Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1506448
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 AUGUST 2023 8 COMMERCIAL Unveiling the core operations of the Infrastructure Services Department THE Infrastructure Services De- partment (ISD) is currently com- posed of forty-one IT profession- als, thirty-nine are split between the two main teams within the Department, namely the Net- work Engineering Service Team and the Platform Engineering Services Team. Additionally, one person is focused on coordinat- ing MITA's efforts on client-driv- en infrastructure projects, and another is dedicated solely to the Ministry for Health (MFH), as technical infrastructure lead, coordinating all related efforts between MITA and MFH. The entire workforce is highly skilled in their various roles, and they all keep upskilling through the continuous training that MI- TA provides. The average age is early 30s and all are highly moti- vated, enthusiastic, and passion- ate about IT and their role within MITA and ISD. This excitement is for good reason, as for exam- ple, these professionals have the opportunity to build, manage and maintain the largest private wide area network in Malta – this ex- posure is not possible anywhere else in Malta! Similarly, the Plat- form Engineering Services Team is responsible for building, man- aging, and maintaining the larg- est private physical and virtual (including cloud) hosting envi- ronment on the island! These are just a couple of examples of the critical yet, rewarding work car- ried out within ISD. The work mentioned above, and other similar tasks of equal scale, are carried out for MITA's sole client, the Government of Malta, including the numerous and various Government Enti- ties. The Government has long un- derstood the potential of IT and its benefits, both to its own ad- ministration as well as offering its services to the Maltese citizens. As a result, there was an in- vestment in maintaining what was already implemented, and equally important, in innovating and introducing new technology ensures that all IT professionals in MITA and ISD learn and im- plement the latest technologies within the Networking and Plat- form arenas – something which may not always be the case in many other organisations. Although ISD is composed of two distinct teams, they con- stantly work together to ensure Government's IT systems are kept up and running at all times and new projects are imple- mented in a timely and smooth manner. Nowadays, IT has lit- tle internal boundaries and the ideal IT professional must be an expert in their chosen field, be it networking, platforms, software development, service manage- ment, etc. Furthermore, a broad and good understanding of other related IT fields, is imperative to understand the whole concept of the project at hand. In fact, most projects are run in a collabora- tive fashion by creating a 'virtual' team to work on the project from start to finish, roping in the nec- essary resources along the way, as necessary. MITA understood this a while back and organised itself to facilitate this through the introduction of the Solution and Enterprise Architect roles and more importantly by en- couraging team members to go for such roles once the necessary cross-exposure and skills have been achieved. Moreover, the Department supports the Government of Malta in providing network ser- vices for national events such as the recent small nations games, Games of the Small States of Eu- rope (GSSE), and the Public Ser- vice Expo 2023. Apart from the all-important IT skills, which can be learned and enhanced along the way with the training and exposure provided, the right aptitude and attitude are also of equal importance and the ISD team members all have these attributes and mani- fest them in their own individu- al ways, which makes for a great work environment, conducive to productivity, and great comrad- ery across the department and MITA in general. The entire workforce is highly skilled in their various roles, and they all keep upskilling through the continuous training that MITA provides