MicroRentals provides managed IT services and business IT support to Townsville and North Queensland organisations, delivered on site by Townsville-based technicians rather than someone flown up from Brisbane. We have been supplying and supporting business IT since 1987, and we own the hardware as well as managing it.
North Queensland is usually somebody’s remote territory
The standard arrangement for a Townsville business is a provider in Brisbane, a relationship that is entirely remote, and a flight booked only when something has broken badly enough to justify one. It works until it does not, and when it does not, the gap between “we will look at it remotely” and “someone is in the building” is measured in days.
Our technicians in Townsville are based in Townsville. Remote response within 1 business hour. On-site attendance scheduled to suit your site and your people — with a window given when you log the job, rather than a vague promise of “same day” that gets quietly missed.
A managed service provider that owns hardware
Nearly every provider serving North Queensland manages devices they do not own and cannot replace from stock. When a laptop dies, they raise a purchase order with a distributor, and the wait is the wait — with freight to the north added on top.
We hold the fleet ourselves — over 2,000 laptops, plus desktops, monitors, servers and AV equipment — so hardware and its management sit under one agreement, and a failed device is replaced from stock rather than ordered in.
Being honest about the geography: the warehouse is in Sydney. A replacement is dispatched within 4 hours; the carrier owns the transit, and during the wet season that transit can be disrupted with little notice. For Townsville clients we usually recommend holding configured spares locally as part of the agreement. It is a small cost that removes freight, weather and distance from the critical path in one move, and it is the single most useful thing a northern business can do about IT continuity.
This is Device as a Service — from $79 per device per month ex GST.
And if you would rather own the equipment than rent it, we procure it for you. Laptops, desktops, servers, networking and peripherals, bought on your behalf and configured to your standard operating environment. Rent it, buy it, or run a mix; the management is the same either way.
What is included in managed IT services
One monthly agreement covering the things that otherwise arrive as separate invoices and separate phone calls:
- Helpdesk and desktop support — remote first, on-site when it needs to be, for the people actually trying to do their jobs.
- Monitoring and maintenance — remote monitoring and management across servers, endpoints and network, so problems are found before somebody reports them.
- Security — endpoint protection, firewalls, phishing protection, patching, and vulnerability assessment. We work to the ACSC Essential Eight as a framework; more on that below.
- Network and server management — setup, configuration, VPN, and ongoing management of the infrastructure the rest of it sits on.
- Cloud and Microsoft 365 — migration, licensing, tenancy management and support.
- Backup and recovery — backup configuration, monitoring, and tested restores.
- Hardware procurement and asset management — buying the equipment on your behalf when you would rather own it, and knowing what you have, where it is, and what it costs.
Who we work with in Townsville
Professional services firms serving clients across the north. Engineering, construction and contracting businesses. Resources and mining services companies working the inland operations. Medical and allied health practices. Not-for-profits and associations. Education providers. Port, transport and logistics operators.
Typically between ten and two hundred staff — large enough that IT failure costs real money, small enough that a full internal team is hard to justify.
To be direct about what we are not. We do not hold security clearances and we are not DISP members. Townsville has a significant defence presence and we want to be unambiguous: we support the private sector and government-adjacent businesses, not accredited work inside defence facilities. If that is your requirement, we are not the right provider and we will say so on the first call.
Continuity, when the weather is a scheduled risk
Most business continuity planning in Australia is theoretical. In North Queensland it is seasonal.
The failure modes are known: power outages long enough to matter, water where equipment is, sites that become inaccessible, staff who cannot get in, and freight that stops. What separates businesses that recover quickly from businesses that do not is almost never the quality of the plan document. It is whether the practical things were done beforehand — backups tested rather than assumed, documentation that exists somewhere other than the affected site, credentials that someone other than one person can reach, and configured spare devices that are already here rather than being freighted in after the event.
We will go through that with you in a quiet month, which is the only time it is worth doing.
Essential Eight, without overclaiming
Several of the ACSC Essential Eight mitigation strategies are ordinary managed IT functions in practice — patching operating systems, patching applications, application control, restricting administrative privileges, and multi-factor authentication all depend on knowing and controlling your endpoints.
We work to the Essential Eight as a framework and can report against it. What we will not tell you is that engaging us confers a maturity level. Essential Eight maturity is an assessment of your organisation, not a badge a supplier hands over, and any provider implying otherwise is overselling.
Worth noting: the parts of the Essential Eight most providers find hardest are the ones that depend on knowing exactly what hardware exists and controlling what runs on it. That is considerably easier when the devices came from us in the first place, built to a known standard operating environment.
Co-managed IT: working alongside the person you already have
A great many firms run their entire technology function through one internal IT person. That person is usually competent and usually stretched — they cannot take leave without something slipping, they have no one to escalate to, and every project competes with the day job.
Co-managed is not a smaller version of full outsourcing. It is a split of responsibilities agreed in writing: which systems we monitor and which they own, who holds which credentials, what we escalate to them and what they escalate to us, and who is on point when something breaks at 4pm on a Friday. Done properly it keeps the institutional knowledge in-house and adds the depth, tooling and after-hours cover that one person cannot provide alone.
Done badly it creates two teams who each assume the other is watching. The difference is entirely in how carefully the boundary is drawn at the start, which is why we scope it explicitly rather than leaving it to goodwill.
We work with businesses, not home users
MicroRentals is a business managed service provider. We do not do home computer repair, consumer virus removal or residential callouts. Everything on this page is built around organisations with staff, systems and an operational dependency on both working.
That matters when you are choosing a provider, because a firm splitting its week between home callouts and business contracts is not building the same capability.
How it works when you engage us
1. Assessment. We audit what you have — devices, servers, network, licences, backups, security posture — and tell you what is actually wrong with it, in writing.
2. Proposal. A scope and a monthly cost, with the inclusions listed explicitly. If hardware is part of it, that is priced per device per month alongside.
3. Onboarding. Documentation, monitoring agents, security configuration, and a handover so your people know who to call. We work to a defined onboarding plan rather than an open-ended transition.
4. Steady state. Monitoring, helpdesk, patching, reporting, and a scheduled review. Devices refresh on a cycle rather than when something finally dies.
Frequently asked questions
Where are your Townsville technicians based?
In Townsville. On-site attendance across the region is carried out by our Townsville-based technicians, not by someone flown up when a job gets big enough. Our head office and warehouse are at 7-9 Underwood Road, Homebush in Sydney, which is where the equipment fleet is held.
Do you work with defence, or hold clearances?
No. We do not hold security clearances and we are not DISP members. Townsville has a significant defence presence and we want to be unambiguous about this: we support the private sector and government-adjacent businesses, not accredited work inside defence facilities.
If a laptop fails in Townsville, how fast is the replacement?
A replacement for a stocked configuration is dispatched within 4 hours, but the carrier owns the transit to the north and during the wet season that can be disrupted. For Townsville clients we usually recommend holding configured spares locally as part of the agreement, which removes freight, weather and distance from the critical path.
Can you help us plan for cyclone and wet season disruption?
Yes, and it is worth doing in a quiet month. Tested backups, documentation held somewhere other than the affected site, credentials more than one person can reach, and configured spare devices already in the region rather than freighted in afterwards. The plan document matters far less than whether those four things are actually true.
How quickly do you respond?
Remote response within 1 business hour. On-site attendance is scheduled rather than promised same-day, and we give you a window when the job is logged so you can plan around it.
What does managed IT cost in Townsville?
Pricing is set per agreement, driven by the number of users and devices, how much of the environment you want covered, your security requirements, and whether hardware is included. We quote a fixed monthly figure with the inclusions listed, rather than an hourly rate that varies with how bad a month you have had. Where hardware is included, Device as a Service starts from $79 per device per month ex GST.
Is there a lock-in contract?
No. Managed services run month-to-month with 30 days’ notice. There is no minimum term and no exit fee.
Can you supply the hardware as well as manage it?
Yes, either way you prefer. We can rent it to you from our own fleet of over 2,000 laptops — supplied on a monthly cost per device, configured, supported, replaced on failure and collected at end of term. Or we can procure it for you to own outright: laptops, desktops, servers, networking and peripherals, bought on your behalf, configured to your standard operating environment and managed under the same agreement. Most providers can do neither well, because they hold no stock and treat procurement as a favour rather than a service.
Can you work alongside our internal IT person?
Yes. Co-managed arrangements are common, particularly for firms with one internal IT person who needs cover for leave, depth on projects, and someone to escalate to at 4pm on a Friday. We scope what we own and what stays in-house so nothing falls between the two.
Do you hold government security clearances?
No. We do not hold security clearances and we are not DISP members. We support the private sector and government-adjacent businesses. If your work requires accredited personnel inside an agency, we are not the right fit and we will say so early.
Do you support Microsoft 365?
Yes — migration, licensing, tenancy configuration, security settings and day-to-day support. Email migration is one of our established professional services.
What happens to our data if we leave?
Your data and your documentation are yours. On exit we hand over environment documentation, credentials and asset records to you or your incoming provider. Rental equipment is collected, wiped and rebuilt with a fresh operating system install before it returns to the fleet.
Do you only work with businesses that rent from you?
No. Plenty of our managed service clients own their equipment outright, including equipment they bought before they met us. Renting is an option, not a condition.
How long have you been doing this?
MicroRentals has operated since 1987 — nearly four decades supplying and supporting business IT. Our engineers hold Cisco and Microsoft certifications, and we are the official IT solutions partner of the Sydney Roosters.
If we only need equipment and not management, can you do that?
Yes. That is IT equipment rental in Townsville, which stands on its own.
Talk to us about IT support in Townsville
Tell us how many staff and sites you have and what is currently breaking. We will tell you what we would fix first.
MicroRentals · Managed IT services and equipment rental for Townsville and North Queensland
1300 790 650 · [email protected] · Monday to Friday, 8:30am – 6:00pm
Head office and warehouse: 7-9 Underwood Road, Homebush NSW 2140. Townsville on-site support by our Townsville-based technicians.
Recent Comments