Enex TestLabs to triple in size

Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) contractor, Enex TestLab, has announced plans to triple its 2009 Australian workforce to 60 by the end of this year.

Touting a burgeoning, global public and private sector client base, the testing services provider has recruited 20 staff to its Melbourne headquarters in the past year, and will add another 20 in the remaining part of 2010.

Enex was established by RMIT in 1989 to undertake software training and government procurement testing.

It now conducts benchmarking, usability and security testing of consumer, enterprise and carrier-grade hardware and software.

The company's managing director Matt Tett highlighted significant contracts with the DBCDE as a contributor to its success.

In January, Enex and the DBCDE delivered network testing equipment to the subscribers of 40 internet service providers (ISPs) as part of the Government's Australian Broadband Guarantee.

Enex is also known for its technical advisory role in the Government's controversial ISP-level internet filtering proposal. Enex's fitering report to the DBCDE was publicly released in December.

Tett said the company had gained significant exposure through its work in the Broadband Guarantee, but was unsure if publicity around its role in the filtering proposal was good or bad for its reputation.

"Filtering [publicity] could go both ways," he told iTnews, "but the Australian Broadband Guarantee obviously [boosted business] because we got to interact with quite a few ISPs."

Victorian ICT Minister John Lenders highlighted Enex as a success story for the state's ICT business environment and capabilities.

"This is another vote of confidence in Victoria as an important ICT centre," he said.

"Our policies are clearly paying dividends - this financial year we have facilitated the creation of more than 1200 new ICT jobs, bring the total of ICT jobs created to more than 13,000 since 1999."

Outside of Enex's Melbourne headquarters, the company also has 10 staff in Shanghai, 9 in the UK, and a presence in Sydney and the US.