NBN Co outsources IT service desk

NBN Co has outsourced its basic IT service desk responsibilities to Fujitsu under a contract worth $25 million over three years.

The end user computing contract sees Fujitsu provide first-level IT helpdesk for NBN Co's internal staff over both desktop and distributed computing infrastructure.

Fujitsu will also provide an undisclosed number of iMac desktops and a managed printer fleet to the government network wholesaler.

Problems requiring Level 2 support will be escalated to NBN Co's internal service desk.

Fujitsu group executive director of managed services Tim White told iTnews that Fujitsu staff will take responsibility for these services over coming weeks from Fujitsu offices in Sydney.

Fujitsu staff will also be embedded at NBN Co's Sydney and Melbourne offices as well as regional offices as the wholesaler expands.

The number of seats Fujitsu would support over three years was a "moving target", White said, but the company had been viewing 1000 NBN Co staff as an indicative figure.

In May, NBN Co said it had 700 staff but planned to hire an additional 1,000 over the next 12 months alone.

White said Fujitsu  was focused on problem management and resolution, based on the ITIL framework that NBN Co CIO Claire Rawlins has evangelised internally.

"That may include introduction of a new practice or a new process," White said.

"If a call comes into the single point of call service desk, we manage that call through to resolution regardless of who the resolving party is. We take full accountability for those services."

NBN Co had initially awarded Data #3 with a contract to implement internal IT infrastructure including procurement, office software, networking and a hosted instance of Microsoft Exchange. The contract was designed to support 70 staff at the time of its announcement in 2009.

The new contract is the second major deal for Fujitsu, which was awarded first right to build fibre at greenfields housing estates on behalf of NBN Co.