Global Technology Remains Open With Opmantek

QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, May 31, 2011 (Press-News.org) An Australian company has acquired the intellectual property for one of the world's leading open source software products in the field of network management.

Queensland based Opmantek has acquired and launched a new release of one of the first developed open source software programs, Network Management Information System (NMIS), which is used by approximately 10,000 organisations worldwide.

NMIS is a network management software platform that has been developed over the last 12 years and is used to manage IT networks from 1 through to 75,000 devices.

Opmantek's open source software is free to all users, however Opmantek has developed a unique business model to capitalise on the popularity of NMIS with support packages and add-on software modules allowing the company to provide enhanced service to users at a cost.

CEO Danny Maher says open source programs are extremely popular due to their low upfront and operational costs, however lack of commercial support does cause concern for some organisations.

"Open source software is highly attractive due to its cost effectiveness and the freedom it provides for individual customisation that in turn drives development," says Mr Maher.

"The software develops rapidly through a global community of users who have access to the source code and modify it and play with it. I am a firm believer that the sharing of ideas and knowledge will always create a better world and will always create better software.

"I would like to see a software world where people aren't driven to hide and protect their ideas through compilation or obfuscation of code, but are inspired to share and harness knowledge openly in a realisation that the knowledge will become greater.

"Effectively any user can be a bug fixer or innovator and a global 'knowledge factory' operates through the user group community moderated by Opmantek. This creates low cost, rapid development, reliable software and fantastic user buy-in."

Mr Maher says while the software is free, it is a core business application and many organisations like to have commercial support in case something goes wrong or they need assistance with particular customisations.

"Keeping NMIS as open source software while providing users the opportunity to purchase support and custom features from Opmantek is the best of both worlds," says Mr Maher.

"As users do not pay for the software itself they are able to spend their funds on integration with other systems, customisation or operational process to meet their individual needs.

"Consultants and integrators are also able to engage customers, implement the free software and utilise the customer's budget for customisations and other consultancy work - often this is the work which customer's need but could not afford."

Mr Maher says the global network management industry is valued at more than $4 billion annually and businesses are constantly seeking more efficient systems that can be adapted as needed.

"By keeping the software open source while providing commercial support, Opmantek are able to offer a cost effective and highly practical network management system for any business," he said.

"Along with full access to support, users of NMIS can now request changes and Opmantek will adapt the product for them.

"This provides a better outcome for our users and we believe this model where clients only pay for support and the adaptations they require, rather than the core software itself, is a significant step forward for the software industry."

Opmantek leverages an extensive network of technology experts around the world and is at the forefront of developing, marketing, packaging and distributing software in the network management field.

The company was recently awarded a grant by the Gold Coast City Council as part of its Investment Attraction Program (IAP).

A new version of the NMIS software was recently released and is available free of charge through the Opmantek website, http://www.opmantek.com. It is currently being downloaded by someone around the world every 30 minutes.

For more information about the company, please visit http://www.assob.com.au/omk