VoIP Monitoring Services

“I need to focus on my customers, not my trouble tickets.”

The ECG VoIP NOC Service is intended primarily for VoIP Service Providers who want to detect and resolve network problems before their customers report the problems. Detect and resolve problems to ensure minimal interruption for customers, without being bombarded with alarms and alerts.

Monitoring & Support All Day, All Night

Problems don't stop at 5pm, and customers need service 24x7. ECG's VoIP NOC Analysts keep watch over your network continuously, and are always available to answer questions and provide support.

Custom, Functional Monitoring

Get full visibility into your network operation: ECG Designs a Custom Monitoring Platform to collect telemetry data on your network. We use active probing via SNMP, ICMP, custom protocol, and active telephone call testing. ECG performs weekly maintenance to ensure the monitoring system is comprehensive and correct.

Eliminate False Positives

ECG's VoIP NOC Analysts receive alarms, alerts, traps, and events from the Network Management System (NMS). They follow custom procedures for analysis and follow-up verification. Your Engineering and Operations team is contacted directly by a VoIP Analyst only when a problem has been verified.

Reduce Time to Repair

Because ECG VoIP NOC Analysts are monitoring 24x7x365, we detect problems immediately and can begin a response. We verify the alert, then follow custom procedures you provide to contact personnel or take corrective action.

Provide Excellent Service

Put ECG's depth of experience in Telecom, VoIP Operations, and IP Network Operations to work for your network. Our NOC Analysts can receive calls from your customers and provide comprehensive, intelligent technical customer service.

Philosophy

“It’s not about getting alerts to my cell phone: it’s about getting problems solved.”

Maintaining networks is hard, and never stops. Live voice networks are made of many components that can fail. Service Providers need to detect and respond to failures rapidly. Network Faults can happen at any time. A fault at 5:00am must be resolved before business begins at 7:00am.

Automated NMS alerts are not enough. Automated fault-detection systems (Network Management Systems, NMSs) cannot fully detect whether a detected event is a real problem. Network Analysis will always require human judgment.

System Engineers are not System Operators. System Engineers are in a poor position to provide monitoring and operational support. There needs to be a layer of human judgment between automated problem reports and the Network Engineers. Network Operations needs specialized, dedicated staff in addition to Engineering.

Automated Monitoring Must Be Maintained. NMSs need to be regularly maintained and adjusted for varying network conditions. Systems Engineers must be regularly (weekly) involved in the design and maintenance of automated fault detection.

VoIP Monitoring Is Not ISP Monitoring. Proper monitoring requires full comprehension of the network application domain. Specialized skills, tools, and knowledge are required to monitor VoIP Carrier Networks. ISP/Application NOCs may not have the background required.

Features

“I can’t manage outages at 3am then design networks at 9am.”

Complete Coverage for Complex Networks

ECG's VoIP 24x7x365 NOC Services Provide Complete Coverage for modern VoIP Networks:

  • 24x7 Active Monitoring of Your Complete Network
  • 24x7 Call-In Trained, Technical Customer Support Available
  • Expert VoIP Technical Staff available for escalation
  • Based in the United States

ECG designs and maintains an NMS custom designed for your network.

Expert Monitoring, Analysis and Technical Support

ECG VoIP NOC Services provide 24x7x365 NOC Analyst staff whose responsibilities are:

  1. Detect problems in the SP Network (using SNMP, ping, and active service probes)
  2. Verify that the problems are real
  3. Make human-to-human contact to report the issue
  4. Follow event-response procedures
  5. Refer to ECG Technical Staff
  6. Answer calls, emails, and other requests from SP
  7. Manage and tune the monitoring system to detect all faults, give reliable, high-quality automatic reporting

Detection

The NOC staff use a monitoring system built and maintained by ECG. If SP already has a monitoring system, ECG can maintain it. The purpose of this is (a) to ensure ECG is monitoring things properly to our quality standards, (b) to minimize false-alarm reports because of bad monitoring, (c) and tune it periodically.

Skilled Human Verification

The NOC staff can execute procedures provided by the SP & ECG to assess whether a reported event is a problem. Examples include:

  • For a link-down: Ping & make a test call through the affected customer access link
  • For an SBC overload: Verify that the system load is genuinely high
  • For a call routing failure: Verify that the called number is a real genuine number through other carriers
  • For a server-down failure: Ping, and attempt to login to the server to check its status

Human-to-Human Contact

After following a Problem-Verification procedure, NOC Analysts can reach out to the humans. They follow a script provided by the Service Provider, so the NOC staff could make phone calls, send text messages, etc., until they reach somebody. NOC Analysts can also open tickets with other carriers, if requested by Service Provider.

Escalation to VoIP Technical Staff

If the Service Provider requests in advance, the NOC Analyst can refer a problem to a member of ECG's Technical Staff for emergency maintenance or further research.

Inbound Technical Support Call Center Services

A Service Provider's customers may contact a branded call center to get customized technical support and assistance. The NOC Analyst can open tickets in the Service Provider's own CRM or Ticketing System, or use the ECG-provided Ticketing System.

Understand How Your VoIP NOC is Performing

ECG provides quarterly or monthly reports of the VoIP NOC Activities.

  • Events Report: See what events occurred and how they were handled. Understand problematic areas of the network to improve performance.
  • Action Report: See how ECG handled events that occurred in your network. Optimize how problems are resolved to maximize customer service.
  • Responsiveness Report: See how fast ECG responded, and how long it took for problems to be ultimately resolved.