  We present extensive radio and X-ray observations of SN\, 2012au, the
energetic radio luminous supernova of type Ib that may be a link between
subsets of hydrogen-poor superluminous and normal core-collapse supernovae. The
observations closely follow models of synchrotron emission from shock heated
circum-burst medium that has a wind density profile ($\rho \propto r^{-2}$). We
infer a sub-relativistic velocity for the shock wave $v \approx 0.2\,c$ and a
radius of $r \approx 1.4 \times 10^{16} \rm cm$ at 25 days after the estimated
date of explosion. For a constant wind velocity of 1000 km/s we determine the
constant mass loss rate of the progenitor to be $\dot{M} = 3.6 \times 10^{-6}
\rm M_{\odot} yr^{-1}$, consistent with the estimates from X-ray observations.
We estimate the total internal energy of the radio emitting material to be $E
\approx 10^{47} \rm erg$, which is intermediate to SN\,1998bw and SN\,2002ap.
Evolution of the radio light curves of SN\,2012au is consistent with
interaction with a smoothly distributed circum-burst medium and absence of
stellar shells ejected from previous outbursts out to $r \approx 10^{17} \rm
cm$ from the supernova site. Based on this we conclude that the evolution of
the SN\,2012au progenitor star was relatively quiet during the final years
preceding explosion. We find that the bright radio emission from SN2012au was
not dissimilar from other core collapse supernovae despite it's extraordinary
optical properties. We speculate that it was the nature of the explosion that
led to the unusual demise of the SN2012au progenitor star.
