Simon Walter Hackett is an Australian technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder (with Robyn Taylor) of Internode, an Australian national broadband services company.

Career

He is a 1986 graduate of the University of Adelaide, holding a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.

Together with John Romkey, Hackett became the first to connect a commercial domestic appliance (a Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control Toaster) to the internet in 1990.[1]

Internode was founded in May 1991. In 1997 Hackett founded a subsidiary called Agile Communications[2] that was a licensed national telecommunications carrier and was the first South Australian based company to gain this license.[3][4]

The Internode company group was sold to iiNet in a A$105 million transaction announced in December 2011 and completed on 31 January 2012.[5]

Hackett departed the executive team at Internode to join the board of iiNet in August 2012.[6] On 12 November 2013 it was announced that he had been appointed to the board of the National Broadband Network, and that he had resigned his position with iiNet.[7] He departed the board of the National Broadband Network in April 2016 and was replaced by Michael Malone.[8]

Other boards Hackett has served upon are: Adelaide Fringe Festival, m.Net Corporation.,[9] and the Australian Network for Art and Technology.[10] Hackett co-founded and is a former director of The Internet Society of Australia,[11] and was the founding president of the South Australian Internet Association (which has since been disbanded).[9]

He is a fellow of the Australian Computer Society.[12]

While he was Managing Director of Internode, he was frequently active in the Internode forum on Whirlpool,[13] and is a vocal commentator on Australian telecommunications competition issues and Government policies.[14]

Hackett is the largest investor in ASX-listed company Redflow,[15] has served on its board (including as Chairman) and also spent a period as the company CEO before hiring others into both of those roles.[16] Hackett stepped down from the Redflow board effective at the 2018 AGM, while remaining involved in a technical role as Systems Integration Architect.[17]

Hackett is an advocate for electric vehicles. He imported the first Tesla Roadster into Australia and documented the process of driving it 501 kilometres (311 mi) on a single charge during the Global Green Challenge in Australia in 2009.[18] This was reported to be a new world range record for a production electric car at the time.[19] He subsequently appeared in testimonial for Tesla.[20]

References

  1. ^ "The Internet Toaster". Living Internet. Retrieved 17 July 2006.
  2. ^ "Welcome to Agile Communications". Agile Communications. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Home". agile.com.au.
  4. ^ “Strategies for Wireless Access Services – Spectrum Access Options Spectrum Planning Discussion paper 10/06” Archived 2008-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "iiNet to acquire Internode" (Press release).
  6. ^ "Director Appointment" (Press release).
  7. ^ "Director Appointment" (Press release).
  8. ^ "Michael Malone appointed to nbn Board" (Press release).
  9. ^ a b "South Aussie Leader of the Pack" (Press release). Impress Media. 10 December 2003. Retrieved 17 July 2006.
  10. ^ "Board". Australian Network for Art and Technology. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  11. ^ "Past Directors of ISOC-AU". Retrieved 17 July 2006.
  12. ^ "ACS Council Elects New Board Directors and Fellows" (Press release). Australian Computer Society. 5 August 2005. Retrieved 17 July 2006.
  13. ^ Hackett's Whirlpool profile
  14. ^ "New home buyers fight Telstra lock-in".
  15. ^ "Redflow". Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  16. ^ "AGM 2017 Commentary Simon Hackett".
  17. ^ "Redflow Continues Board Renewal" (Press release).
  18. ^ "World Record Distance (501km) drive in a Production Electric Vehicle (Tesla Roadster)". SimonHackett. 11 March 2010. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  19. ^ Borroz, Tony (27 October 2009). "TESLA GOES 313 MILES ON SINGLE CHARGE". Wired.
  20. ^ "Future Driven". Tesla. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
No tags for this post.