Open source software service provider swells via acquisition

Open source software management provider Black Duck Software said Monday it has made its third acquisition in recent months and fourth overall, scooping up consulting firm Olliance Group for an undisclosed sum.

Olliance offers a range of consulting services for companies that want to use open source software in their operations. Black Duck's move to buy it follows purchases of code search engine Koders.com; open source directory Ohloh.net; and application development toolmaker SpikeSource.

Through its acquisition strategy, Black Duck "wants to leave less revenue on the table, expanding their addressable footprint on a per-customer basis," said Redmonk analyst Stephen O'Grady.

Black Duck is not the only company trying to make open source software management a viable business. It competes with companies such as OpenLogic and Palamida.

All of them remain small in comparison to large industry players such as Accenture and Deloitte, which may end up pursuing the open source sector more vigorously if the numbers start looking worthwhile.

While Accenture made a notable appearance at last year's Red Hat Summit, for a variety of reasons such companies have been slow to target open source commercial revenue possibilities, O'Grady said.

Those reasons include their traditional installed base of large enterprises who have been "both typically cautious and slow to recognize the opportunity of open source," he said.

In addition, major SIs' "existing vendor partnerships and relationships impeded their ability to effectively engage with open source alternatives," O'Grady added.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com