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Shane Coughlan

Shane Coughlan is an expert in communication, security and business development. His professional accomplishments include spearheading the licensing team that elevated Open Invention Network into the largest patent non-aggression community in history, establishing the leading professional network of Open Source legal experts and aligning stakeholders to launch both the first law journal and the first law book dedicated to Open Source. Shane has extensive knowledge of Open Source governance, internal process development, supply chain management and community building. His experience includes engagement with the enterprise, embedded, mobile and automotive industries.

OpenChain Newsletter #3

By Monthly Newsletter

tl;dr

More OpenChain Conformant Organizations; More Translations; More Onboarding Material. Our community is growing rapidly and our specification is proven as adoptable by large and small entities.

OpenChain Conformance

There are two major news items related to OpenChain Conformance. The first is that we have welcomed four new entities to our community in the last month:

If you are interested in learning more you can check out the individual news items:

The second major conformance news item is that we have launched a logo for all OpenChain Conformant organizations to use:

The OpenChain Conformance logo will become an increasingly familiar sight in the supply chain over time. There will be more information about our plans for expanded adoption in the next newsletter.

OpenChain @ Events

We attended the Asian Legal Network meeting in Tokyo and LinuxCon China in Beijing.

You can watch our LinuxCon China talk and view our slides here: https://goo.gl/fBaBcB

This overview is suitable as a starting point for business decision-makers and other non-technical parties interested in why OpenChain exists and how it delivers value.

New Material Donations

We have received donations of flowcharts, checklists and a markdown conversation of the OpenChain Specification during the last month.

New Curriculum Chair

We are delighted to announce that Alexios Zavras from Intel is the new chair of the OpenChain Curriculum Work Team. Alexios holds the position of Senior Open Source Compliance Engineer at Intel and has long been a contributor to projects in the Linux Foundation and further afield.

New Ways to Communicate

We have continued to expand the ways that people can find and interact with the OpenChain Project. This month we added appointment reservations to the OpenChain Facebook Page. Our goal is to make it possible to discover, interact with and participate in OpenChain as easily as possible.

OpenChain Internationalization

We have seen heavy activity on the internationalization front. The two stand-out pieces of news are the release of our onboarding material and our Frequently Asked Questions page in Japanese.

What’s Next?

In the next month we will announce our partner program pilot, we will continue to expand our internationalization efforts, and we will improve both the website and the format used for our newsletter. Learn more in the next newsletter or on the OpenChain mailing list: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/openchain

License and Trademarks

Copyright 2017 The Linux Foundation. This newsletter is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0). Please feel free to share it onwards! OpenChain is a trademark of The Linux Foundation. It may be used according to The Linux Foundation Trademark Policy and the OpenChain Terms of Use. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Download as a PDF

OpenChain Welcomes Endocode

By News

OpenChain Welcomes Endocode

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 27, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is proud to welcome Endocode to the community of OpenChain Conformant organizations.

“Endocode is an exceptional company,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “They come from the heart of the open source community and provide a range of services that underline their exceptional efficiency in resource allocation. I am delighted to welcome Endocode not only as a valued contributor to the eco-system but also because of what they can bring to our community as we scale.”

“Being Open Source license compliant is a vital constraint for all hardware and software manufacturers that include Open Source components in their products, says Mirko Boehm, Founder and CEO of Endocode. “OpenChain aims at making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. This is a mission we share and are excited to contribute to. Endocode has been working with the industry to improve compliance auditing and tooling. We are thrilled to join a community that is working towards the same goals.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

About Endocode

Endocode is an employee owned, software-engineering company from Berlin. Open Source compliance and guidance are a vital part of Endocode’s professional IT services. Our team has contributed to open source DevOps tooling, Linux container technologies, and numerous open source projects including Debian, KDE, Firefox and LibreOffice. It shares a history of being devoted professional contributors to Open Source communities from all over the world. With a focus on Open Source technologies, Endocode offers engineering, trainings and consultancy.

 

OpenChain Releases Spanish Translation

By News

OpenChain Releases Spanish Translation

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 21, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is proud to announce that the OpenChain Specification is officially available in Spanish. This translation is the result of dedicated work by Malcolm Bain of ID Law Partners and Daniel German of the University of Victoria.

“OpenChain is an international project with an international audience,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “It is vital that we provide our core material in major languages to ensure that everyone has easy access to knowledge that makes open source more efficient. I am delighted to welcome our Spanish translations to the existing Japanese and Portuguese material, and I look forward to similar releases in other languages in the near future.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

 

OpenChain Welcomes Lyra Infosystems

By News

OpenChain Welcomes Lyra Infosystems

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 20, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is proud to welcome Lyra Infosystems to the community of OpenChain Conformant organizations. Lyra provides a wide variety of IT services through offices in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Singapore, and has offered specialized solutions related to open source since its foundation.

“Lyra Infosystems’ conformance represents an important milestone for OpenChain,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “They are our first Indian community member and an organization with strategic reach into the broader ASEAN region.”

“It’s been a real pleasure for us to be An OpenChain Compliant Organization” said Rohit Sharma, Vice President, Lyra Infosystems. “Both our customers and prospects alike rely on Lyra’s expertise when it comes to complying with open source licenses. As a pioneer in the space of Compliance, Management and Governance of open source software, customers include the likes of small/medium /large companies cutting across various domains. OpenChain’s industry standard for open source compliance in the supply chain coupled with Lyra’s Open Source Management and Support Services ensure that our clients now have access to solutions paramount for successful open source consumption, delivery and contribution.”

“It’s a significant partnership for Lyra in the region,” said Jalpa Joshi, Senior Project Manager of Lyra. “Our experience and long presence clearly suggests that organizations in this area not only recognize both benefits of open source and the risks of with misinformed deployment. We are excited to work in close quarters with a market visionary like OpenChain in building standard approaches to open source management and compliance across the eco-system”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

 

OpenChain Receives Further Contributions of Material

By News

OpenChain Receives Further Contributions of Material

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 21, 2017 — The OpenChain Project today announces the contribution and adoption of policy material for inclusion in the OpenChain Curriculum. These materials include the ‘Linux Foundation Compliance Program: Generic FOSS Policy’ as well as the ‘Open Source Policy Template’ and the ‘Best Practices Template’ from the Directeur Interministériel des Systèmes d’ Information et de Communication (DISIC). As always, these educational materials are freely licensed under CC-0.

“OpenChain has a Specification that acts as the industry standard for open source compliance in the supply chain,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “Supporting this, and supporting smarter, easier use of open source, is a growing body of educational material. We call this the OpenChain Curriculum and today it has been bolstered by additional quality material to support future revisions.”

“An open source policy is a simple and pragmatic tool to embrace the full potential of open source within an organization,” says Laurent Joubert,  Chargé de mission –  Service performance et maîtrise des risques at Direction Interministérielle du Numérique du Système d’Information et de Communica. “It explicitly sets the expectations and rules for collaboration with the open-source communities and it can be extremely powerful to recruit and retain the best talents.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

 

OpenChain Receives Best Practices Contribution

By News

OpenChain Receives Best Practices Contribution

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 20, 2017 — The OpenChain Project today received a contribution of two best practices documents from Ibrahim Haddad, one of the most respected figures in open source governance and compliance matters. These two documents, Recommended Practices For Compliance Professionals and Recommended Engineering Practices, will be used to build out our future curriculum material. As with all material contributed to the curriculum of OpenChain these documents will be made available under CC-0 (public domain) licensing so that everyone can use, study, share and improve them in any way.

“The OpenChain Curriculum started as a set of training slides to help organizations meet the requirements of 1.2 of the OpenChain Specification,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “We quickly completed that task and considered where we could go next. The answer, as with so many others, lies in our community. We have seen terrific adoption of the curriculum slides and requests to provide further information. Knowledge has been flowing into OpenChain in the form of checklists, flowcharts and recommended practices. Our new Chair of Curriculum, Alexios Zavras from Intel, is collecting this material into a repository that will – in time – provide a unique launching point for open source training, process improvement and governance.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

OpenChain Welcomes Tjaldur Software Governance Solutions

By News

OpenChain Welcomes Tjaldur Software Governance Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 20, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is delighted to welcome Tjaldur Software Governance Solutions to the community of OpenChain Conformant organizations.

“Armijn is a key figure in the open source governance community,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “He is perhaps the foremost expert in commercial open source compliance engineering and the primary developer behind pioneering binary scanning technology. The participation of Tjaldur Software Governance Solutions in an example of how even small, focused companies can engage with the OpenChain industry standard.”

“OpenChain is an essential linchpin in the open source supply chain,” says Armijn Hemel, founder of Tjaldur Software Governance Solutions. “For the first time any company with inbound, internal or outbound open source software has a clear standard to aim for. I am delighted to be part of its growing community.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

 

OpenChain Welcomes Source Code Control

By News

OpenChain Welcomes Source Code Control

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 14, 2017 — The OpenChain Project today welcomes Source Code Control to the community of OpenChain Conformant organizations.

“Source Code Control is a provider based in the UK with clients in multiple sectors,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “Of particular interest is their work with the NHS. Software has transformed modern medicine and open source offers even greater potential for timely, effective healthcare. I am delighted that our community, and our industry standard, will contribute to this endeavor.”

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Additional Resources

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

 

OpenChain Welcomes Togán Labs

By News

OpenChain Welcomes Togán Labs

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 13, 2017 — The OpenChain Project is proud to welcome Togán Labs Ltd. to the community of OpenChain Conformant organizations.

Céad Mile Fáilte!

“Togán Labs is focused on the embedded market space. This is an area of key interest to the OpenChain community and a place where our industry standard can make a lasting difference,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “Togán Labs’ OpenChain Conformance is a clear example of how small, fast-moving companies can adopt the same “big picture” approach to compliance as the largest entities. Through OpenChain we are reducing risk and increasing efficiency for everyone.”

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Links

About The OpenChain Project

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

About Togán Labs

Togán Labs is an embedded services company and operating system vendor that provides our customers with expertise in creating their IoT and embedded solutions. We believe that it’s vital for Togán Labs as both a business and as community members to support our fast growing industry in putting a priority on open source license compliance.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

 

OpenChain FAQ in Japanese

By News

OpenChain FAQ in Japanese

SAN FRANCISCO, United States, July 13, 2017 — Today the OpenChain Project received a significant contribution from our Japanese community members. They have just completed our first Frequently Asked Questions translation. It can be found here: https://www.openchainproject.org/faq-jp

“It is vital to have localized versions of our specification and supporting documentation to grow our industry standard,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain Program Manager. “Our Japanese volunteer community has been exceptional in preparing translations of our specification, our executive overview handout and slides, and now our Frequently Asked Questions. Thanks to Kunai San, Imada San, Taniguchi San, Mieko San and everyone else involved, OpenChain is now more accessible to entities of all sizes in the Japanese market.”

Organizations of all sizes are invited to review the OpenChain Project, to complete our free Online Self-Certification Questionnaire, and to join our community of trust.

Links

About The OpenChain Project

The OpenChain Project identifies key recommended processes for effective open source management. The project builds trust in open source by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent.

The OpenChain Specification defines a core set of requirements every quality compliance program must satisfy. The OpenChain Curriculum provides the educational foundation for open source processes and solutions, whilst meeting a key requirement of the OpenChain Specification. OpenChain Conformance allows organizations to display their adherence to these requirements.

The result is that open source license compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and commercial adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.