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A small Auckland company is proof that you don’t have to stick to the mainstream of Microsoft-based software to run a viable IT services busines.
Network Service Providers (NSP) is an I.T. firm born in 2002 claiming success with Open Source software that it says does what equivalent Microsoft products do, but without the licensing fees.
It’s a bold direction to take for the firm of 11 staff and $2 million revenue when Microsoft dominates the software world.
The extent to which the US software giant has captured the hearts and minds of New Zealand software developers can be seen in the popularity of its annual technical conference, Tech-Ed.
Microsoft expects this year’s event, to be held in Auckland in August, to pull a crowd of 2000 developers and users of its products.
But Brent Larsen, co-owner of NSP, won’t be there. It’s not, he says, because he’s anti-Microsoft. Although Open Source software and services are the company’s staple, it does work with Microsoft products.
"We’re platform-agnostic. What we’re motivated by is providing a solution to a customer at great value."
Staying away from Tech-Ed has more to do with the company being relatively young and only just ready to start promoting its flagship product.
He acknowledges the company’s leanings are towards the Open Source community, to which its developers "contribute quite a bit".