I’m big on transparency in communications – or at least addressing the lack of it.

Mark Tolliver – my former boss at Sun has joined a terrific new start-up, Palamida, which is in the emerging software IP management space. In short, they’ve got a rocket-ship of a search engine that sits on a massive database of software code that is enabled with ultra-flexible XML reporting. A developer can then quickly determine whose IP is inside what code and ensure they are in compliance with licensing terms and report on it. They remove a bottleneck in the development of software and automate an otherwise onerous process. <<disclosure – Mark is a close friend and I’ve given Palamida some counsel on positioning and the like… they are a really neat team.>>

Looking at the coverage today, Mark, Theresa and the team at Chen have done a terrific job in spreading the word of Mark’s arrival and that their lead product, IP Amplifer, has entered GA. Congrats to all.

Wouldn’t it be interesting if we had the same kind of tool for use in determining the origins of news, affiliations of spokespeople and revenue sources of consultants… Hmmmmm… there might be a business in that. Or would that be a massive infringement of our privacy?