A NOC facility, also known as a Network Operations Center (NOC), is a location where IT technicians manage and monitor networks and servers 24/7 to support operational workflows and meet companies’ infrastructure requirements. High-tech NOCs employ skilled network engineers to ensure the delivery of uninterrupted service for clients and their customers. For almost every successful digital business today, a trusted partner is running and managing the network behind the scenes from NOC facility. A popular NOC model utilized today is NOC-as-a-Service. Cloud experts or managed service providers offer NOC-as-a-Service to those companies that want comprehensive network monitoring and management services without hiring an in-house bench of full-time network managers and IT security analysts. NOC services might include monitoring and maintaining network devices, enterprise servers, and databases and applications that are hosted in a public or private cloud, or on-prem.

Depending on the size and scope of the company requirements, businesses can choose from Tier-1 or Tier-2 support, just night and weekend support to complement internal staff, disaster recovery services, and more. Regarding ROI, most find at least a 30% cost savings compared to managing network services internally as well as improved uptime and availability, thanks to centralized control of operations and strict Service-level Agreements (SLAs). Let’s take a closer look at some of the other primary benefits of a highly-effective NOC like Vigilance:

1. Pinpointing and diagnosing slow or failing network components – Superior network visibility, predictive insights and early detection are vital in finding issues in devices and applications that can later cause costly outages or downtime. The first line of defense in a NOC is usually the help desk or event management console, which can provide performance monitoring deploys resources and quickly resolves incidents. This ‘central control panel’ allows NOC’s to receive, acknowledge and process events — alerts, calls, emails, etc. — within proper SLA windows. Network, server, and application monitoring services provide metrics for performance, allowing for NOC engineers to react quickly and troubleshoot slow or failing network components.
2. Network optimization and fiber monitoring – NOC-as-a-Service solutions should deliver advanced network monitoring that can see within individual packets to understand the source of network traffic. With this added layer of visibility, network managers can get to the root of what is causing any network latency issues, as well as find the source of slowed application performance or possible network security issues. Advanced services like fiber monitoring offer fast detection of fiber plant issues vs. equipment failures, which help to shorten repair cycle times. NOC services such as fiber degradation detection allow engineers to initiate action before services are affected, meaning customers receive higher service availability overall.
3. Around-the-clock security – NOC security analysts should provide 24/7/365 network monitoring to detect, disrupt and neutralize cyber-attacks that may be lurking in the network, applications, servers, and devices. Talk to NOC providers about their ability to scan new devices that are added to the network, evaluate open ports and can spot abnormal behaviors. The right NOC partner can help mitigate security risks and shrink downtime with efficient escalation processes and direct network issue management.

Those evaluating NOC-as-a-Service should look for providers that deliver maximum visibility into data and networks and offer advanced event detection capabilities as well as efficient workflow management, network surveillance, event notification, and incident management. Talk to Netrio today about our premium NOC-as-a-service options that can reduce network costs and give your business a competitive edge. Focus on innovation and growth, not managing your network infrastructure. Contact us to today to learn about Netrio’s NOC of the future!