The client
Headquartered in London, HSBC is one of the largest banking and financial services organisations in the world. Its international network comprises around 9,500 offices in 85 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

Linked by advanced technology, including a rapidly growing e-commerce capability, HSBC provides a comprehensive range of financial services: personal financial services; commercial banking; corporate, investment banking and markets; private banking; and other activities to over 100 million customers worldwide.

The challenge
HSBC’s 44 storey worldwide headquarters building in 8 Canada Square, London, is the highest density single office building in Europe. It covers 1.2 million sq ft and provides a working environment for 8,500 people.

In 2007, the scale of the bank’s network infrastructure and its management requirements were outgrowing the version of the iTRACS Intelligent Infrastructure Management installed throughout the building. An assessment by Redstone Converged Solutions recommended an upgrade to version 9 which would significantly improve the housekeeping capabilities available to HSBC’s in-house iMAC team (Installation, Moves & Changes). “

The upgrade to iTRACS version 9 has made a great deal of difference to many of our daily activities,” said Paul Deller, Manager of the iMAC team. “We have lots of information on port and desk locations now and enhancing our housekeeping has been a massive boost to us. Months after the upgrade, we’re still finding new ways for iTRACS to extend our operations and improve efficiency.”

The solution
One of the main recommendations made by Redstone Converged Solutions in January 2008 was to carry out a comprehensive survey of all existing and new desk locations in Canada Square. Gathering information on IT and communications connectivity, power requirements, desk equipment and telephone handset/extension number for every desk created an invaluable database which has extended the capabilities of the iMAC team considerably.

This team of 12 people is tasked with the management of up to 250 changes in desk location every week – equivalent to a complete floor of the building. Moves are planned during the week and carried out over weekends. End-users expect to arrive at their new desk location on Monday morning and be able to continue their work without interruption.

Individual desk information is critical to the success of this function. For example, some end-users use voice recording software. iTRACS flags the voice recording circuit to ensure it moves with the end-user. HSBC uses a Delmatics system throughout the building to operate a lights-out policy from 7pm. By linking the location of the lighting held in the Delmatics database with the desk location information held by iTRACS, end-users can operate the lights above their own desk after 7pm via their telephone handset.

The iMAC team is part of a wider IT Operations & Delivery team which also includes a Desktop team (end-user IT support and maintenance) and the Networks team (voice and data cabling and management). Using iLOCATE, the iMAC team can query an end-user’s PC remotely to ascertain whether there is a patching problem – and save a journey of up to 20 minutes to the user’s desk. Having established connectivity, the iMAC team can pass queries needing further assistance to the Desktop team who also use iLOCATE for remote support.

In fact, both the Desktop and Network teams and other departments at HSBC have been able to take advantage of iTRACS’ capabilities and the desk information database. Working from a single, perpetually updated database has streamlined day-to-day activities in all these functions; the iTRACS system has become the cornerstone of HSBC’s infrastructure management at Canada Square.

Additional capacity planning capabilities within iTRACS have enabled the iMAC team to make significant cost savings too. Working with the Networks team, ports which have been inactive for three months can be identified, unpatched and reused. A 24 port network card costs in the region of £2,500.

The outcome
The upgrade to iTRACS version 9 at HSBC’s worldwide headquarters has significantly extended the network infrastructure management capabilities of the entire IT Operations & Delivery team.

The 250 weekly desk moves are easier to plan and manage using the iTRACS desk information database. Remote support capabilities have dramatically improved the turnaround time of support calls and maintenance activities can be handled remotely too.

The iMAC team has two fully qualified iTRACS Administrators, one working live and one available as backup. They perpetually update the database, oversee and report on weekly moves, manage alarms and events, and play a key role in the team. By taking advantage of the full functionality of iTRACS, the iMAC team has been able to reassign two support engineers into other roles.