A CUTTING-EDGE facility that protects the data of major retailers like Woolworths and one of the big-four banks has set up camp in Lake Macquarie.
Global tech giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) opened its IT Operations Centre at Charlestown on Tuesday, ready to provide "mission-critical" services to more than 25 banks, telcos, health companies and government departments across Australia and New Zealand.
The company, which started in Newcastle about two decades ago with about 10 staff, now has 50 on the books with room to grow.
HPE Australia New Zealand director Patrick Matthews said the centre logs more than 1600 IT-related incidents each day, the vast majority of which are identified and fixed before companies even know there's a potential issue.
"Security is always an important aspect of anyone's outsourcing, we're also launching our Security Operations Centre here where we'll provide 24/7 monitoring around the clock for our customers," he said.
"The centre is the first of its type for HPE globally.
"Since the original centre opened in Kotara, we've opened another 10 facilities around the world based off the processes and procedures done here."
The centre is fitted out with hardened, secure rooms where passcodes are required and mobiles are banned to handle IT operations for clients where data security is paramount.
Westpac, Bank of New Zealand, University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology are among the big-name customers of the Lake Macquarie base, Mr Matthews said.
"Having an ITOC facility in a regional centre, just a few hours from our headquarters, increased the talent pool and offered city employees the opportunity to move to a regional centre," he said.
"It creates employment opportunities and provides important technical support to our customers."
The city's economy has benefited from tree-changers looking for a better work-life balance, Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser said.
"This will just be one of many," she said.
"Once the word gets out that HPE has relocated to Charlestown you will see other companies looking at the amazing skills in this region and relocating as well."
The centre is the first of its kind for HPE, having opened 10 facilities around the world based off the local model.
Cr Fraser said the centre was a perfect example of the kind of innovative, forward-thinking businesses the city has been working hard to attract in an effort to diversify the economy.
"Our location, our infrastructure and our quality of life, as well as a move since COVID away from big-city office culture, all make us a very credible and attractive alternative for companies thinking about expanding or relocating," she said.
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