Wakebourne long-distance remedy - site study

IT services company Wakebourne, a Compaq systems service provider, manages a complete support and help desk service for Australian energy conglomerate BHP Petroleum's oil exploration platforms in Liverpool Bay.

The service is part of a complete package of IT network services. 'We wanted to minimise the number of IT staff, and asked ourselves how low we could go. We decided to aim for zero,' says Mike Jackman, BHP's IT manager.

BHP's rigs are linked to the shore via line-of-sight microwave communications, then to the outsourcer's network control centre near Heathrow. Wakebourne's support staff are able to control the PCs on the rigs remotely, to the point where they can actually move the user's mouse.

Wakebourne also provides help desk support to the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development with a guaranteed 30 second response time.

The bank, which wanted all its IT support needs met by a single supplier, took the help desk service as part of a package of remote network monitoring and system support services from Wakebourne.