Moorcrofts LLP assists B2M Solutions to achieve OpenChain conformance

Formed in 2002, B2M Solutions is a global software company dramatically improving how enterprise mobility is operated and managed. Partners include the likes of BT, Zebra Technologies and most recently Panasonic.

OpenChain, a project of the Linux Foundation, brings established governance principles to the software supply chain. It adopts best-practice from other compliance areas and maps them to software procurement, giving businesses a clear path to minimising infringement risk in procuring, developing and deploying software, with particular emphasis on use and re-use of free and open source software (“FOSS”) components. Crucially, for smaller organisations like B2M Solutions, the compliance programme does not have to be complex, but simply mirrors or adapts existing best practice. The result is that open source licence compliance becomes more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain.

At the end of August, B2M completed the OpenChain compliance process. This means that its customers and partners now have the certainty that B2M has a robust industry standard compliance process in place to ensure that the software components in its product offering have been selected, managed and deployed to minimise infringement risk.

Julie Purves, B2M Solutions CEO said: “Although smaller than many of the other companies who have achieved this milestone of compliance, we are considered to be technology leaders in our field, and it’s important to be able to reassure our clients that we are not only proactive in reacting to industry developments but also, where appropriate, leading those developments. Our partners include a number of global companies who are embracing OpenChain. Although none of our partners have compelled us to become OpenChain compliant, we believe that pre-emptively obtaining this important status means we are better able to demonstrate we are responsive to the needs of global brands and their end-customers. It also demonstrates our technology leadership by highlighting our desire to lead not only with the latest in cloud-based analytics solutions, but also with compliance to standards critical for our customers.”

Julie continues: “The services provided by Andrew Katz and his team at Moorcrofts and Orcro were outstanding. They not only provided the technical legal advice for us to be able to reach the OpenChain conformance standard, ensuring our component database contained the relevant open source licences, they also worked with our team to establish an appropriate open source policy, tailored to B2M’s specific business needs, and provided the compliance training to our developers.”

OpenChain is a project of the Linux Foundation, which is dedicated to building sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.

“The OpenChain Project is delighted to welcome B2M Solutions to our community of conformance,” says Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager. “This is a milestone in building out our community in the mobile sphere and in deepening our presence in Europe. OpenChain Conformance is a mark of quality and efficiency in the adoption, use and distribution of open source code. We are looking forward to sharing this benefit throughout the B2M eco-system and to building a productive long-term relationship with their great team.”

Moorcrofts CEO and head of tech Andrew Katz led the process in conjunction with its sister company Orcro Ltd. Moorcrofts has partnered with the Linux Foundation to become one of five worldwide pilot partners and the first organisation in the UK authorised to promote its OpenChain compliance programme.

Andrew Katz, said: “Through a unique combination of legal, process and technical skills we were able to guide B2M to self-certification which provides an inexpensive and rapid path to compliance. We have been working with B2M solutions since 2016 to formalise the company’s process for open source compliance, and when the OpenChain project gained maturity in 2017 we recommended that B2M follow its path to compliance. Because processes and procedures B2M adopted with our assistance were already very closely aligned with the OpenChain conformance programme, the additional work required was minimal. As OpenChain conformance reduces friction, moving forward when B2M are supplying customers and partners, the bulk of the due diligence work has been done and the relevant information is already in place, reducing time and increasing confidence and security for our customers and partners.”