NOC or network operations center is a centralized location where IT teams can monitor the performance and health of a network. NOC services are the first line of defense against network disruptions and failures. The NOC monitoring services oversee infrastructure and equipment from (wiring, wireless systems, servers, databases, telecommunication, dashboards, firewalls, and even Io devices and smartphones). Outsourced NOC services monitor customer support calls, help with desk ticketing, and integration of customers’ network tools. In short, they play a crucial part in ensuring a good customer experience. The staff here are responsible for spotting issues and coming up with quick solutions.
To put it simply, the purpose of NOC services is to maintain optimal performance and network availability. Some critical activities include:
In today’s organizations, network management and performance monitoring have become increasingly complex, and require a vast number of employees, a lot of devices, and offices that span the globe to manage and monitor. The potential for problems can come from anywhere, right from the volume of users, website traffic, and malware which can impact performance, wreak havoc on productivity, and your ability to meet the customers’ needs. With all this in mind, NOC monitoring services are specially designed to prevent downtime, so that customers and other users don’t realize when incidents or outages occur.
A NOC is focused on network performance and availability, while a SOC (security operations center) deals with monitoring, detecting, and analyzing the security health of an organization 24/7. Outsourced NOC services search for issues in network speed and availability, while SOC is focussed on protecting intellectual property and customer data, they are almost always responding to outside threats targeting the network.
With the difference in skill and knowledge, the approaches of both these professionals are also different. One prioritizes the ins and outs of networks and applications while the other focuses on security. This being said, NOCs and SOCs collaborate on major incidents and resolve crises during an emergency, allowing them to adopt better tools to share and monitor information.
The network operations center is one of the most crucial teams in IT and they have both internal and external customers relying on their services. It’s important to have a NOC that is capable of preventing catastrophic outages and maximizing the uptime as well as the staff who are properly trained, and well-equipped with the best tools and automation.