According to Levin, one of the main selling points of the new service is that it lets customers plan their solutions in advance and integrates open source along side of the proprietary code.

In other words, the customer can evaluate costs associated with using a particular piece of code, from a licensing or obligation standpoint, before it is actually integrated into a product. In the past, these costs have frequently been discovered, after the fact. The situation can make matters very difficult for everyone involved.

Levin also said that there are several situations where customers could use the service to perform due diligence. These include:

• Venture capitalists that want to have confidence in a company's code.
• ISVs, embedded vendors and other technology companies that want to inform their clients about the contents of their code and associated obligations.
• Customer procurement situations when the buyer wants to know what he or she is getting for their money.
• Compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley and other statutory requirements) situations when it's important to document business processes and associated reporting.
• Outsourcers that want to communicate to contracting parties that the software they produce is licensed legally.

The product is also attractive to people that aren't normally associated with code development, like attorneys. No need to buy and maintain a standalone protexIP product when client code is only analyzed occasionally on a case by case basis.

Black Duck Software's protexIP/OnDemand service is available as of March 28th.

Managing your intellectual property risks are very important these days and Black Duck's new protextIP/OnDemand product may just fill the bill.

Rob Reilly is a consultant, writer, and commentator who advises clients on business & technology projects. His Linux, personal branding, and public speaking skills-related articles regularly appear in various high-end Linux and business media outlets. Send him a note or visit his Web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~robreilly.

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