250 jobs in limbo as another Aussie IT firm goes under

A 105-year-old Australian IT firm with a nationwide network of field service agents and 250 employees has gone into administration, the company announced today.

AWA Limited lists among its clients major integrators and service providers, including the likes of Dimension Data, HP and NEC. It also services various major ICT vendors, including Cisco, HP, Toshiba, Dell and Optus/Alphawest.

Today it was announced that the company has appointed administrators PPB Advisory who are conducting a review, aiming for a sale of the business. Expressions of interest are being sought for the business and assets, said administrator Phil Carter.

It marks a dark few days in the Australian IT sector, with Canberra veteran Dataflex filing for admininstration this week, Qantas revealing that that IT staff will be among its 5,000 cuts and talk of major cuts at one of the biggest vendors. 

“We appreciate that customers, employees and other key stakeholders will be concerned about the future and we will be working to achieve a sale of the business as a going concern in a timely manner," Carter said in a statement.

Carter told ABC radio that AWA's board had "run out of time" and "run out of options".

"The company was either about to become insolvent or already insolvent, so in this case they have acted at a tim when it looked like they were shortly to become insolvent."

As well as subcontracting to major integrators and resellers, AWA has various major enterprise and government clients. According to the company's website, these include Macquarie Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Royal Australian Navy, Flight Centre, Service NSW, Roads and Maritime Services, Spotless and various Federal Government Departments.

AWA has office in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Newcastle and a national network of more than 700 service agents.

The company once played a pivatol role in radio communications in Australia, before moving into ICT services. 

According to a history of AWA on the company's website, the company began in radio communications more than 100 years ago and ran a network of maritime radio station in New Guinea during World War II. It also received the first radio broadcast from the UK to Australia.

AWA later operated AM radio stations as well as moving into manufacturing radio valves and supplying radar equipment to the maritime industry. The company history also covers the design and manufacture of defence systems, as well as the television industry. In the late 1980s AWA established an independent computer support services divisions.

The company's head office until the 1990s was the iconic AWA tower in York street.