About us

Who we are

At Yawarra Information Appliances we refuse to accept a world where it is normal for computers to be frustrating and unnecessarily complex.

Our passion is to create computer-based appliances that are easy to use and require minimal interaction - in other words, behave like they are supposed to - invisibly.

We also pride ourselves on providing consistently high quality customer service, as you can see from our awesome customer comments.

We offer our range of small form factor, energy-efficient, high-quality PC compatible hardware and accessories by mail order, and you can learn all about our products and place orders online at www.yawarra.com.au.

We are located in the foothills of the Dandenongs, in Melbourne, Australia and have been operating since January 2005.

If you have any queries, please contact us.

Our name

'Yawarra' is an Australian aboriginal word meaning 'to watch over and care for'. It's also the name of our local primary school.

We say it 'Yah' (as in yuck), 'worr' (as in warrant), 'ah' (as in hah), with the emphasis on 'worr'. Clear as mud?

Well we can't even agree on how it's said, but you can listen to our attempts at it, if you really have nothing better to do: Yawarra pronunciation - version 1 and Yawarra pronunciation - version 2.

'Information Appliances' is a term coined by Jef Raskin and promoted by Donald Norman, both advocates of interface design, to describe computers that do one thing only and do it well and invisibly.

That's the sort of computers we want to sell.

What we do

Yawarra Information Appliances offers a range of hardware for embedded applications, and currently stock the ALIX range of computers from PC Engines in Switzerland, the net5501 computers from Soekris Engineering in the USA, the fit-PC2 series of products from CompuLab in Israel, and the nuxV rackmount servers based on the IPC100 boards from OpenVox in China.

These small form factor, PC-compatible machines:

• are incredibly energy-efficient, using very little power, and generate minimal waste heat
• are extremely reliable, durable and long lasting, because they have no moving parts, no need for ventilation, and are built to a very high standard
• are very small, using only a small amount of materials, and they take up very little space on your desk or in your server rack
• support most open-source operating systems including OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, various Linux distributions and a number of proprietary operating systems, including Windows 7 (on the fit-PC2)

These features make the ALIX, the net5501, and the nuxV ideal for use as firewalls, routers and in wireless networks, while the fit-PC2 computers are ideal for office desktops, internet cafes, classroom computers and home entertainment.

Please see our small form factor computers page or our catalogue for more information.

What we care about

People

As passionate as we are about technology, we care about people even more.

Whether it's our customers, our suppliers or our staff, we want everyone to enjoy interacting with us.

One of our stated business aims is to create a technology business that puts people first.

We believe that by focusing on people, not only will we create better technology, but we'll also make the world a better place.

And we're proud to offer a family-friendly workplace, where our staff are able to bring their young children to work with them on a regular basis.

So if you hear a squawk in the background when you're on the phone to us, you'll know what it is!

The environment

Since our business began, we've been doing what we can to minimise our impact on the planet, because we're also passionate about the environment.

We're extremely proud to have won Knox Council's Sustainable Business Award for 2011, for our range of energy efficient computers, and our other 'green' activities including:

• using recyclable packaging, such as cardboard boxes and screwed-up paper, and asking the same of our suppliers
• recycling as much of our waste products as possible, including cardboard, paper, plastic, printer cartridges and food scraps
• minimising waste and inefficiencies within our business operations
• measuring and reducing our energy consumption, through the use of fluorescent light globes, timer switches and power-efficient appliances
• buying accredited 100% wind power from our electricity provider
• buying supplies locally where possible, both to support local businesses, and also to reduce transport costs
• minimising our car travel and airline flights, by limiting our face-to-face sales calls, and interstate and overseas trips
• donating to projects that do things to offset our remaining emissions, such as planting trees (we like trees)
• offering to help our customers recycle their fit-PC2s at the end of their useful lifetime

We're also very proud of the fact that our computers are incredibly energy-efficient, using an amazingly small amount of power to run, ranging from 3W to 15W for the ALIX, net5501 and fit-PC2 computers, compared to 60-100W for a typical server or desktop PC.

In the future, we're planning to:

• add more information about the power consumption of our products to the website
• recycle all of our waste products, including bubble wrap
• look into expanding our computer recycling program