
Profile
Stephen Stack
Technology Executive, Software Founder and Network Configuration Management Expert
Founder and Chief Technology Officer, rConfig
Stephen Stack is an Irish technology executive, software founder and network configuration management expert. He is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of rConfig, a network configuration management platform first publicly released in 2012.
His career spans global network leadership, enterprise architecture, cloud infrastructure and security, software product development, executive leadership and technology business growth. He holds a master’s degree in business from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.
rConfig is operated by OS Informatics Limited, trading as rConfig, a registered limited company in the Republic of Ireland (company number 751053).
rConfig
Stephen created rConfig. He began building it in 2010 and released it publicly as an open-source project in 2012. The project started as a tool for collecting, backing up and tracking network device configurations, and it has been developed continuously since.
rConfig now ships as a multi-tier commercial platform alongside the open-source edition. V8 Core remains free and self-hosted, V8 Pro is the commercial edition for production estates, and Vector Enterprise is the distributed edition for managed service providers and large enterprises. Stephen is the architect of that platform and remains its lead developer.
- rConfig V8 was released, with distributed collection through the Vector architecture, and performance verified against estates of more than 100,000 devices.
- In-app generative AI and MCP integration launched, unveiled at Zabbix Summit 2025 in Riga.
- rConfig Vector Prism reached general availability, a white-label, on-premise customer portal for managed service providers and telcos.
Network configuration management
As of 2026, Stephen has more than 15 years of dedicated network configuration management product and operational experience, dating from the start of development on rConfig in 2010. His work in the field covers configuration collection, versioning, comparison, compliance, recovery, multi-vendor device management and automation governance, and includes designing and operating systems for large enterprise environments.
His stated position is that configuration management and network automation are separate disciplines: automation changes the network, while configuration management establishes and protects control of the network before and after each change.
Scale
rConfig is engineered for estates at six-figure device counts. V8, the release Stephen architected and shipped on 2 September 2025, was verified against estates of more than 100,000 devices, using distributed collection that separates the collection layer from the control plane so a single instance can reach devices across many sites, network segments and customer perimeters.
Areas of expertise
- Configuration collection
- Configuration backup
- Configuration versioning
- Configuration comparison
- Compliance
- Disaster recovery
- Multi-vendor device management
- Automation governance
Areas of experience
- Global network leadership
- Enterprise architecture
- Cloud infrastructure and security
- Software product development
- Executive leadership
- Technology business growth
Education
Stephen holds a master’s degree in business from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin.
Selected work
Projects
Articles
- Why Network Engineers Still Don't Trust AI With the NetworkrConfig, 2026
- The NCM Industry Has an Evidence Problem. Ours Is 50,000 Devices in 21 Minutes.rConfig, 2026
- A CTO’s Perspective: Serious Network Automation Starts with Configuration ManagementrConfig, 2026
- Automation Engineers Don’t Fail — Business Cases DorConfig, 2025
- The Script Era Is Over: NIS2 & DORA Changed NCM ForeverrConfig, 2025
- Why Running Oxidized or RANCID in Production Is No Longer DefensiblerConfig, 2025
- Your Network Automation Might Be a Legal Risk — Here’s WhyrConfig, 2025
- Introducing rConfig Vector: Scalable, Distributed Network Configuration Management for Modern TeamsrConfig, 2025
- How We Tamed a Legacy Avaya Switch with Telnet, VT100, and a Bit of rConfig MagicrConfig, 2024
- The Open Source Edge: rConfig's Response to the Broadcom-VMware NCM EquationrConfig, 2024
- From EMC SMARTS to rConfig V7: Why the Future of NCM Is Open, Secure, and Customer-DrivenrConfig, 2024
- From Scripts to Sustainable Apps: Bridging the Network Automation GaprConfig, 2024
- Security, Trust, and rConfig: A CTO’s Commitment in a Post-SolarWinds WorldrConfig, 2024
- The Future of Open-Source NCM: Challenges, Growth, and What Comes NextrConfig, 2024
- How rConfig Tackles Technical Debt: A CTO’s Take on Open Source vs. Proprietary ChallengesrConfig, 2024
- Understanding Technical Debt in Network Management: A CTO’s Guide to Smarter InfrastructurerConfig, 2024
Profiles
- Stephen Stack on LinkedInPersonal profile
- rConfig on GitHubThe organisation that hosts the rConfig source
- rConfig tutorials on YouTubeProduct walkthroughs and webinar replays
Company background and the wider team are covered on the rConfig about page.