GroundWork Open Source (GWOS), a provider of commercial open source systems and network management software, has launched a new version of its Enterprise Quickstart virtual appliance powered by Canonical’s Ubuntu Server 9.10.

The company said that it is targeted as a trial offering for large organisations or as a complete offering for small environments with $59 annual price designed to encourage rapid adoption within Ubuntu-based IT environments.

According to GWOS, the Enterprise Quickstart Ubuntu-Powered Virtual Appliance is a complete IT server and application monitoring offering that combines GroundWork Monitor Enterprise 6.1.1 and coverage for 100 devices for one year; one seat in the self-paced, online ‘getting started with GroundWork Monitor’ training; and unlimited email support incidents for a single contact within the first 60 days after purchase.

David Dennis, Senior director of marketing and business development at GWOS, said “The decision to release our Ubuntu-powered Virtual Appliance was driven by the rapid adoption of the platform particularly amongst our customers investing in large virtualisation and private cloud initiatives. Based on data from existing GWOS customers the Ubuntu Server is making rapid in-roads into the Enterprise Linux market.”