OpenBand

Ben LavenderJob Title: Single Point of FailureInterests: Large amounts of inexpensive food

Ben is a rockstar systems admin/network engineer/developer currently hailing from the Big Easy. He's been with OpenBand since 2007 and has been a part of our expansion in the last few years. While occasionally getting his fingers in to all aspects of our projects, he spends most of his time in two areas: infrastructure design, where his varied experience comes in very handy, and as our buildmaster, where he manages the influx of production from our developers. Since these jobs preclude existing in a single time zone, he moves around a lot to keep things interesting.

Like many of our team members, Ben has been working with open-source software and platforms for much of his vocational life. To him, the right way to solve a problem involves using the best tools for the job. As he puts it, "It just so happens that the emergent properties of open source make it the best answer for almost everything." Ben started using open source tools at the age of 16 and administering Linux systems at 19. His early experiences with open source were convincing enough that he hasn't spent much time not using open technologies.

He sums his feelings up succinctly: "No touchy-feely open source love here -- sharing works."

When he's not administering or engineering, Ben is probably practicing martial arts. He attends as many classes as he can manage.