First of all, it is necessary to understand what a NOC is. NOC (Network Operation Center) is the Network Operations Center, which can be one or more locations where network monitoring or management takes place. Using tools to collect data about equipment and services, the NOC is able to identify failures and quickly find ways to repair these failures.
Infrastructure monitoring is essential because it makes the maintenance and management process more dynamic, since its priority is to ensure that the network is running as efficiently as possible. Avoiding problems such as unnecessary expenses, service interruption, and slow service delivery.
To better understand how the NOC facilitates network management, let’s imagine a scenario in which an ISP is facing problems with increased demand for bandwidth, even though it has links capable of handling that demand. In this case, let’s assume that the problem stems from the fact that the network is unbalanced—that is, all traffic is trying to pass through the same link, causing that link to become a bottleneck.
With effective monitoring, this type of problem would be easily detected and corrected, preventing issues with angry customers calling to complain about service quality and even preventing the loss of some of those customers. In addition to helping identify the problem, the NOC also makes it easier to understand the issue, allowing the support team to take action more quickly.
Usually support teams know there is a problem, but most of the time they do not know where the problem is, which results in a longer time to solve the problem. If a NOC is analyzing the network, the failure can be identified even before it affects service delivery. For example, a link that is coming close to its maximum capacity, equipment that is experiencing cooling system failures, servers that are coming close to their maximum memory capacity. All of this is identified by monitoring, making the need for preventive maintenance more visible and avoiding future problems.
NOC is not simple monitoring, an efficient NOC team means care for the network and consideration for the customers that hire their services. Having a monitoring goes far beyond knowing what is happening on the net, as it enables you to expand your horizons and focus on new areas.
Do you have a NOC team to monitor your network? Here at Made4it, we have Made4NOC, our 24/7 monitoring team that has been helping numerous providers manage their networks. If you’d like more information, come talk to us—we’ll answer all your questions.
