Twenty years ago, the first e-mails were exchanged among a small group of automotive technicians through the International Automotive Technicians Network (IATN). Today, more than 83,000 automotive service professionals from 170 countries routinely use IATN’s various forums and databases to expand their knowledge and skill set spanning all topics related to the industry.

Since 1995, IATN said it has evolved from an e-mail based communication service into the world’s largest online community of automotive technicians, repair shop owners and other allied service professionals. Members now have access to many IATN features including TechHelp – where technicians help each other with real-world automotive repair problems 24 hours a day – plus many technical and managerial web forums. An extensive, searchable IATN Knowledge Base houses the Fix Database with hundreds of thousands of real-world vehicle fixes, as well as the web forum archives with over 2 million discussions, and the Waveform Library with nearly 70,000 waveforms, scandata images, component photos, documents and video demonstrations, all uploaded by IATN members.

“It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago, when IATN started, we didn’t even have a website, and all communication was done via e-mail,” said Brent Black, IATN founder. “Now nearly all communication on IATN is done via the web, and we expect in the near future that most of it will be done via mobile apps.”

“Today, we’ve witnessed the incredibly positive results of the communication that takes place on IATN, including the fellowship of like-minded professionals who are focused on knowledge expansion and positive professional development within an industry that is constantly evolving,” said Scott Brown, IATN president.

Brown added that he sees an ever-increasing role for IATN in the near future as vehicles continue to grow in complexity and vehicle technology exponentially increases.