Companies join forces to bring software management to feds

Palamida and Merlin International have formed a partnership in an effort to develop a federal market for open-source compliance and risk mitigation solutions.

The combined offerings will make it safer and easier for agencies to use third-party software code, according to the companies. Palamida specializes in software intellectual property management and audit services, while Merlin contributes information technology systems.

Together, the two companies can give agencies the tools to conduct detailed analyses of software code, a necessary part of minimizing the risks of running it, said Mark Tolliver, Palamida's chief executive officer.

"Understanding the origin, location and use of this code throughout the code base is especially critical when assessing the vulnerabilities of internally developed applications," he said in a written statement.

Palamida's IP Amplifier product scans an organization's existing code base to find and catalog commercial and open-source software components. It then connects those components to the appropriate licenses and agency policies.