The business technology has evolved drastically during the last two decades and it has made businesses more effective and efficient than ever before. Now, businesses are able to deal with their day to day operation in a much easier way but due to the availability of so many technologies, sometimes it becomes difficult for businesses and individuals to understand the implementation and advantages of different types of technology. Therefore, in this blog post, we are going to demystify one such technological advancement which is known as Network Operation Center.
What is a Network Operating Center?
A Network Operating Center or what is popularly known as NOC is a basically a centralized location where IT technicians support the efforts of remote monitoring and management software. The NOC teams are very much important in the IT service space and they are also a tremendous driver of service delivery for many MSPs. The NOC technicians keep an eye over the endpoints that they monitor and manage, taking individuals steps for issues and acting proactively in all the cases so that any problem doesn’t become an obstacle in the business continuity. Along with this, the NOC team is highly responsible for security, backup and disaster recovery system.
You should know that large network service providers are associated with NOC which features a virtual representation of the networks being monitored and workstations where detailed network structure are monitored. Different software systems are used to manage the networks. Network Operating Centers are also known as Network Management Center.
The Network Operating Center handles issues in a hierarchical manner so that if a problem is not solved in a particular time limit then the information is passed to higher level. This speeds up the problem solving and minimizes piling of multiple issues. Most of the Network Operating Centers have different tiers and these tiers help in defining the skills of the technician. Almost all the web hosting companies and internet service provider use Network Operating Center for dealing with communication and email management efficiently but NOC is an important part of businesses as well.
What are some of the most common NOC services?
The list of NOC services is very long and that’s why we have listed down some most common NOC services.
- Shared threat analysis
- Policy enforcement
- Network discovery and assessment
- Email management service
- Voice and video traffic management
- Antivirus scanning and remediation
- Optimization and quality of service reporting
What is the role of a NOC technician?
The NOC technician is one of the most important parts of the IT service system and they are responsible for the health of the infrastructure, its security and backup. Major decisions regarding the IT infrastructure is taken by the NO technician in order to make sure that it is not only up and running all the time but also giving optimal network performance.
When an action is taken by the MSP then the NOC technician creates a ticket and categorizes the ticket on the basis of its severity, type and criteria. Depending on the type of issue and the relation of Network Operating Center and MSP, the NOC technicians can work along with the MPS in order to solve the problem within the time frame and in the best possible way.
You should know that the issues and problems are assigned according to the level of NOC technicians that generally ranges from category 1 to 4. For example, if there is a hardware issue then it can be assigned to level 1 technician and if there is a problem that goes beyond hardware failure then it can be assigned to level 3 or level 4 technician.
Why choosing a NOC service provider is a better idea?
In many cases, businesses think that outsourcing NOC support is not a good idea but such a careless approach can prove to be disastrous for your business. It is better to choose a NOC service provider and we are going to discuss the advantages of it.
Professional service
One of the best advantages of choosing NOC service provider is that you are able to manage your IT infrastructure professionally. Most of the NOC service providers have a highly skilled team of IT experts who are well versed in managing IT infrastructure and they even act as an extended part of your company.
High security
Keeping your IT infrastructure secure is also very important and that’s why rather than experimenting with the security of your IT infrastructure, you should choose a NOC service provider and offer robust security for your IT infrastructure.
Cost-effective
In addition to professional management and advanced security, you are also able to minimize your IT spending as NOC service providers proves to be cost-effective in the long run.
If you have NOC system in your business and if you are looking forward to manage it properly then always go for NOC service provider instead of adding it your busy schedule and hampering the IT management system.
Banner Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
