Do you know what NOC is? NOC is the short form for Network Operations Center. A network operations center – NOC is a central location for enterprise IT. You will be surprised to know that from monitoring to maintaining an enterprise’s services, databases, firewalls, and networks, everything is the task of a network operations center process. With the help of Network Management Center, your company can get a well, secure and uninterrupted network that will ultimately increase your business growth. That’s why businesses like healthcare and manufacturing are setting up a network operations center nowadays.

The network operations center is the store that helps you to get this goal. The rising need for reliable IT support has been a blessing for managed service providers (MSPs) in recent years, but is it that easy to serve consistently high-quality services to customers with large complex networks without support? The answer is no. That’s where the need for setting up a Network Operation Center (NOC) has risen its head.

If you want to know more about the managed network operations center, go through this network operations center ultimate guide. The NOC ultimate guide will explain the benefits of NOC, network operations center processes, why managed network operations centers are important etc.

So, without any further do, let’s get into the NOC ultimate guide.

What is NOC?

A NOC is a configuration as a single large room for remote monitoring and managing networks in the IT infrastructure. Some describe NOC as a “war room” from the movie WarGames: The Dead Code.

NOC Definition
Figure 01: Network Operations Center Definition

Businesses are in the highest competition in today’s fastest-growing technology world. So, without a fast, secure, and dependable network, your business might fall down in this competition. Suppose you want to keep ahead of the competition. In that case, you should have a network infrastructure that is fast, secure, and reliable.

So, A network operations center is a centralized management location. Besides, it monitors the complex IT networks 24×7. In the NOC process, technicians provide clockwise surveillance, maintain the networks, support them and run troubleshooting to ensure optimal performance and uptime.

In a word, NOC services keep a network healthy and consistent which includes the following:

  • Communications circuits
  • Cloud resources
  • LAN/WAN systems
  • Routers
  • Switches
  • Firewalls
  • VoIP systems
  • Application delivery.

NOC works as the first line of defense against network disruptions and failures.

What is a NOC Company?

A NOC company is the who provides a virtual network operation center to other companies that need support for a healthy network.

Suppose, you have a healthcare service. For the service, you have developed a website. You do not provide your audiences with a bad or lower user experience. For that, you need to set up a network operations center. But you may be thinking now about the cost, right?

You are right. Establishing a Network Management Center in-house may cost you huge. For reducing this cost, businesses search for companies who will help them by confirming the good health of their network at a lower cost. Yes, you got it right. NOC process is a part of BPO services. Specifically, it is a managed service.

So, a company that provides network operations centers to other companies is a NOC company. Usually, a BPO company and an MSP provide NOC services.

In my NOC ultimate guide, I will explain more about it. So, don’t go anywhere. Read the network operations center carefully and find exactly what you are looking for.

NOC vs. SOC vs. Help Desk

Sometimes people get confused about the SOC, NOC and Help desk since all three offer assistance when problems arise. To make you aware, before getting confused here in this network operations center ultimate guide, I include the basic differences between the Security Operations Center, NOC and help desk. So, read the NOC ultimate guide carefully and learn the NOC process below:

NOCSOCHelp Desk
FocusNOC focuses on network management.Focuses on network and information security.Focuses on the end-users.
WhyEnsuring a seamless experience.Assessing threats and building protections against attacks.Interacting with the end user.
ObjectivesOptimizing network infrastructure and endpoints.Protecting networks from human-driven threats.Solving the end-users problems.
ExampleNOC is an MSP process.SOC is a security information and event management (SIEM) process.The help Desk is a Call Center.
Table 01: Differences Between NOC, SOC and Help Desk

Benefits of NOC

Network Management Center Benefits
Figure 02: Benefits of Network Operations Center

From corporate enterprises to non-profit organizations, today, network management centers are used across multiple industries. Network Operations Control Center technicians work in a control room within a data center that may vary on the business size. However, there are a lot of benefits in setting up a network operations center virtually. Here I am representing these benefits for you in my NOC ultimate guide.

The benefits of managed network operations centers are:

  • Scalability
  • End-to-end solution
  • Eliminates downtime
  • Network optimization
  • Rapid incident response
  • Optimized business model
  • More efficient IT departments

Scalability

A NOC process can grow with an enterprise. It expands into new locations and markets, as well as offers the scalability needed for daily or seasonal fluctuations in traffic.

End-to-end solution

In a network operations center process, troubleshooting is a long process. Network engineers go through a series of tasks and dedicate their full attention to untie and solving problems. Small businesses who are in lack the budget and resources find an end-to-end solution through a network management center.

Eliminates downtime

The NOC process is a 24/7 process. That means there is always someone to ensure that all software, hardware, and networks are working well. So, it focuses on reducing downtime.

Network optimization

In a NOC process, there are many monitors that show real-time reports on the health of your network. Besides, they identify areas of improvement and build these improvements for a stronger network.

Rapid incident response

Network operations control centers are designed to continually monitor network systems. It identifies problems quickly and heads off issues before they become a problem. The managed network operations center is an always-on model that takes instant action.

Optimized business model

An outsourced NOC process works with technical and IT skills. It helps you in optimizing your business model. Besides, it provides a much more innovative solution to help you deliver services effectively to your customers.

More efficient IT departments

You may have your in-house IT department. But by setting up a network operations center, you can off the internal IT team, which helps your employees to focus on critical projects and new initiatives.

History of Network Operations Center

To know the network operations control center better, here I will provide you a map from the history to the future of the Network Operations Center process in my NOC ultimate guide.

The NOC process raised its head during the 1920s. First, AT&T established

regional traffic control bureaus in Chicago, Cleveland, and New York. These bureaus worked as a clearinghouse and provided information about traffic incidents to integral switching centers. In the late 1950s, these centers were closed. In the 1960s, in response to unusual situations, a single Control Center was invented in New York. The NOC process then worked to manage the relevant switching center’s switch & route in real time.

AT&T established controls to prevent the huge volume of Miami-bound calls from overwhelming switches and circuits in the Southeast in 1962. It was an advanced form of the NOC process.

Landing on lunar space in 1969 was a technological feat accomplished. There was a control center labeled Mission Control, based in Houston, for communication in that mission. Throughout the years, the center has been updated, and the modernized version is still used today.

In 1977 NOC process replaced the Network Operations Control Center process. At that time, domestic and international status boards were added to the center. It worked and updated 5 times a minute.

After this period, the management of the network became increasingly automated. Besides, NOC managers placed more importance on the “monitoring” function. They used computer systems and terminals to find relevant information on any route or switch.

Today’s NOC

After the 1980s, managed network operations center services started to work. A third party has arisen. Companies provide Network Operations Control Centers as a managed service. NOC companies provide expert-level Network Management Center monitoring to organizations that don’t have the ability to retain the necessary in-house resources. With the NOC service, small to mid-sized companies can stay on top of all network issues and enhance their productivity.

Future of NOC

Not so far, Internet of Things (IoT) will force NOC to advance. The complete volume of devices in a network will turn into skyrocket, requiring more robust monitoring tools. The increased number of IoT devices where AI will likely power most will require monitoring and further automation. The necessity of NOC technicians will increase to cope with the sudden increase of devices without being overworked.

NOC Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and Responsibilities of Managed Network Center Technicians
Figure 03: Key Responsibilities of a Network Operations Center

Till this stage of this NOC ultimate guide, you might have already assumed the roles and responsibilities of a managed network operations center. Still, I am describing these major roles and responsibilities in this NOC ultimate guide for your better understanding.

So these tasks are:

  • Disaster recovery
  • Policy enforcement
  • Shared threat analysis
  • Email management services
  • Backing up data and accessibility
  • Backup and storage management
  • Antivirus scanning and remediation
  • Patch management and whitelisting
  • Voice and video traffic management
  • Network discovery and assessments
  • Optimization and service quality reporting
  • Managing IT infrastructure and equipment
  • Monitoring firewall and network security software
  • Updating, troubleshooting, and installing software
  • Performance reporting and improvement recommendation.

In-house vs. Outsourced NOC

Difference Between In-house and Outsourced Management Center of Network
Figure 04: Difference Between In-house and Outsourced NOC

I have already explained the benefits of managed network operations service in this NOC ultimate guide. But you can ask me the difference between in-house and outsourced network management centers.

An in-house Network Management Center requires significant resources. Sometimes tech or communications companies invest in setting up a network operations center. The investment is worth it in some cases. Companies that prefer to manage their networks internally maintain a high level of control over network operations.

But companies like governmental agencies or universities have enormous resources. Usually, these organizations do not want to set up an in-house team. Moreover, it is costly too.

For a cost-effective solution, businesses hire a managed network operations center to get a healthy network without interruption, where the team will be experts in network operations. Outsource NOC work as an extension of a company’s existing teams. It works as a BPO service.

Through outsourcing a NOC company, your primary technical staff can focus on the core business functions.

Why Organizations Use NOCs

You have already understood the benefits of NOC and the difference between NOC, SOC, and the help desk or data center. Now I am willing to describe the reasons that influence companies to hire NOC in my network operations center guide.

There are many industry sectors, for example, healthcare, financial, telecommunications, manufacturing and energy etc. To know more about this, read my hire guide. These industries need constant and reliable connectivity. For 24/7/365 maintenance, network monitoring is a must for businesses, especially in these industries.

But you may agree that the network monitoring process within traditional IT services is very challenging. Whenever a network connection gets interrupted or weak in health, you must solve it before it converts to a problem, and it is a continuous process. That’s why you must deal with the potential or raised issues in your network quickly.

A network management center team works behind the scenes where the end users are unaware of the work. To provide a seamless and continuous connected experience without issues such as malware infection, prolonged downtime, or poor network functionality, organizations use Network Operations Control Center.

Roles of NOC

In a network operations control center, many people work together to improve the network system of a company.

So who are these people? In this state of the Network Operations Center ultimate guide, I will describe the roles of the managed network operations center.

For setting up a network operations center, you must hire these roles to work in the Network Operations Control Center:

  1. Team Lead
  2. Supervisor
  3. Network administration,
  4. Network Support
  5. Field Technician

Team Lead

There are many groups working in a network operations control center. In each group, there are team leads. The leader is in charge of a group and maintains the members by providing effective guidelines.

Supervisor

There is only one supervisor who controls all teams. The supervisor controls teams so that they can solve the raised or potential issues in the network system or devices.

Network Administration

A network administration works behind the scene of the NOC. NA aims to monitor, manage, maintain, and secure an organization’s network. Following the size and type of an organization, network administration tasks and procedures may vary.

Network Support

There is also a role for network support. Network support’s duty is to keep the organization’s computer network productive, running, and up-to-date. Besides confirming the good health of devices, hardware and software is the duty of network support.

Field Technician

There will always be a field technician who is responsible for solving any device issues in the NOC center. Remind that the field technician will be present physically in the NOC center but not at the hiring company’s place.

Network Operations Center Process

Network Operations Control Center Processes
Figure 05: Process of Network Operations Center

As mentioned above, the network operations control centers work with organizations to oversee complex networking environments, such as:

  • Servers
  • Databases
  • Firewalls
  • Devices
  • Related external services etc.

Here I am going to explain the NOC process in this Network Operations Center ultimate guide so that you will understand how NOC works.

A remote center works behind the scenes in a managed network operations center process. NOC technicians work as divided teams. They can be divided into three teams where each team has more or less 3 members.

A supervisor is always there to maintain and provide guidelines to these teams.

Elements of Network Operations Center Process

A network operations control center is a place from where you can control your network and ensure that all your devices connected to the network are in good health, troubleshoot and solve issues. To do that, you need some elements.

These are:

  • NOC technicians team
  • A supervisor
  • Monitors
  • Control panel
  • A field engineer

For setting up a network operations center, NOC company set up a control panel, where a room is totally designed for the work dedicatedly. There are many monitors with large display sizes that show different states of your network and devices.

In the control panel, NOC engineers teams with different levels of skills constantly monitor the health of that network.

When an issue can be found, team 1, with the lowest level, tries to solve it. But if they fail to solve it in a timely manner, the problem goes to the second team with mid-level expertise. Suppose the second team also fails to solve the issue, such as a ransomware attack or network outage. In that case, the expert team works to resolve it.

So, that is the Network Operations Center process.

I have already mentioned that NOC is a 24/7/365 service. Now you may ask how technicians provide this service on a non-stop basis.

No worries.

There is more group of teams for the service who work as shifting duty. So, whenever a group of a team leaves the management center, another group of team starts handling the tasks. That’s how NOCs provide other companies with non-stop service.

How Does NOC Work:

For your better understanding, here in this network operations center ultimate guide, I am explaining it in steps. So, these steps are:

  1. The wall is covered in video screens that display a real-time look that shows active incidents and alarms. These video displays are set up in a grid and connected to operate as one large, high-resolution unit.
  2. Physical NOC space and team sizes are dependable on the size data center.
  3. There are alerts/tickets that will first appear on the video wall. It will show technicians where an issue occurs and what device or line is affected.
  4. These video screens are also able to broadcast news and track the weather. Technicians can plan around ongoing issues through these.
  5. Individual workstations are also connected to the video wall and multiple monitors. Technicians monitor a specific technology or pain point throughout this.
  6. Since each station is also connected to a PA system, technicians can communicate with each other to share information in a timely manner.
  7. Technicians are categorized in a hierarchical approach, such as Level 1, 2 or 3. These levels will be determined based on their skill and experience in resolving specific issues.
  8. Whenever a technician discovers a problem, he will create a ticket to categorize the issue based on alert type and severity.
  9. When one level of NOC technicians fails to resolve it quickly enough, it passes to the next level. It continues to escalate until the ongoing issue is fully resolved.

How Does a NOC Team Monitor and Evaluate Performance?

I have already discussed the NOC process in the previous part of this NOC ultimate guide. Now I will explain how a network monitoring team monitors and evaluate performances in my NOC ultimate guide.

The network operations center more or less works as a managed service provider.

The teams use dashboards that provide quick and uninterrupted access to data and insights.

These dashboards include:

  • Incident Management
  • SLA Compliance
  • Post-Mortem
  • Device Performance
  • Network Performance

Whenever a team wants to utilize dashboards, it must determine the best-suit dashboard for its day-to-day operations. For doing so, NOC engineers must evaluate a dashboard’s purpose to determine if it can help a NOC team achieve its desired results.

Moreover, the team integrates dashboards into their operations and, over time, adds or subtracts dashboards as needed. In this way, a NOC team of an organization can execute the right dashboards into its operations and benefit from them now and in the future.

Network Operations Center Best Practices

There are some best practices of network management centers. Here I include these NOC best practices in this NOC ultimate guide that help your NOC teams to achieve your business goal.

These tried-and-true best practices are:

  • Monitoring information and network systems at all times
  • Establishing incident response and remediation processes
  • Setting up and utilizing escalation groups for incident alerts
  • Leveraging an incident classification system
  • Retrieving NOC performance data
  • Tracking incident response activities
  • Conducting NOC system tests
  • Creating NOC team engineer’s schedules
  • Documenting all actions in accordance with company policy
  • Collecting and reviewing performance reports

Challenges Facing Network Operations

Today’s networks and services are more complicated than previous ones. For example:

  • SaaS applications
  • Cloud-based infrastructure

Because of these complications, today, network operations staff face issues associated with a thorough understanding of the technology. In addition, maintaining streamlined communications access between all those involved is also a greater challenge for them.

Here in this Network Operations Center ultimate guide, I am including the key network operation challenges. These are:

  • Escalation to more senior staff
  • Troubleshooting is time-consuming
  • Lack of collaboration/coordination across teams
  • Correlating data across multiple devices and toolsets
  • Problem disappearance after troubleshooting information collection
  • Fast pace changes in the cloud and dynamic resource management
  • Staff work with different technologies, low-level utilities and Command Line Interfaces (CLI)

What are the Common NOC Services that a NOC Company Provides?

There are some common network management services that NOCs usually provide. Now, in the NOC ultimate guide, I represent these common NOC services in front of you:

  • PA system
  • IP surveillance
  • Disaster recovery
  • Incident response
  • Patch management
  • Policy enforcement
  • Network monitoring
  • Backup and storage
  • Firewall management
  • Intrusion prevention systems
  • Quality assurance and control
  • Troubleshooting and updating
  • Software/firmware installation
  • Collaboration with Security Operations
  • Threat analysis and blast radius analysis
  • Security tool deployment and monitoring
  • Performance, quality, and optimization reporting
  • Communications management (Email, voice, & video)

Tools and Technologies of Network Operations Center

Explaining Necessary Tools and Technologies in the NOC Ultimate Guide
Figure 06: Tools and Technologies of Network Operations Center

There are so many tools and technologies used to operate a network management center. I am going to reveal these tools and technologies in this network operations center ultimate guide for you.

These are:

  • Grid video Display
  • Workstation
  • Ticketing & Work Distribution System
  • Centralized Knowledge
  • Automation of IT Process
  • Reports for measuring incidents and improvement
  • PA System

Grid Video Display

There are many grid video displays that constantly show the network states. These work for broadcasting emergency notifications from technicians if they are in an emergency situation.

Workstation

The NOC workstation is the place where the center is placed. You should be careful while choosing the right workstation for your operators. Space is another consideration for optimizing your operations.

Ticketing & Work Distribution System

Ticketing is the process of how the tasks of NOC technicians pass from one team to another. I have already mentioned in this NOC ultimate guide that when an issue arises, it passes to team 1, but if it fails, they pass it to team 2. This process runs by the ticketing system.

Centralized Knowledge

For collecting and maintaining, there should be a centralized place for all documentation and information. Ensure that the centralized knowledge is always accessible to any team member.

IT Process Automation

IT process automation (ITPA) uses for the automated execution of repetitive and time-consuming tasks and processes of the network. Handling restarting and resetting passwords are the tasks here.

Reports for measuring incidents and improvement

In the NOC, there must be a reporting system where the technicians can keep records of measuring incidents that happened. Moreover, they should also include the improvement of the raised issues.

PA System (Public Address)

PA or public address system is used to project sounds from voices, instruments and other acoustic sources. In a NOC it works as an electronic system that comprises amplifiers, microphones, and loudspeakers.

Except these, there are some other popular software tools mostly used in the Network management center. These tools are:

  • SolarWinds
  • LogicMonitor
  • OpenNMS
  • AIOps
  • BigPanda
  • Moogsoft
  • ServiceNow
  • Jira
  • ConnectWise
  • Power BI
  • Tableau
  • Snowflake
  • AWS Redshift

Must Questions You Should Ask Your NOC Provider

If you have decided to hire a managed service for a network management center, I will guide you on how you can choose the right NOC provider for your organization.

So, in this NOC ultimate guide, I will present 16 questions that you should ask your NOC provider before hiring.

These questions are:

  1. What is the provider’s primary business? Is BPO or NOC services their main service offering?
  2. Are their NOC services U.S. based?
  3. Can they scale to support your business? Is there a minimum you must buy?
  4. Is their staff on-call or on-site?
  5. How will NOC access your network? Is there a portal to provide transparency?
  6. Is the platform flexible and customizable?
  7. How are remediation runbooks developed and maintained?
  8. Does the NOC process subcontract any coverage?
  9. What is the NOC process of alert and how does it handle outage escalations?
  10. What is their communication method with you?
  11. How quickly can they detect and solve issues? What is their SLA?
  12. Are they able to monitor both existing and new technologies?
  13. Do you need to open and manage vendor or carrier tickets? Or can the NOC handle them?
  14. How long will it take to implement an outsourced solution?
  15. Is the outsourced NOC pricing fixed, or will it vary with usage?
  16. Can you see a demo of their Internet portal?

What to Look for in a Managed NOC Services Provider

I have already explained the benefits and challenges of outsourcing a managed network operations center. So, if you are ready to hire a Network Operations Control Center service provider, you must look at the followings:

Explaining Cosiderable Things Before Hiring a Provider in the NOC Ultimate Guide
Figure 07: Things to Look in a NOC Service Provider

Monitoring Ability

First, you should consider whether the provider has the ability to monitor a complex network environment. Whether they have a

modern virtual data center infrastructure and cloud-based environments.

Furthermore, be careful about the legacy equipment and current operations.

Execute Synthetic Transactions Ability

You can test the readiness and operability of your system by synthetic transactions. Does your NOC provider provide you with the service? These transaction capabilities are considered outside the scope of commercial monitoring software platforms.

Alerts Flexibility

How do you get the alerts when any issues appear? Does your Network Operations Control Center provider offer you alerting options that include a variety of means? It is necessary because each specific alert should be for that specific team.

Flexibility in When the NOC Alerts You

Make your network management center partner able to adapt your internal business hours, holidays and on-call schedules. Do they support notification delays built around time-based or duration-based thresholds?

Runbook-based Remediation

As mentioned above, monitoring and detection are the main objectives of a Network Management center. So, to keep your network alive, find a NOC partner who can track records of troubleshooting and fixing outages and impairments.

24×7 Call Support

NOC services are 24×7 service. If you need 24×7 Customer Support, you have to look for a NOC partner who has a dedicated team and is able to field your calls 24 hours a day.

Attention to Continuous Improvement

If you believe in the continuous growth of your business, you have to find the same one. So, find a NOC partner who is able to improve their monitoring by learning more about your business.

Skills for being a NOC Technician

If you want to become a network operations center technician, you must acquire some skills in it. You should choose your niche and try to master these skills of a Network Operations Control Center.

So what are these skills?

In this NOC ultimate guide, you will understand the skills of a NOC through the followings:

Sometimes it doesn’t seem necessary that you have a graduation degree in a particular subject to be a NOC engineer. But there are certifications that can be a powerful tool to show your employers that you know the necessary stuff.

Here I will attach the seven most common network operations control center engineer certifications that will help you increase your skills and overall value.

These are:

  • CCNP Service Provider Operations (CCNP)
  • Network 5 Certification
  • Cisco Certified Network Associate Security (CCNA)
  • CCNA Routing and Switching Certification (CCNA RS)
  • Security 5 Certification
  • CCIE Routing & Switching (CCIE)
  • Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT)

Salary of a NOC Technician in the USA

After reading the whole NOC ultimate guide, you may wonder about the salary of a managed network operations center technician.

Reference of a Salary of a Network operations Technician
Figure 08: Reference of a Network Operations Center Technician’s Salary

So how much does a network operations control center technician make in the United States? The research found on November 23, 2022, the range of a technician’s salary typically falls between $54,790 (Fifty-Four Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety USD) and $72,390 (Seventy-Two Thousand, Three Hundred and Ninety USD). The average salary is $62,790 (Sixty-Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety USD).

I have already mentioned that the cost of hiring a NOC company or technician or manager can vary depending on the experience, additional skills, education and certifications. 

Conclusion

The importance of network management center is increasing daily. Not only for security but also for keeping better health of the complicated networks, organizations are contracting with NOC service providers. In conclusion of this NOC ultimate guide, I want to suggest that the network is the life of your database system as well as your whole system. Hiring a NOC provider may look costly, apparently, but it will help increase your business growth by keeping your networks alive. If you have any opinion on this network operations center ultimate guide, you can provide your opinion in the comment section.

Network Operations Center FAQs

People frequently ask some questions about NOC. Read the FAQs about the network operations center process below:

What does a Network Operations Center Do?

A network operations center (NOC) is a 24/7 service center where computer, satellite or telecommunications network systems are monitored and managed. You can call it the first line of defense against any network disruptions or failures.

What is the Purpose of a NOC?

The main purpose of the network operations center process is to supervise, monitor and maintain a telecommunications network. It can be done in-house or with a third-party vendor.

What is the Difference Between SOC and NOC?

The NOC is responsible for maintaining corporate infrastructure and making it capable of sustaining business operations, but the SOC is responsible for protecting your organization from any kind of cyber threats.

What does a Network Management Engineer Do?

NOC engineers’ and technicians’ tasks are monitoring and maintaining IT infrastructure, ensuring the health, security, and capacity of a network. This a high demand knowledge intensive task. Ensuring an interrupted network system for business growth is their main focus. So, managing you network operation center might require hiring highly skilled engineers from an offshore knowledge process outsourcing company.

Is NOC Engineering a Good Job?

If you want to start a career as a network management center engineer, do not hesitate. It can be a good career for you if you have enough knowledge and you prefer to work in small groups to large teams and have soft skills.

Is a NOC a Call Center?

NOC offers back-end maintenance and support. It responds to issues when they arise or before the end-users are aware of the issue. But a call center is a help desk that directly contacts the end-users who have problems with the service.

Who Needs a NOC?

Before, the Government and educational services used network operations control centers. But now, all kinds of industries use network management centers for the betterment of their network center.

What are the Services of a NOC?

The NOC provides monitoring services to detect and correct infrastructure incidents. Those services include monitoring the health and availability of your: Networks. Routers and Switches.

This page was last edited on 27 February 2024, at 3:33 pm