Mobilise IT Celebrating 20 Years

Mobilise IT – Innovation as a Service Since 2006

Mobilise IT was formerly created June 16, 2006 on a bold and at the time unconventional belief: that the mobile internet and the mobile economy would fundamentally transform business computing, and ultimately, the world.

“We were born before the mobile internet was ready”

Back then, this vision bordered on radical. Mobile technology was still in its infancy, with 2.5G networks, average speeds of around 30kbps, devices and telco networks designed primarily for voice calls and SMS. Fast forward to today, and a single 5G speed test on my Apple iPhone 17 exceeds 470Mbps. The future that we imagined didn’t just arrive, it exploded!

On 1 July 2006, Mobilise IT opened its very first office at Unit 5, 26–36 High Street, Northcote.

Fast forward 20 years and we are privileged to work from one of the most amazing offices at
436 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, a fitting milestone as we celebrate two decades of building the future of mobility.

“But the story of Mobilise IT begins even earlier”

Before Mobilise IT, there was Wireless IP Technology, a company I co‑founded in 1998 with the brilliant and personal friend Ronald Hayward. In collaboration with Telstra and Kyocera, Wireless IP pushed the boundaries of what mobile networks could do. Using nothing more than the 160‑character SMS messaging service and 2G GPRS radio, we successfully delivered TCP/IP data using a Kyocera mobile tethered via a bespoke cable, built by yours truly, to a Windows CE device, proving wireless integration between handheld computing devices and core business platforms such as Microsoft Great Plains (known today as Microsoft Dynamics) was possible.

In simple terms, we proved something the industry hadn’t yet grasped: Mobile carrier networks could be used for far more than voice calls and texts. They could securely mobilise the internet, enrich the user experience and connect frontline workers to live business systems retrieving information such stock on hand levels, customer order information, and pricing in real-time.

Wireless IP went on to become the first company in the world to use the .NET Compact Framework to build an enterprise grade mobile application, delivering real commercial value. This work was recognised globally, earning Wireless IP and for the first time ever all 3 major Microsoft partner awards, Microsoft Innovation, Business Solution and Microsoft Partner of the Year. Not to mention a meeting with the man himself, Bill Gates in Seattle a few months later. Wireless IP was later sold in 2004, however the experience, learning, continuing adrenalin rush and shear excitement of what the connected enterprise could look like, I moved to the next phase of my life, planning and laying out the foundation of what was to become Mobilise IT 2 years later.

“The start of Mobility Managed Services”

In Mobilise IT’s early years, long before Apple’s App Store or Google Play existed, custom mobile application development was unavoidable. There were no off‑the‑shelf solutions only deep technical expertise and relentless problem solving. We worked natively with hardware from Motorola and Intermec, using languages such as C++ and emerging frameworks like Microsoft Compact .NET. We were constantly unlocking and more often debugging advanced capabilities such as GPS, data capture, photo capture, and real‑time connectivity on rugged industrial devices equipped with little more than basic cameras.

Using our creativity, and that of our customers, we delivered practical, commercially viable mobile solutions that solved real operational problems long before “mobile first” became a buzzword. But as exciting as this work was, it was also unforgiving. Jumping from one bespoke project to the next was intense, complex, and financially inconsistent the reality of custom development in a market that was itself constantly shifting beneath our feet.

At the same time, the mobile device ecosystem was fragmenting. Nokia, Microsoft Mobile, BlackBerry, and others were all pivoting, re‑platforming, or ultimately exiting the market altogether. APIs changed, operating systems evolved or disappeared and maintaining application compatibility across devices became increasingly complex, risky, and costly. It slowly became clear that it was no longer realistic to be both a specialist mobile application development house and a trusted long‑term operational partner for customers.

We reached an important realisation: value was no longer created solely by writing code. It was created by ensuring that mobile solutions whether built by us, ISVs, or customers themselves could actually be deployed, secured, supported, and scaled reliably in the real world. We began to deliberately and carefully over a 5 year period step away from application development, not abruptly, but smoothly jettisoning what no longer served our customers best.

What emerged was something far more enduring: a focus on the equally critical foundations of mobility device provisioning, mobile device management (MDM), application lifecycle management, security, and ultimately, the user experience. This shift marked the quiet birth of what would later be called Mobility Managed Services, well before the term existed, and it would come to define Mobilise IT’s future.

Mobilise IT is here 20 years later and thriving, because we listened, we had our finger on the pulse, we learn from our mistakes and the lessons of our industry. Perhaps the most important was this:

“you cannot be a jack of all trades and expect to master any.”

What began as experimentation became execution. What began as vision became reality and from there, Mobilise IT continued to pioneer and lead our industry from the frontline:

2008 – Introduced MobileIron as Australia’s first modern mobile device management platform
2009 – First to launch a per‑device, per‑month managed service consumption and billing model, aligned to telco billing
2010 – Became one of the largest BlackBerry BES partners in the region
2012 – Delivered one of the largest frontline service solutions in Australia, supporting thousands of staff across Melbourne City Council and Citywide.
- Fun fact: When a parking meter anywhere from the City of Yarra through to the City of Port Phillip failed and a customer dialled 1300 for support, Mobilise IT wrote the software that dispatched the job directly to a technician in the field complete with the exact meter ID and GPS location on their Motorola Windows CE handheld.
2013 – That same solution was extended to deliver tree‑pruning instructions to arborists, including the precise GPS location to ensure the correct tree or plant was maintained
2014 – Delivered one of the largest mobile health deployments of its time in the world, supporting over 4,000 RDNS staff in South Australia as a Hospital in the Home platform using Palm Treo devices.
- Fun Fact: Our project later transformed RDNS into the largest hospital in the home service provided in Australia. The solution and service later received the South Australian Premier’s Award for advancements in health technology
2023 – Signed an exclusive agreement with Samsung SDS in Australia and New Zealand to distribute Zero Touch Mobile for ServiceNow marking the beginning of the most advanced evolution of managed services in our industry, with security, sovereignty, and artificial intelligence at its core.
- Fun Fact: We are the only partner in Australia with this technology on the ServiceNow platform which is used by 7 in 10 public and private enterprises throughout Australia.
2024 – Successfully achieved ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and ISO 14001 certifications, reinforcing our commitment to quality, security, sustainability, and delivering innovation for the next 20 years.
2025 – Signed a sole partner agreement with Samsung SDS in Australia and New Zealand to distribute Samsung Knox On Premise the most advanced and secure air gapped EMM solution. Ultimate security for Federal government departments such as Defence and Foreign Affairs through to hospitals and banks.

Over the years, our work has been recognised by and our peers and in industry with numerous industry awards, including Microsoft Australia Partner of the Year, Worldwide Partner of the Year, MobileIron APAC Partner of the Year, BlackBerry Partner of the Year, and AIIA iAwards, among others.

Twenty years on, Mobilise IT stands as proof that seeing the future early matters but building it with an amazing group of people matters even more.

And this is only the beginning.

As we celebrate 20 years of Mobilise IT, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built and even more excited about what lies ahead. This journey has never been about technology alone; it’s been about people, partnerships, and the relentless belief that mobility can simplify complexity and unlock better outcomes. To our customers, partners, and past and present team members thank you for being part of this story. The next chapter will be our most ambitious yet, and I look forward to building it together.

George Deligiannoudis
Chief Executive Officer
Mobilise IT