LSD Information Technology becomes an Open Invention Network licensee

By Phumeza Tontsi for LSD Information Technology
Johannesburg, 24 Apr 2013

LSD Information Technology (LSD) today announced it has become an OIN licensee. OIN's mission is to enable and protect Linux. By becoming a licensee, LSD, a leading specialist in the open source industry, has joined the expanding list of companies that recognise the importance of participating in a substantial community of Linux supporters and leveraging the Open Invention Network to further spur open source innovation.

"By becoming an Open Invention Network member, we believe we are supporting ongoing development of open source and open solutions," said Sven Lesicnik, MD of LSD. "LSD is committed to the open source community, and we are proud to join Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu and many others on the Open Invention Network."

"We are pleased to have another South African organisation join our ranks as we continue to expand globally," said Keith Bergelt, CEO of Open Invention Network. "By signing our licence, LSD Information Technology affirms that it values the continued openness of Linux and demonstrates its willingness to stand together with others in the open source community."

Patents owned by Open Invention Network are available royalty-free to any company, institution or individual that agrees not to assert its patents against the Linux system. This enables companies to continue to make significant corporate and capital expenditure investments in open source - helping to fuel economic growth. By developing a web of developers, distributors, sellers, resellers and end-users that licence its patent portfolio, Open Invention Network is creating a supportive and shielded ecosystem to ensure the growth and adoption of open source solutions.

OIN has amassed a broad portfolio of patents, including patents held by nominees on its behalf. These patents are available to all licensees as part of the patent portfolio that OIN is creating around and in support of Linux. Its licence agreement can be found at http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/pat_license_agreement.php.

LSD Information Technology

As IT ninjas, we want to impact the world by doing IT differently.

It's for this reason we go out of our way to open our clients' worlds by offering a wide choice of open source vendor-neutral solutions that provide a superior and technologically-advanced model for collaboration and working.

We pride ourselves on our "funnalism" - our ability to fuse being fun and professional. In addition, there's no charge for awesomeness, so you can always rest assured of amazing service, followed up by incredible quality and on-time delivery.

In order to be seen as an employer of choice, we put time, effort and energy into our culture, so we attract the rock stars of the open source world - people who are committed, excited and passionate about open source, and have been for their entire lives.

We are committed to giving back to the communities that have supported us, and work hard to be an active part of building a stable and professional open source community in South Africa. - www.lsd.co.za

Open Invention Network

Open Invention Network is a collaborative enterprise that enables innovation in open source and an increasingly vibrant ecosystem around Linux. It does this by acquiring and licensing patents, influencing behaviours and policy, and protecting the integrity of the ecosystem through strategic programmes such as Linux Defenders. OIN enables the growth and continuation of open source software by fostering a healthy Linux ecosystem of investors, vendors, developers and users.

Open Invention Network has considerable industry backing. It was launched in 2005 by IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat and Sony. OIN has received supplemental financial support from Canonical. For more information, visit www.openinventionnetwork.com.

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