North Shore City chief information officer Tony Rogers confirms it is the first time a local authority has outsourced the provision and operation of IT services, but said it was the next logical step after the council had outsourced the operation of its network in 2000.

"This sort of approach will probably take a while to filter through the sector - local government is fairly conservative, after all - but with increasing services going on line, this is the logical next step," he said.

The deal includes all back ups and disaster recovery from Revera's data centre, with just two or three staff remaining at the council offices to maintain core functions like finance and land use packages. But eventually, said Rogers, Revera will take over even those functions.

He said that outsourcing IT responsibilities had removed huge hurdles for the city. "Every few years we face huge expense and logistical issues with IT. Things like Vista - because this is a Windows environment - come along regularly.

"I can't talk numbers, but we are making significant savings over the five-year contract. My chief executive is delighted."

He said that initially only council staff and key stakeholders will notice any difference to the council's IT services. However, he said the move will free up staff from maintaining systems to increasing the city's ever-increasing online content for ratepayers.

Rogers said that the selection of the Albany-based company over nationwide competition underlined the quality of growing technology industry on North Shore City.