Abstract: A developer zone is provided for use by developers. A method for providing a developer zone may include receiving a request, initializing a provisional computing device, initializing a development computing device, copying data to the provisional computing device, then to the development computing device. A method for providing a developer zone may include copying data from a secured computing device to a provisional computing device, initializing a development computing device, loading at least a portion of the copied data from the provisional computing device to the development computing device, and developing a software package on the development computing device. Using a developer zone may include logging into a terminal server, requesting a copy of at least a portion of secured data, wherein the portion of secured data is first copied onto a provisional computing device and then loaded onto the development computing device, and inputting instructions at the terminal server.

Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed for automatically installing software applications on multiple target computers having different computing platforms from a central location. The methods and systems provide an infrastructure comprising a centralized repository and server and a plurality of remote target computers. The centralized repository stores platform-specific installation files for each software application and computing platform of interest, and one or more non-platform-specific deploy jobs for installing the software applications. The non-platform-specific deploy jobs allows a user to automatically install one or more software applications on any target computer regardless of computing platform, and to reuse any installation logic that may have been custom-developed for the software applications. A common command syntax is created that may be used to define and execute the deploy jobs across the multiple computing platforms.