Someone with some time on their hands might be interested in playing with this:
http://www.rpath.com/rbuilder/
Perhaps it could even be the subject of a MUUG meeting demo?
My understanding is the tool lets you build your own custom Linux distro (called a project) which you can then distribute as a complete appliance or whatever you like. If my assumptions are correct then it seems like a really cool idea.
I stumbled on it because it appears to be what Digium is using to build their new Asterisk appliance.
I didn't have time to look into it beyond that.
John