Diane Peters is the new general counsel at The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium of leading technology companies dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux.

Peters joins the Lab from the law firm of Ater Wynne LLP in Portland, Oregon, where she practiced for more than three years and served on the firm's management committee. She has acted as outside legal counsel for OSDL since 2002.

''Diane has been an invaluable asset to OSDL as outside legal counsel and has gained the trust and respect of our board and Linus Torvalds,'' said Stuart Cohen, CEO of OSDL. ''As we have expanded the Lab's charter, we saw the need to create a new role at the Lab of general counsel to help us take a leadership role in addressing many of the legal challenges facing Linux. Diane has the experience to get that job done.'' ''I've enjoyed working with Diane over the last year as external counsel, and think she's a great addition for OSDL,'' said Linus Torvalds.

''I'm delighted to see OSDL appoint Diane Peters as its first general counsel,'' said Eben Moglen, Columbia law professor and outside counsel for the Free Software Foundation. ''She's a very experienced and knowledgeable lawyer and I look forward to working closely with her.'' Prior to Ater Wynne, Peters practiced law with firms in Buenos Aires, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles. She started her legal career as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Chicago. She holds a J.D. from Washington University School of Law in Missouri and a B.A. from Grinnell College in Iowa.

About the Open Source Development Lab

OSDL - home to Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux - is dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux. Founded in 2000 by CA, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel and NEC, OSDL is a non-profit organization at the center of Linux supported by a global consortium of more than 40 of the world's largest Linux customers and IT industry leaders. OSDL sponsors industry-wide initiatives around Linux in telecommunications, in the enterprise data center and on corporate desktops. The Lab also provides Linux expertise and computing and test facilities in the United States and Japan available to developers around the world.

OSDL is a registered trademark of Open Source Development Labs, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Third party marks and brands are the property of their respective holders.