CAST's Marc Jones: For Fed's Open Source, It's Trust And Verify

"Open source certainly is not going away. It is becoming a part of the infrastructure. Whether the open source code comes from a purely independent community or a federal integrator, open source should not get a free pass on verifying that it meets fundamental tests of mission or business worthiness," said Marc Jones, national federal practice director for CAST Software. "And conversely, the open source community should not feel threatened by that."

CAST Software is a software analysis and measurement firm that uses an automated approach to capture and quantify the reliability, security, complexity and size of business applications. A main company objective is increasing software assurance around reliability and security of applications delivered to the U.S. government.

Part of its drive for better software assurance utilizes fact-based transparency into application development, sustainment and sourcing. This enables program management and acquisition leaders to drive down its sustainment cost and risk.