back-up operations center for Houston. According to GCI, the centers are operational 24 hours a day to support client needs. That reliability also equates to dollars--and jobs--here in Alaska where down time at remote sites can cost more than a million dollars a day. Because GCI’s partner/customers include BP, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, the State of Alaska, the U.S. Defense Department and the U.S. Coast Guard among many others, reliability and the ability to reroute communications instantly is critical. Lives, safety, production and millions of dollars are at stake. As a whole, GCI has invested more than $2.4 billion in Alaska communications in the past 30 years, and plans to spend $555 million in Alaska over the next three years. Although a precise number for how much GCI Industrial Telecom will spend isn’t available, it is safe to say that it will be part of every new exploration, providing the nextdoor quality of communications other companies need to accomplish their exploration and drilling missions.
projects.” The members of the Industrial Telecom team take pride in themselves, their customers and contractors when that mission is accomplished. The Internet that people use every day is a physical thing, not a concept: There’s a physical world that supports what many of us see and take for granted as cable television, high-speed electronic mail and Internet service. Part of that physical world for much of the business side of Alaska includes the telecommunications infrastructure that GCI Industrial Telecom is a part of. Right now, success appears to be theirs,
as the dedicated GCI Industrial Telecom team is meeting their division’s guiding goals—its mission statement. “In our business, trust is not given— it is earned,” Johnson says. “We work hard to continue to build our team with a focus on our mission, ‘best of class’ employees, and continued safe performance. By accomplishing those goals, we earn the trust of our clients and bring value to our projects.” R Journalist Ed Arthur writes from Anchorage.
Now in your neighborhood.
Solid Safety Record
“We’re expecting a very busy year in 2013,” Johnson says, adding: “While we’re on the subject of success, we’re working hard to keep our safety record solid. For having only 100 to 120 employees, reaching more than 1.5 million accident-free hours is a very big deal. We’re proud of it. Very proud.” That sentiment is echoed by a written comment from Doig: “Safety is a critical part of our industrial business. This achievement is something we are very proud of as a team. It took a total team effort to get here, and we’re not done yet!” When a businessperson calls a partner in Barrow or makes a successful sales pitch to someone in Prudhoe Bay, it is likely that the routes and connections taken to accomplish that will probably include the work of the GCI Industrial Telecom team. The GCI Telecom mission statement sums it up: “GCI Industrial Telecom provides customer-driven and safetyfocused communication solutions for operations in the oil, gas and mining industries; leveraging proven, safe and cost-effective practices that support profitable results for our customer’s
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www.akbizmag.com • Alaska Business Monthly • February 2013
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