Earlier this week Opmantek celebrated the 21st year that Open-AudIT has been in use. During the festivities, Ksenia from the GC Hub sat down with Mark Unwin, Open-AudIT founder, to discuss how the product came into existence.

Ksenia: Congratulations on 21 years of Open-AudIT, for those who are watching or listening for the first time and have never used Open-AudIT, what can you tell them about it?

Mark: Open-AudIT is software that is generally used internally in businesses, in their IT department. Open-AudIT is designed to find all the devices on the network and tell you exactly how they are configured. That way you can tell things such as do I have outdated software on my PCs? Are my routers functioning correctly? All that type of stuff, it will tell you everything about your network.

Ksenia: Right. How did it come to life?

Mark: A long time ago, 21 years ago, I had the exact need that Open-AudIT solves now. My boss at the time said, “we can’t afford to buy anything you have to write something.” So I did, 21 years later we are still going.

Ksenia: During the 21 years, what were the critical milestones or innovations that were actually implemented?

Mark: I think coming on board with Opmantek. Being inside a commercial company that is developing it (Open-AudIT) full-time, the quality of the code, the features we have and the reach it has expanded it exponentially.

Ksenia: Putting yourself into the shoes of the customer what do you think keeps them using it for so long?

Mark: I think the customers see a lot of value in that we make it very easy for them to keep their own data. All the interfaces in and out of the software are all documented and if people want to grab their data and go somewhere else they can. I think that is very empowering for them, you are not locked into it, it is open source, they can improve it if they want to. I think that appeals to a lot of people.

Ksenia: That is very user-friendly.

Mark: It is.

Ksenia: What do you think, do you have any tips for viewers?

Mark: The biggest tip I can provide is get all your credentials before you start. Put your credentials into Open-AudIT and anything it finds it will completely tell you all about it.

Ksenia: For the audience that is watching right now, how does someone download Open-AudIT?

Mark: Just go to opmantek.com, look in the products section and you will find Open-AudIT.

Ksenia: Brilliant thank you!