Ramstein opens new facility, provides IT support

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amanda Dick
  • Ramstein Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Air Combat Command's 690th Network Systems Squadron Detachment 1 recently celebrated the grand opening of the Ramstein Enterprise Information Technology Service Desk here with a ribbon cutting ceremony May 29.

"This ESD facility opening is a very special event for Air Force network operations," said Lt. Col. Rob Rood, 690th NSS commander, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. "This facility allows Detachment 1 to expand its mission from supporting 40,000 customers here in U.S. Air Forces in Europe to 750,000 users worldwide, supporting the global IT mission."

Headquartered at Lackland AFB, the new squadron was started as an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century initiative which consolidated base network control centers across the Air Force into four ESDs located at Ramstein Air Base; Lackland AFB; Hickam AFB, Hawaii; and Gunter AFB, Ala.

"On Oct. 1, 2008, the Air Force's first enterprise service desk, formerly known as the USAFE consolidated help desk, transitioned to the 690th NSS," Colonel Rood said. "It involved consolidating 26 IT support desks into six communication focal points at the main operating bases in USAFE."

Users no longer contact their client support administrators, the ESD will be the first stop when Team Ramstein has IT issues.

"Users will dial a centralized number out here in USAFE," said Master Sgt. Timothy Caprarotta, Ramstein ESD administration section chief. "They'll be routed to our technician here where we provide Tier 1 support. The user can send an email or call to get a technician to work with them and resolve the problem. We resolve the majority of our issues that way."

"If the technician can't resolve the problem, he'll pass it to a Tier 1 Level 2 technician who will work on the issue," Master Sergeant Caprarotta added. "By that time, we will know if we can resolve it here or if the problem requires touch maintenance. Between the two levels, we resolve 80 percent of the issues internally."

If the ESD is unable to resolve the issue, they will create a trouble ticket and pass the issue down to the communication focal point here.

"The problems we can't resolve, we then route to the base CFPs and they send out a client support team to provide touch maintenance," the section chief said.

The Ramstein ESD consists of 65 technicians, serving 42,000 customers and resolving about 13,000 requests monthly across USAFE.
Now that the facility is completed, the Ramstein ESD works with the Lackland AFB ESD to cover both USAFE and Continental United States users.

"We are at the point now where we can pass calls between each other. So, we can take calls from the stateside now and they can take calls from USAFE," the master sergeant said. "When a customer calls us, the first available technician will answer to provide the fastest level of service we can."

Once all four ESDs are online, the Ramstein ESD will help provide service to 750,000 users worldwide and will consist of 622 military and civilian technicians.

For IT support, contact the Ramstein ESD at DSN 478-HELP.