The AppZero XML Creation Editor is used to build the VAA and a Snapshot tool, which helps create a template for creating a VAA.

What users end up with is a library of application appliances that can be deployed nearly on-demand.

"You have to see this in terms of IT shops moving toward the cloud," says Rachel Chalmers, an analyst at The 451 Group. She says IT directors are faced with departments that are comparing the weeks it typically takes for IT to get a server up and running internally to Amazon's EC2 cloud environment and looking at "five seconds and a credit card."

"That is one driver pushing IT directors to build cloud infrastructure internally, but they are also looking at being able to provision applications either to an internal server or with a cloud provider," Chalmers says.

That is where AppZero fits in along with similar competitors, such as rPath, Cohesive Flexible Technologies, Enomaly and Fast Scale Technology