Image: Micron21, proud winners at the Maroondah Business Excellence Awards

In today’s blog post, we chat with James Braunegg, founder of .au registrar and cloud hosting provider, Micron21. We discuss the background of Australia’s first Tier IV Data Centre as a facility to house complex infrastructure (Tier IV has the highest redundancy), and the benefits of having an online presence.

Tell us about the heritage of Micron21 and your progress made so far.

Micron21 began as a subsidiary of a larger print business that made its mark printing Australian legal tender. The hallmarks of its operations were defined by precision, consistency and quality. In printing terms, a single micron is equal to one millionth of a metre. The lower the micron, the higher the fidelity and counterfeit difficulty.

With the industry reformation from print to digital, the business was in a great position to leverage its dark fibre (communication) network and commence online services for its customers. In 2009, Micron21’s very first Data Centre was founded under the factory stairwell, hidden away from the large Heidelberg printing presses it would soon replace.

Today, Micron21 operates on an international scale and is the second largest peered network in Australia that connects with nearly 2000 networks globally. Micron21 are the trusted partner for thousands of businesses that depend on a higher grade of cloud service.

Impressive stuff! And well done on your recent award for Innovation and Technology in the Maroondah Business Excellence Awards. Can you give us some background on this achievement?

Thank you! Micron21 was nominated for the Business Excellence Awards based on our involvement in and services provided to the Bayswater Business Precinct.

The initial round involved a lengthy interview by independent management consultants on a wide range of topics including business strategy, commercial viability and success, marketing plans and execution, OHS and staff happiness, sustainability and of course, our technology and innovations to date. Out of over 150 initial business nominees, Micron21 were shortlisted amongst 32 businesses across all categories to go through the next stage of evaluation. This second stage involved an onsite visit by industry experts to specifically assess our technological innovation.

The judging panel were impressed with a number of our Australian firsts in technology and the innovative way that this was achieved for Australian customers. This innovation included:

• Australia’s first Tier IV Data Centre 
• Australia’s first commercial 5G wireless service
• Pioneering and design of Australia’s own DDoS mitigation platform
• Leadership and capability of our VMware cloud platform

We were very excited to have won the award and to receive the recognition for all our years of hard work to get to this point.

Can you share some insights on your commitment to environmental sustainability and the steps you are taking to achieve this?

Micron21’s commitment to sustainable practices is outlined in our Environmental Policy. In association with EPA Victoria’s Carbon Innovators Network, we are working towards carbon neutrality as far as possible. While Data Centres are notorious power users, our Tier IV facility was designed with greener outcomes in mind.

Micron21’s primary and secondary cooling systems rely on chilled water that minimises power consumption and is a more sustainable solution compared to refrigerant systems. Individual cool and hot aisles and compartmentalised racks ensure that cooling is redirected, thereby minimising waste from air mixing. Reducing the power draw from the Grid also leads to less cooling and therefore a further reduction in power used. 

Excellent to hear. And lastly, what advice do you have for small business owners wanting to register their first domain name and create their first website?

Make sure your domain name and website is a strong reflection of your business, its values and products and services offered in a way that engages your audience and makes it easy for them to find and digest your message. You then have a good base to market to, whether direct, social or otherwise. Therefore, it pays to spend sufficient time getting it right.

Great tip James! 

Thanks for chatting with us today and for sharing these insights on Micron21’s journey so far.

No worries, thanks for the chat!