NMS NOC for Telco - What do they do?

Zomboidicus

Hello, all!

I was contacted by a recruiter a week or two ago about a Network Management Services NOC technician position for a national Telco. My initial reaction was "...what is NMS NOC?" I'm familar with the traditional NOC, even though I never worked as one just yet. The recruiter established that they do have a NOC department at this company, and could not tell me the major difference between NOC and NMS NOC. Recruiter essentially told me to find out during the interview, but I didn't think this is a way to approach interviews.

So I tried to do a little researching, and this is one description I came across on the interwebz.

"A Network Management System (NMS) is a combination of hardware and software used to monitor and administer a network. Communicate with NOC recover the Alarm.

NMS --> NOC--> Field Engineers = Solved the problem"

Description for NOC just in case:

"NOCs are responsible for monitoring the network for alarms like as power fail, Service affected alarm (site down,LAPD OML fault, TRX close HPA alarm etc)& communicate its field engineer to solved the problem. if need any support for software base they provide to recover the problem."



Does anybody have experience working as NMS NOC in telcos? Or at least has worked in Telco long enough to decipher what the responsibilities might entail? I realize department names may differ from company to company, but I just want even the slightest idea as to what they do. The description of the job only told me I'd be responsible for opening, tracking, and closing tickets to ensure customer satisfaction, taking calls and re-directing them to appropriate department, and updating customer with the status of their repair. It sounds like a call center to me, but even less involvement with actual network troubleshooting then NOC.

Luie

Not sure how much this will help, but it sounds a lot like our surveillance departments (I work for a large US service provider). We have two groups that do a little bit different work, but for the most part they do little to no troubleshooting.

Customer surveillance monitors customer premise equipment - if an alarm comes in, they open a ticket to the group that works that circuit and notifies the customer.

Network surveillance monitors our internal equipment, including backbone equipment and any devices that aren't physically located at a customer premise. Again, see an alarm and open a ticket to the group that manages the device.

Both groups have their value, although our specific implementation of the concepts is horrible for both. They do very very little troubleshooting, and in many cases do not have access to even verify alarms.

Probably would be a good way to get into a company, but of course the chances of moving up from a position like this depends a lot on the company. PM if you want a little more info on our teams. Good luck.

ltj8765

Not to sound "trite," but basically Network Management Services is nothing more then what the three words say In other words, it is the department that provides services for managing the network(s). This is in all likeliness a non-technical high level term that is given to this particular department / organization within the company that deals with their IT/Network support. I have dealt with this term before and what I have seen is that under this organizational title, you will see smaller groups/teams tasked with the different levels of tier support, network surveillance., helpdesk, etc.

Based on what you mention, it sounds like you will be working in the NOC as a NOC Technician. The NOC is a sub-group of the Network Management Services Department.

reloaded

In my experience, NMS is really about managing network devices, ensuring baseline compliance (both configuration and security), and keeping alarm systems up and operational. I'd also lump in AAA and SNMP services as well. It's a different world than a typical NOC, where you get trouble tickets and fix network issues.

ltj8765

reloaded wrote: »

In my experience, NMS is really about managing network devices, ensuring baseline compliance (both configuration and security), and keeping alarm systems up and operational. I'd also lump in AAA and SNMP services as well. It's a different world than a typical NOC, where you get trouble tickets and fix network issues.

Agreed, it is really about everything involved in managing the network. The issue I see here is that the 3 letters NMS traditionally refers to the systems in place to manage a network whereby network management services is much more broad.

Zomboidicus

Luie wrote: »

Not sure how much this will help, but it sounds a lot like our surveillance departments (I work for a large US service provider). We have two groups that do a little bit different work, but for the most part they do little to no troubleshooting.

Customer surveillance monitors customer premise equipment - if an alarm comes in, they open a ticket to the group that works that circuit and notifies the customer.

Network surveillance monitors our internal equipment, including backbone equipment and any devices that aren't physically located at a customer premise. Again, see an alarm and open a ticket to the group that manages the device.

Both groups have their value, although our specific implementation of the concepts is horrible for both. They do very very little troubleshooting, and in many cases do not have access to even verify alarms.

Probably would be a good way to get into a company, but of course the chances of moving up from a position like this depends a lot on the company. PM if you want a little more info on our teams. Good luck.

Yes, they devide their NOC team to IPNOC and NMSNOC. Job description for IPNOC was that I'd be troubleshooting L1 ~ L3 problems, using CLI to look at routing protocols, NAT, PPP issues and what not. I figured the different departments would handle different kind of customers, but the recruiter couldn't tell me that. I'd take the job if it'll eventually lead to better networking positions, such as higher tier in NOC. Thank you for the offer, I'll definitely follow-up on the PM!

ltj8765 wrote: »

Not to sound "trite," but basically Network Management Services is nothing more then what the three words say In other words, it is the department that provides services for managing the network(s). This is in all likeliness a non-technical high level term that is given to this particular department / organization within the company that deals with their IT/Network support. I have dealt with this term before and what I have seen is that under this organizational title, you will see smaller groups/teams tasked with the different levels of tier support, network surveillance., helpdesk, etc.

Based on what you mention, it sounds like you will be working in the NOC as a NOC Technician. The NOC is a sub-group of the Network Management Services Department.

I'm essentially in a helpdesk role, so I'd be disappointed to find out that it is another helpdesk position. Not sure if the title of NOC alone will help me advance in the networking career. I'd only consider moving 2 hours away if it would actually help me.

I was initially reluctant to post the job descriptions because I'm not sure if it is a good practice, but I guess it can't hurt. Perhaps it may clarify why I'm concerned that it sounds like a helpdesk. Here is the description for the IPNOC.

• [FONT=&amp]Detailed understanding of the OSI networking model physical, data link, and network layers[/FONT] §[FONT=&amp]A proven track record troubleshooting technical issues [/FONT]
  
• [FONT=&amp]An understanding of routing protocols and principals [/FONT]
• [FONT=&amp]Knowledge of firewall rules and NAT policies[/FONT]
• [FONT=&amp]Experience with Cisco command line interface. Other router CLI experiences a plus. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&amp]Understanding of DNS & email troubleshooting[/FONT]
• [FONT=&amp]Manage and correlate multiple trouble reports. Communicate with customers and others in a repair situation[/FONT]

And here is the job description for the NMSNOC, which is the position I'll be interviewing for.

• Analyze, sectionalize, isolate, and resolve trouble situations. Manage and correlate multiple trouble reports. Communicate with customers and other in a repair situation.
• The Operations Technician position is responsible for taking customer calls and opening repair tickets, monitoring the proactive tickets for customer circuits, providing technical support to customers, and giving customers the status of their repairs.
• Technicians use the ticket system to update ticket logs, notify customers of updates and keep customer contact information current.
• There may be testing of communications circuits and equipment and logging of test results in the ticket system.
• Initiate internal escalations, as necessary.
• Provide assistance to peers and participate in ongoing repair process improvement activities
• Place proactive outgoing status calls to customers
• Provide follow up and closure of assigned trouble tickets
• Train technicians and participate in ongoing repair process improvement activities.

General Work Competencies / Abilities:

• Practicing excellent customer service
• Demonstrating proficiency with trouble ticketing application and other internal tools
• Ability to work in a fast-paced operational environment
• Ability to answer customer calls and work issues via trouble ticket proficiently and independently
  
• Create trouble ticket which summarizes customer reported trouble
• Able to recognize issues/defects that will impact the NMS implementation and monitoring
  
• Make recommendations based on customer expectations
• Answer inbound calls and/or redirect calls to proper *Omitted* organization if required
  
• Create trouble ticket which summarizes customer reported trouble
• Provide proactive customer updates on progression of repair.
• Initiate internal escalations on customer’s behalf and provide follow up
• Effectively manages customer expectations (status and clear description of activities)
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Ability to manage multiple tasks on time, including ticket administration, communications, and follow up activities
• Ability to learn in an ‘on-the-job’ training environment
• Ability to work all shifts in a 7x24x365 environment

The post got long and messy, I apologize.

Zomboidicus

reloaded wrote: »

In my experience, NMS is really about managing network devices, ensuring baseline compliance (both configuration and security), and keeping alarm systems up and operational. I'd also lump in AAA and SNMP services as well. It's a different world than a typical NOC, where you get trouble tickets and fix network issues.

I would be ecstatic to be in such a role. It seems like there would be a lot to learn, I'd go for the job just to gain more knowledge.

the_Grinch

I interviewed and was offered a job at Verizon Wireless in their NOC. They were responsible for all cell towers East of the Mississippi. It did require technical skills as you would be assigned a region and had to respond to any alerts. This went remoting into devices to see what was down and attempting to fix it remotely before rolling a truck to have them look. It was actually really interesting (they'd receive an alert if one of the blinking lights on the tower went out and then would be required to contact the FAA to let them know to alert air traffic in the area) and you'll learn about a lot of equipment you probably wouldn't normally see. Plus the pay was really good.

Mike-Mike

I would jump on that job, you will learn a ton. the_Grinch is spot on

Zomboidicus

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the interview as the recruiter got confused whether it was an in-person interview or phone interview. She told me that it was actually an in-person interview 1 business day prior to the interview. Since the job is 2 hours away, I would of had to take half a day off (at least) for me to go for the interview, and that was just too short-notice for me to go for it.

I agree, I feel like it would of been a good experience, and a good entry into the networking field. Oh wells, I guess it wasn't meant to be.