LINUX VENDOR Red Hat, the open source stalwart, wants to improve the US patent system so that it and other firms can challenge poor quality software patents.

The company joined a host of others in the industry in sending an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court. In the brief the firms explain that the burden of proof required to invalidate bogus software patents holds back innovation and needs changing.

The Amicus Brief (pdf) was filed in the case Microsoft v. i4i Limited Partnership, and Red Hat joined with firms including Google, Verison, Comcast, Dell, Hewlett Packard,. Mastercard and Time Warner, each of which is likely to have their own reasons for arguing that software patents are out of control.

At issue is the fact that it is up to defendants in patent lawsuits to prove that another firm has been granted a ridiculous patent. According to the complainants, the current system favours the holders of dodgy patents.

Perhaps sensing that all this talk about burdens of proof might confuse people, Red Hat threw one of its legal team in to explain in its statement.

“Burdens of proof sound technical, but they make an enormous practical difference in how lawsuits come out,” said Rob Tiller, an assistant general counsel at Red Hat.

“As things now stand, the clear-and-convincing burden prevents invalidation of lots of patents that should never have been granted. A decision from the Court which corrects that would be great for software innovation.”

Source:http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2024074/red-hat-joins-patent-push

Evolven Software, Inc., the pioneer of Granular Configuration Automation solutions, entered into a formal partnership relation with Red Hat.

According to the partnership, Evolven will join Red Hat’s (News – Alert) ISV Partner Program and create joint solutions aimed at offering greater visibility into granular configuration information that can affect the performance of applications based on Red Hat technologies.

“Through our work with Red Hat and the Red Hat ISV program, we’re looking to reduce the risk of production outages, minimize downtime, and enhance security for environments running business systems based on Red Hat technologies and under Red Hat Enterprise operating systems,” said Sasha Gilenson, CEO of Evolven, in a press release. “We’re excited to support Red Hat’s upcoming releases, and allow our customers to maintain IT environment stability throughout their application stack.”

To increase visibility and control into configuration parameters and content of critical business systems and their underlying infrastructure during the deployment of new releases and patches, ongoing changes, operation and maintenance of the systems, the combination of Evolven and Red Hat solutions has been designed.

The customers, through the certification of Evolven Comparison with Red Hat Enterprise Linux as well as support for JBoss are offered with the ability to compare environments down to the granular level. In order to reduce risk to stability, security and compliance of their physical, virtual or cloud-based IT environments, the IT teams apply this approach.

Qualified vendors, with the help of the Red Hat ISV Program are provided with easy access to the tools and resources necessary to develop and test their products on Red Hat technologies. Additionally, Evolven, through the program’s co-marketing and co-branding offerings, will make its flagship solution, Evolven Comparison available to Red Hat customers worldwide.

Being a Granular Configuration Automation solution, Evolven Comparison allows IT organizations to compare their complicated IT environments with a historical snapshot or golden baseline for analyzing changes and differences with a focus on criticality, as well as impact.

In related news, Barceló Viajes, a premier Spanish travel operator, has chosen Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization to consolidate its datacenters that support the company’s mission-critical business platforms.

Source:http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/112118-evolven-software-announces-partnership-with-red-hat.htm

iCreate Software announced today it has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring’s top 100 Asia award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the Asia business region.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across Asia. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an invaluable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

“This year was especially difficult,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “Despite the global economic situation, there were many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products that we had a difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. iCreate Software shows great promise therefore deserves to be among the Finalists. Now we’re faced with the difficult task of selecting the Winners of the Top 100 Asia Award.

Finalists for the award are selected based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the mobile, security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, biotech, and clean tech industries sent in their submissions to qualify for the award.

The Finalists are invited to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Asia forum in Shanghai, November 15-16, 2010. The Top 100 winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony on November 16 at the event.

Source:http://www.bobsguide.com/guide/news/2010/Oct/26/iCreate_Software_is_a_Finalist_for_the_2010_Red_Herring_100_Asia_Award.html