After the VMware launch of Virtual Appliances Marketplace (VAM) and Microsoft VHD Test Drive Program in November 2006, also Virtual Iron started to embrace the virtual appliance concept.
From the corporate blog, founder Alex Vasilevsky launches the Virtual Appliance Exchange, where a Cent OS 4.4 image can already be found.
Concurrently rPath extended its rBuilder support to Virtual Iron virtual machines images, simplifying creation and spread of new Virtual Iron virtual appliances.
Despite this current trend, which is more an indirect marketing effort than a real production offering, I strongly criticized virtual appliances approach, introducing too many risks to be seriously considered in an enterprise environment.