Perhaps counter-intuitively, Australia is a great place to manufacture and export from.
Counter-intuitive because it is half a planet away from major markets. Shipping costs from Australia can be prohibitive. Its energy and labour costs are also amongst the highest in the world.
On the flipside there are several foundational attributes that outweigh those challenges. The first of these is that Australia has a deservedly strong reputation for quality and high standards. In the Reputation Institute’s 2016 rankings, Australia was rated the fourth most reputable country globally. In this article, we are going to look at why Australia is a great place to manufacture and at some of our fantastic Zella DC products.
Australian-made means quality
For importers of Australian goods, this favourable mindset means your consumers are predisposed to purchase your goods. Australia has a robust regulatory framework for business as well as a transparent legal system, high levels of education, and a vibrant research and development culture that fosters innovation. On a per capita basis, it is a nation of early adopters and this makes Australia a good place to run a beta launch before going global.
Drilling deeper, Australia is a global leader in the realms of mining and oil and gas. Benchmark technical and project delivery prowess is recognised internationally, and this in turn has created an ecosystem of support businesses that have forged reputations on the world stage.
Meet Zella DC: from mines to much more
Zella DC is a niche manufacturer that stems from this sweet spot. Founded in Perth, Western Australia, the company is now operating on the World stage far beyond the resource sector where its micro data centres were tried and tested.
Like most industries looking for efficiencies, mining relies heavily on IT, and this presents some serious challenges as the environments where the IT is often used are among the harshest on earth: radically isolated locations like mining sites where temperatures can exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), and the winds carry a talcum-powder fine red dust ready to clog up and kill any electrical appliance it can. This is where the central innovation came from.
Conceptually, Zella Pro is simply a sealed server cabinet with built-in power conditioning, temperature and humidity control and a multitude of intelligent sensors that allow the appliances to run in optimum conditions 24/7 regardless of external factors. Through a decade of continual refinement and innovation, Zella Pros are the world’s toughest micro data centres, ready to work anywhere on earth. They are modular and scalable – just plug and play as your needs increase. They fit the contemporary idea of rapid adaptability: imagine that you can move a data centre with one day’s notice.
Why it matters
Whist originally designed to protect the IT appliances and the data within, Zella DC self-contained micro data centres created a whole suite of benefits that have seen their use go from outback mine sites to oceangoing ships, from defence applications to chic open-plan offices in premier cities around the world.
The sealed units mean that power efficiency is radically increased, and this is easy to understand as you’re only cooling a sealed cabinet and not an entire server room. Power consumption can be critical in remote locations where the use of diesel generators is common, but case studies show urban offices where power bills have been reduced by as much as 75%.
The noise reduction gets everyone
As the cabinet is acoustically and thermally insulated, it reduces noise to a barely perceptible hum of around 33db – that’s about the noise level of a suburban library. This means it is perfectly practical to have a Zella Pro in a meeting room or in an open-plan office, right next to your desk, and this is a huge benefit where real estate is at a premium, and far superior to the noisy ‘data-rack in room’ approach.
By spotting a niche need and developing a superior solution Zella DC not only solved a problem for one industry, but arguably created an entirely new product category: the discrete, go anywhere, plug-and-play micro data centre. By continually listening to their end-users, refining and innovating they’ve stayed well ahead of any competitors, and have created their own place on the world stage, and right now it looks like a great place to be as micro data centres are experiencing a boom.
The future looks good
The convenience of the Cloud has meant most businesses, SME’s in particular have migrated to the cloud-based servers and SaaS providers. But the risks associated with Cloud-only systems are being recognised. Your data and your processes are your business – literally and figuratively – and it pays to keep it close to home, and this is driving a trend. Hybrid cloud solutions and edge computing is fast changing from niche to norm, and this is pushing demand to new levels. An idea that started in Australia is answering a global need. A dedication to listening and learning from end-users and continual innovation has created the go-anywhere, micro data centre and Zella DC is the archetype.
Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about how we can help your business.
