Black Duck Software Dominates Software Compliance Management Market at Two-Year Anniversary of First Shipment of protexIP™ Solution; Enterprise Adoption in U.S. and Abroad Propels Industry Pioneer to 300 Percent Customer Growth

Business Wire, May 23, 2006

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Black Duck Software, the leading provider of software compliance management solutions, today marked the second anniversary of its delivery of the protexIP solution to the global market. Since Black Duck shipped the product in 2004, hundreds of companies have signed on as protexIP customers to navigate the licensing requirements and obligations that govern the software they use or develop. Black Duck also announced today that its client list grew by more than 300 percent during the last year, further boosting the company's already strong market traction and momentum.

Black Duck continues to dominate the rapidly growing market for software compliance management systems. Its solutions are presently deployed in 11 Fortune 500/Global 500 organizations. Its hosted code assessment service, protexIP/OnDemand, has been used in more than 140 due diligence transactions prior to mergers and acquisitions with an estimated value of $9 billion. The company has analyzed over two billion lines of code. Leading companies in the software, electronics, manufacturing and financial services industries, as well as public-sector organizations, depend on protexIP, making it by far the most widely used solution of its kind in the industry.

"Over the past year, Gartner has seen significant growth in the market for software compliance management solutions," said Gartner analyst Mark Driver. "This growth is stemming from companies' difficulties with managing the increasing mix of intellectual property in their software assets. As that task gets more complex and difficult, they are turning to automated code assessment systems to ensure that they are properly managing and tracking their compliance with all relevant software licenses."

Black Duck was the first to enter the software compliance management market and has remained the leader, distinguishing itself in terms of customer adoption as well as product functionality and service. For example, the company continuously expands the protexIP KnowledgeBase to make it the world's most comprehensive repository of information on open source software projects and licenses.

Douglas A. Levin, CEO of Black Duck Software, said: "Black Duck has enjoyed strong and rapidly accelerating adoption of protexIP since its original release. We were first to market and we've continued to lead with the best technology, largest and most varied installed base, and strongest partnerships and international presence. Two years after we first shipped protexIP, we are helping hundreds of companies know their code. Forward-thinking organizations recognize that to take full advantage of the power offered by open source and component development, they need to protect themselves from software intellectual property problems. Black Duck lets them do that, quickly and efficiently."

The protexIP platform creates a work environment that helps organizations effectively manage increasingly complex software licensing policies and procedures and helps them quickly resolve issues that arise. By validating software contents, verifying license compliance, and finding and addressing issues early in the development cycle--or well in advance of a due diligence event--the protexIP platform helps companies reduce business risks, complete software projects on time and on budget, and stay on track with their go-to-market strategies and business plans.

Superior Product and Partners Fuel Adoption

A sampling of Black Duck milestones includes:

--May 2004--Introduced protexIP, which later became protexIP/development, the company's core solution for software compliance management. Black Duck subsequently launched additional elements of its suite to streamline the participation of corporate audiences beyond developers in software compliance management.

--July 2004--Secured $5 million in venture financing. Flagship Ventures and General Catalyst Partners led the round, with Red Hat participating.

--March 2005--Introduced protexIP/OnDemand, the first and only hosted service that evaluates software projects to discover the origins of their code, as well as the obligations of specific licenses governing code and components.

--June 2005--Kick-started Asian expansion with Japanese reseller Ten Art-Ni, closely followed by signing on with Celtycs Consulting, a partner in India focused on addressing the outsource market.

--June 2005--Closed $12 million second-round venture financing. Fidelity Ventures led the round, with Intel Capital, SAP Ventures and all previous investors participating.

--February 2006--Launched the Enhanced Due Diligence program, which enables law firms, Open Source strategy companies, and other consultants to leverage Black Duck's solutions in their M&A service offerings to expand their practices and businesses.

--Spring 2006--Industry recognition for Black Duck's achievements includes winning the Red Herring 100 North America Award, the Software and Information Industry Association's selection of protexIP suite as a finalist for its CODiE Award for Best Software Development Solution and CMP Media's choice of protexIP as a finalist for its Jolt Award for Excellence in Quality Project Management.