Recognized Open Source Leader Bruce Perens Joins SourceLabs, Will Lead Developer Relations and Policy

SEATTLE, June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- SourceLabs, a Seattle-based company that provides dependable open source systems to corporate IT departments, today announced that Bruce Perens has joined the company as its vice president of developer relations and policy. Perens, a recognized leader in the open source software community, is the original author of the "Open Source Definition," now widely recognized as the authoritative description of open source software. He is also founder and co-founder of several well-known open source organizations, including the Open Source Initiative (OSI), the Linux Standard Base (LSB), and Software in the Public Interest (SPI). As a member of SourceLabs' executive team, Perens will continue his work as a leading open source policy advocate, as well as support SourceLabs' mission to ensure open source systems for enterprise IT departments work dependably together and are well-supported. Perens, whose engineering and project management contributions have included high-profile efforts such as Pixar's films, the first known flight of a Linux system on NASA's Space Shuttle, and the Debian GNU/Linux Distribution, will also support the company's ongoing research and development projects and manage SourceLabs developer relations program.

"Bruce is not only one of the original thinkers behind many of the concepts underlying today's vibrant open source community, he has also been one of its most effective advocates," said Byron Sebastian, CEO of SourceLabs. "Open source developers and the corporate IT community have tremendous potential to work together, and Bruce's experience forging communities of common interest will be invaluable as these two groups collaborate more in the future. There is simply no one who can match the duration, depth and variety of Bruce's experience in the open source world."

"SourceLabs is playing a pivotal role in creating the next generation software industry," said Perens. "While so many other software companies are creating lock-in strategies and raising switching costs, SourceLabs is investing in integration, testing and support of open source software, which will be the key to serving the best interests of major corporate IT departments."

SourceLabs focuses on middleware, database and other server infrastructure software that will drive the next wave of open source adoption and user benefits. Through the efforts of SourceLabs, open source software better meets the needs of large IT users -- it is delivered as a tested, integrated system; it is more dependable; and it has more responsive and effective support. More About Bruce Perens

After releasing his first free software program, Electric Fence, in 1987, Perens went on to create Busybox, which spawned its own development community and is part of most commercial devices using embedded Linux. He is a member of the board of directors of Open Source Risk Management Inc., Technovera, and Software in the Public Interest, Inc., as well as a major stockholder of Progeny Linux Inc.

Perens is series editor of the "Bruce Perens' Open Source Series" line of books with Prentice Hall PTR publishers. Fifteen titles in the series have been published so far. He is senior Research Scientist for Open Source with George Washington University's Cyber Security Policy Research Institute and a scientist (soon to be professor) with Agder University College in Norway. Previously, Perens spent two years with Hewlett-Packard as Senior Global Strategist for Linux and Open Source, and was president of Linux Capital Group, a venture fund that specialized in Linux.

Prior to becoming highly active in the open source movement, Perens spent 20 years in the computer graphic animation industry, 12 of those years at Pixar Animation [url=Studioshttp://pixar.com/.]Studioshttp://pixar.com/.[/url] He has a credit on the films A Bug's Life and Toy Story II. About SourceLabs

SourceLabs, based in Seattle, Washington, provides the complete set of software integration, testing, support and maintenance services required to deliver dependable open source systems. The company's Dependable Open Source Systems vision proposes a new model for the software industry, one that frees software buyers from proprietary lock-in while delivering highly reliable software and support. For more information, please go to http://www.sourcelabs.com.

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