Olliance Group Announces 7th Annual Open Source Think Tank Focusing on Industry-Driven Community Innovation

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Olliance Group, a Black Duck company, and DLA Piper today announced the upcoming Open Source Think Tank 2012 conference, which will be held April 12-14, 2012 in Napa, California. The exclusive, semi-annual conference brings together CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, legal experts, investors and senior executives involved in the commercial application of open source, mobile and cloud computing technologies to discuss the current state and future direction of open source.

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This event's theme, "Industry-Driven Community Innovation," will examine recent industry consortia efforts including GENIVI Alliance in automotive, Polarsys in aerospace, OSEHR in health care and OpenMAMA in financial services. With the stated purposes of increasing the pace of innovation and sharing costs around non-differentiated technologies, this movement towards "super communities" or "communities of communities" could have a far reaching impact on open source and the technology ecosystem in general.

The conference will feature a case study by the GENIVI Alliance, and a keynote presentation from Paul Cormier, Executive Vice President and President, Products and Technologies, Red Hat. In addition, there will be a keynote panel of community luminaries including: Doug Cutting, founder of Hadoop, Rod Johnson, founder of Spring and Jono Bacon, community manager for Ubuntu and author of The Art of Community.

"With the constant maturing and adoption of open source and the advent of super communities, open source continues to gain acceptance as a strategic technology for both technology vendors and enterprise IT organizations. We believe this year's Think Tank theme, industry-driven community innovation, illustrates the strategic value of OSS for enterprises in all sectors," said Andrew Aitken, GM, Olliance Group and the Founder of the Open Source Think Tank. "We're very excited to have the participation of numerous well-respected industry leaders for our spring conference, and are eager to continue to foster a community of healthy debate and collaboration."

The spring 2012 Open Source Think Tank will be held at the Silverado Resort in Napa. Co-hosted by Olliance Group and DLA Piper, the conference includes an interactive format of group sessions, brainstorming and real-world case studies in which participants actively contribute, allowing them to openly share concerns, issues, experiences and common challenges while collaboratively developing solutions. The event will be led by co-hosts Andrew Aitken, founder and GM, Olliance Group, a Black Duck company, and Mark Radcliffe, Partner, DLA Piper.

"The Open Source Think Tank is unique: it brings together the thought leaders of the open source industry to discuss and influence the future of the industry," said Mark F. Radcliffe, Partner, DLA Piper.  "With open source being widely used and accepted, the industry faces a new set of challenges, and the Open Source Think Tank provides an unparalleled forum to discuss how to address them."

For more information about Open Source Think Tank Napa 2012, please visit: http://thinktank.olliancegroup.com.

About the Open Source Think Tank
The Open Source Think Tank is the only by-invitation gathering where leading global experts come together to collaborate on the issues facing commercial open source and the evolution of cloud computing. The unique format uses real-world business cases to engage the audience in brainstorming solutions to the adoption and maturation of open source and cloud computing. The structured working sessions and social activities are designed to connect the participants and facilitate the building of strong business relationships across the entire ecosystem.

For more information about Think Tank, or to apply for an invitation, please visit http://thinktank.olliancegroup.com.

About Olliance Group
Olliance Group, a Black Duck company, is the leading open source business and strategy consulting firm. Our mission is to help clients capitalize on the strategic, technological, and financial benefits of open source software. Clients include Fortune 500 enterprises, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), start-up firms, venture capital groups and government entities.  

About DLA Piper
DLA Piper a leading global legal services practice providing services to the open source industry. The firm provides advice in corporate, tax, licensing, trademark and licensing to both large and small companies. With 3,500 lawyers in 29 countries and 67 cities, DLA Piper can assist companies virtually anywhere in the world, from the US to the People's Republic of China to Dubai.  For more information, please visit http://www.dlapiper.com.

SOURCE Black Duck Software