Give an overview of Black Duck’s strategy for the Middle East.
The Middle East is a very important region for us and one of our key growth areas. We’ve been investing significantly here, building strong partnerships to support our expansion. For instance, we’ve established a solid distribution partnership with SPIRE Solutions in Saudi Arabia, which has been instrumental in growing our presence.
We’ve also invested in a local office in Riyadh, where our regional partner manager is based. Every few weeks, someone from our senior leadership team visits to spend time with the team on the ground, understand market dynamics, and drive our strategy forward. So yes, this region is definitely a major focus for us.
Black Duck recently spun off as a standalone company. What was the key driver behind this move?
Synopsys has been building its application security portfolio for years, starting with key products like Coverity and Black Duck. Synopsys is a large company with a diverse focus, particularly in semiconductor development tools, which are critical for AI and other advanced technologies. While our Software Integrity Group performed well, application security wasn’t a core focus for Synopsys as a whole.
The spin-off of Black Duck into a standalone entity, with investment from Francisco Partners, allows us to really zero in on our strengths and pursue growth areas like AI. This move gives us more freedom to develop our offerings, take our market leadership in application security to the next level, and better serve our customers with a more focused strategy.
Black Duck has a strong focus on application security. What differentiates your solutions from others in the market?
We offer one of the most comprehensive toolsets in the industry. Our solutions, such as Coverity for static analysis and Black Duck for software composition analysis, are market leaders. Products like Seeker and Defensics are also unique in their respective categories. Additionally, our Software Risk Manager (SRM) brings everything together, offering an integrated view of the entire software development lifecycle.
This end-to-end approach is crucial because it provides enterprises with complete visibility and control over security across different departments, minimising risks and ensuring a consistent security posture. By unifying policies and creating a secure, reliable, and efficient development process, we help organisations achieve a holistic solution that addresses both current and future needs.
How important is the role of channel partners in your growth strategy?
Channel partners are absolutely essential for us in the Middle East. They’re key to new customer acquisition and often bring us into larger projects, such as digital transformation or migration initiatives, where we work alongside other vendors to deliver integrated solutions.
For large enterprises—our primary customer base—channel partners play a critical role not only in acquiring new customers but also in ensuring ongoing customer success. They’re instrumental in providing local support and expertise, which is crucial for long-term partnerships.
What led you to choose SPIRE Solutions as your distributor for the region?
Our decision to partner with SPIRE Solutions was based on their specialisation and approach. I’ve worked with many distributors in the Middle East, and sometimes larger vendors can struggle to get the focus they need from distributors with very large portfolios. SPIRE, on the other hand, has a focused approach with a smaller, highly specialised vendor portfolio. They’ve invested heavily in supporting Synopsys and now Black Duck, and we feel very comfortable working with them.
SPIRE has done an excellent job for us, providing dedicated support across both technical and sales functions. They’re fully committed to helping us build our business in the region, which has been invaluable to our growth strategy.
Finally, what’s your message to current and potential customers in the Middle East? What can they expect from Black Duck?
They can expect us to push the boundaries of application security. As a standalone company, Black Duck is heavily investing in its roadmap, and we have a lot of exciting developments in the pipeline. I’d encourage potential customers to come and talk to us, as we have a strong, innovative offering today and an even more exciting future ahead. We’re here to help organisations achieve a secure, reliable, and efficient software development lifecycle, and we’re committed to being a long-term partner in their success.
Discussion about this post