SecretNet says goodbye to IT industry

After 11.5 years in the computer hardware industry, co-founder Andrew Macks said - in an online post - things have been increasingly difficult in the last two years for the business.

“We have watched the health of the industry decline over recent years, especially with new cut-price hardware vendors which we cannot compete with on price by any legal means whatsoever,” he said.

“We have watched a large number of competitors, both friendly and hostile, strain and collapse. We've even seen some of our own distributors collapse under the changing marketplace that has now faced the industry.”

Macks reiterated SecretNet was not bankrupt, and was not disappearing overnight.

“A decision needed to be made whether we try and wait it out for things to improve (at our cost), or throw in the towel and let other players have a go,” he claimed.

“We'll continue to honour warranties on parts well after September 13th, either directly still through SecretNet, or by working with customers via e-mail to direct them to the appropriate suppliers for individual components.”

SecretNet was founded in December 1996 by Andrew Macks and his father, Paul Macks.

In 2006, it achieved formal recognition by being publically voted equal Best Online Retailer of the Year by CRN’s sister publication, PC Authority.