Hitachi announces conformance to OpenChain 2.1 (ISO/IEC 5230), the International Standard for open source license compliance. This standard defines the key requirements of a quality open source compliance program, and helps to both reduce errors and increase efficiency across the global supply chain.
“Hitachi has been a pioneer in open source compliance both through early adoption of OpenChain in 2018 and engagement as part of the OpenChain governing board,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. “Today marks a historical development for both Hitachi and the OpenChain Project. Conformance to ISO 5230 is a significant accomplishment for an organization, and in the context of Hitachi it is also a rallying cry and a lighthouse for other large companies in Japan and abroad to follow.”
“Hitachi is proud to announce our conformance to OpenChain Specification v2.1, ISO/IEC 5230 International Standard,” says Ryo Kawai, Director of OSS Solution Center, Hitachi, Ltd. “The scope of the open source compliance program under this certification is System & Service Business of Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi encourages every participant of supply chain to adopt OpenChain and ISO/IEC 5230 so we together strengthen the trust in the supply chain. Hitachi has been a platinum member of the OpenChain Project since 2017 and actively participated in the activities. We are delighted to work with the incredible team of the OpenChain Project.”
About Hitachi
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is focused on its Social Innovation Business that combines information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and products. The company’s consolidated revenues for fiscal year 2019 (ended March 31, 2020) totaled 8,767.2 billion yen ($80.4 billion), and it employed approximately 301,000 people worldwide. Hitachi drives digital innovation across five sectors – Mobility, Smart Life, Industry, Energy and IT – through Lumada, Hitachi’s advanced digital solutions, services, and technologies for turning data into insights to drive digital innovation. Its purpose is to deliver solutions that increase social, environmental and economic value for its customers. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company’s website at https://www.hitachi.com.
About the OpenChain Project
OpenChain began when a group of open source compliance professionals met in a conference lounge and chatted about how so much duplicative, redundant open source license compliance work was being done inefficiently in the software supply chain simply. They realized that while each company did the same work behind the scenes in a different manner the output for downstream recipients could not realistically be relied on because there was no visibility into the process that generated the output.
The answer the early principles of this discussion arrived at was to standardize open source compliance, make it transparent and build trust across the ecosystem. The project began as outreach to the community with the idea of a new standard for open source license compliance with slides titled, “When Conformity is Innovative.” A growing community quickly recognized the value of this approach and contributed to the nascent collaboration soon named The OpenChain Project.
