Having been run out of town on the back of a two-year non-compete agreement with industry big-wig McAfee, Miller built his own dream property on an old logger's camp, 1400 acres in all, complete with rock wallabies, kangaroos and an echidna called Russell. But when his time was up, he came back to reality and the world of IT security.
-I always knew I was going to get back into IT security," said Miller, now managing director of security and communications e-distributor Janteknology. -I can't think of any other industry I'd like to be in. It's in the blood...and there's also money to be made," he laughs.
In 1995 Miller had a hand in building the McAfee name in Australia. The anti-virus vendor's local, independent agent, Miller's team set up the first anti-virus emergency response team in Australia, becoming part of McAfee's 24x7 worldwide support. -That was a pretty big feather in our cap because we were not a McAfee entity we were an independent entity," Miller said.
By 1997, after building the Australian business 600 percent, Miller sold it back to McAfee, and used his two year banishment to build his bush retreat.
Your typical Aussie mongrel, Melbourne-born Miller -escaped" to the Navy at the age of 17 and after a seven-year stint escaped back out again, only to wind up in sales and marketing.
It was the early 1970s and Miller's first job on dry land was peddling watches for a Paddington based distributor. In a similar vien he then took up a commission-only role in advertising sales.
-Then a job as a physical distribution manager came up for this little obscure company that I'd never heard of, and few people had, called Wang Computer," Miller said. Located on the first floor of a tiny, rundown building in Artarmon, Wang was just a 500lb baby gorilla, according to Miller, and nowhere near the powerhouse that it subsequently became.
-That's how I started in the industry basically," Miller said.
From Wang, number one in the market at the time, Miller was recruited as regional manager for Lanier Business Systems - number three in the market - where he stayed for about four years.
Being a corporate salesman in those days was a licence to print money, Miller says. -Long lunches were the way business was done. I can remember lunches starting at midday and finishing at three in the morning. And everyone was making money," he said.
Then along came PCs, and that changed the landscape completely.
Miller began a 12-month spree as market development manager at Sperry -- which was in the mainframe and mini business.
"That's when I got turned onto PCs I suppose, in terms of seeing the potential and where the market was going ... and that wasn't by any typical powers of clairvoyance, it was just bloody obvious...the price, the capability, the power, it had to be a goer."
However, at Sperry, things panned out pretty much as Miller expected them to. -I upset a lot of people," he said, admitting that his experience of the -big company syndrome" wasn't a good fit.
Soon after Miller chalked up some time at the third largest software company in the world, Ashton-Tate -- whose size at the time came in just behind Microsoft and Lotus.
-I've always had a weakness for software," Miller admits, but says his life at the time was nothing more than aeroplanes, taxi cabs and hotel rooms. -An average month for me would be three weeks on the road and one week at home so I made the decision to get out of the corporate world and not be a corporate soldier anymore.
This is when Miller set up his own business, The Paradigm Agency, to handle market development for second-tier software vendors.
-I enjoyed the independence and freedom of it all," he says. Soon after he became a McAfee agent, and the rest, as they say, is history.
On getting back into the industry, Miller looked at Janteknology - a systems integrator at the time - through his -security glasses" and helped the company take its 100 percent electronic security distribution package to market in July 2001. However, Miller believes the IT security market is changing.
"I certainly believe we're reaching the end of the current security paradigm, he says. -I don't know what the new paradigm is but what I do know is I want to be there to claim it."
But he admits it's a tough environment - not unlike that of the country retreat to which he ventures back twice a month...although according to Miller: -the toughest part of going down to the country is always the coming back".
HEY!! What the hell is a bob-cart???
Don't you mean a Bob Cat - you know - a brand of small multi-purpose tractor !!!
This journalist obviously doesn't check her facts - just like the other million journos.