized software distribution hub that can serve as the control point for managing IT system construction and change. When IT connects the software supply chain, they take the cost, complexity and risk out of managing IT environments.”

Overview of “Connecting the Software Supply Chain”

Based on a version-controlled repository, rPath acts as a software distribution hub for controlled reuse of application, OS, middleware and other system artifacts. The hub records and controls the packages that make up applications, the applications that make up systems, and the systems that make up business services—the entire hierarchy is modeled and versioned.

From the software distribution hub, version-controlled system components can be reused to construct new systems and business services that are consistent, compliant, and dependency complete. These business services are ready to deploy to any physical, virtual or cloud environment, and they’re easy to update, patch, roll back or regenerate automatically and on demand.

In addition to relating the manufacturing analogy to the transformation underway in modern IT, “Connecting the Software Supply Chain” covers the following topics:

* Portrait of the Hub – Addresses the unique requirements of the software distribution hub as a basis for automating software systems and the software supply chain.
* rPath’s Approach – Covers the two simple principles that underlie the company’s unique approach to automation—model everything and version control everything.
* Model-Driven Automation – Explains how concepts such as blueprints, manifests, packages, and configuration files work together to deliver model-driven automation.
* The Distribution Hub Ecosystem – Outlines the supply side (system component sources), demand side (deployment scenarios), integrations with other IT systems, and the rPath hub architecture.
* Putting It All Together – Presents software distribution hub use cases, including 1) on-demand platform provisioning, 2) release lifecycle management, 3) automated system update, and 4) dynamic enterprise appliances.

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