Network Management

All Day, Every Day: A day in the inside a Network Operations Center

By Michael Caputo

NETW420 – Professor Bunch

It takes a certain caliber of individual to work in a network operations center – NOC – every day. The hours are far from glamorous as your start and stop time can fall anywhere in a 24-hour period. The work can be considered mundane as associates are usually strapped into their desk and headset peering at large banks of screens and monitors that are displaying network information. These associates which are affectionately labeled by some ticket jockeys by some are responsible for monitoring large panels of blinking alarms for anomalies within the network or quickly answering the next incoming call which could result in a page out to a local technician.

I was fortunate enough to spend a day at the U.S. Cellular’s Network Operations Center in Schaumburg, IL this week to provide the content for this paper. The first room up for my visit was the aptly labeled the fish tank due to the floor to ceiling glass walls that surround everyone in it.

Due to the sensitive nature of the business that is conducted within in, there’s a strict level of access needed for all those that pass through its doors. At first glance, the fish bowl could be misconstrued as any sport’s fans ideal place. In the front of the room there are 10 rows of video screens ranging from 30 to 60-nches in size. It’s unfortunate that one of the largest clusters of 60-inch screens displays nothing that exciting – that is of course you work in a NOC.

If so, the information is so critical to your job, it’s often used to at the start of your shift to judge how busy your day will be. It’s the current weather patterns for the United States along with several dozen tiny green flashing lights with varying placement on the map. Flanking the sides of the large center screens you’ll find four smaller 50-inch screen representing four regions within the United States that U.S. Cellular offers...