With more than 30 years of experience in his field, Andy Konecny, the Technical Lead and co-owner of Konecny Consulting, focuses on doing IT securely - especially with Micro Focus GroupWise suite and Open Enterprise Server.

Tell us about yourself and your experience.
My dad’s hobby was doing a lot of neat stuff with tech.  We had fun with old BASIC on his home brew M6800 system.  Through that, I realized that programming was something I could do but didn't really like, so aimed to build with a Civil Engineering degree. 

In 1987 while waiting for the recession-suppressed Civil Engineering jobs to open up again, I took an admin support job in a government IT shop. Later, I was hired at a Systems Integration shop doing early large-scale SCADA to support their network and PCs.  This evolved into becoming a Platinum Novell partner and deploying nationwide NetWare, GroupWise, BorderManager, and such systems.  In 2009, on the day the plane landed in the Hudson, my time was up as the company was folding up. My wife and I setup our consulting firm, Konecny Consulting, and we became a reseller and Novell Partner.  

How long have you used Micro Focus products? What are the primary products you use and why?
I started with supporting NetWare 2.12 and WP Office 2 Mail (what became GroupWise) in 1990 to support the SCADA engineers and grew from there.  I stayed focused on this path because it was so clearly the secure path rather than the other offerings that came along.  I have always had a knack of seeing security gaps that helps me avoid the security issues that have plagued others.  

How long have you been a Micro Focus Community Knowledge Partner? Why did you first decide to join the program?
While I had been involved with the Community sporadically since CompuServe days, I grew my involvement in 2009 once we established Konecny Consulting.  In 2012 Kevin commented that my posts had been noticed, which got me digging into more of what the program was about.  I liked what I saw, but before I could really change what I was doing, I got the invite to join and have not looked back since.   

How do you help the Community as a Knowledge Partner (i.e., what forums do you help answer questions in, do you submit tips, etc.)?
I spend most of my time in the Team Collaboration and Endpoint Management Community forums, venturing into other areas depending on what my clients' needs are.   It has been rewarding helping grow the community knowledge-base, even getting recognition outside of the Community, and I have developed some great friendships with other Community members.

Are there any recent projects you have worked on that you would like to mention?
Many of my projects involve planning with my clients to answer the question 'where do we go now that the world has changed so much?' while maintaining their existing systems.  I see the next few years to be busy with some of the evolutions of their systems to navigate our ever-changing world. 

What else can you tell us about yourself and your activities outside the community?
I love to read Science Fiction and learn about the possibilities and challenges we have ahead of us, both near term and longer term.  A current project is turning an old NetFrame server into a liqueur cabinet (yes, I know I need to assemble pictures to share as well).  I also enjoy spending some of my free time with my wife.

About the Program
The Micro Focus Community recently launched our Featured Knowledge Partner Program. Each month, we highlight a Knowledge Partner and their outstanding contributions to the Community, their background, and their experiences with Micro Focus products.

The Knowledge Partners Program is a combination of customers, partners, and enthusiasts who deliver the best, most up-to-date, real-world experiences and expertise to the community that even we at Micro Focus cannot always match. We are thrilled to be able to recognize these community members who provide exceptional value and contributions to us and our customers via the Program through this new initiative.

Want to learn more? Visit here for more information on the Community Knowledge Partner Program.