Network Operations Center

A network operations center (or NOC, pronounced "nok," is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or Telecommunications networks,

PSTN, ISDN, PLMN 2G, 2G/3G etc.

One NOC or more than one NOC

Large organizations may operate more than one NOC, either to manage different networks or to provide geographic redundancy in the event of one site being unavailable or offline.

Responsibility of NOCs NOCs are responsible for monitoring the telecom network for alarms or certain conditions that may require special attention to avoid impact on the network's performance. For example, in a telecom environment, NOCs are responsible for monitoring for Power failures, Communication line alarms (such as BER, FER, CER, line coding errors, and circuits down) and other performance issues that may affect the network.

Responsibility of NOCs

NOCs analyse problems, perform troubleshooting, communicate with site ENGINEERS and other NOCs, and track problems through resolution. If necessary, NOCs escalate problems to the appropriate personnel. For severe conditions that are impossible to anticipate such as a power failure or optical fiber cable cut NOCs have to immediately contact ENGINEERS to remedy the problem.

NOC ENGINEERS NOCs are frequently laid out with several rows of desks, all facing a video wall, which typically shows details of highly significant alarms, ongoing incidents and general network performance; a corner of the wall is sometimes used for showing a news or weather TV channel, as this can keep the NOC ENGINEERS aware of current events which may have an impact on the network.

NOC OPERATIONAL (24*7*365)

NOC staff may perform extra duties; a network with equipment in public areas (such as a mobile network BTS) may be required to have a telephone number attached to the equipment for emergencies; as the NOC may be the only continuously (24*7*365) staffed part of the business, these calls will be answered there.

Tier 1 tier 4 NOC engineer NOCs often escalate issues in a hierarchic manner, so if an issue is not resolved in a specific time frame, the next level is informed to speed up problem remediation. Many NOCs have multiple "tiers", which define how experienced/skilled a NOC engineer is. A newly-hired NOC engineer might be considered a "tier 1", whereas others may be of level "tier 3" or "tier 4". As such, some problems are escalated within a NOC before a site engineer or other network engineer is contacted.

Overview of a typical NOC. Lot of monitors (front), backbone overview (back) and news broadcast on TV-set (right)

A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use CS or PS. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections can be routed to the correct recipients.

Example of how nodes may be interconnected with links to form a telecommunications network

Five basic components of telecom n/w

All telecom networks are made up of five basic components. They include terminals, telecom processors, telecom channels, computers, and telecom control software. Early networks were built without computers, but late in the 20th century their switching centers were computerized or the networks replaced with computer networks.

OSS - Operation and Support System

Operation and Support System The operations and maintenance center (OMC) is connected to all equipment in the switching system and to the BSC. The implementation of OMC is called the operation and support system (OSS). The OSS is the functional entity from which the network operator monitors and controls the system. The purpose of OSS is to offer the customer cost-effective support for centralized, regional, and local operational and maintenance activities that are required for a GSM network. An important function of OSS is to provide a network overview and support the maintenance activities of different operation and maintenance organizations.

GSM N/W AREAS

LAs

MSC/VLR Service Areas

PLMN Network Areas