Case Study How INOC Helped Build Operational Capacity and Reduce Response Time for a Large Data Center Company

The Challenge

Smoothly running infrastructure is vital for this data center company, whose client roster includes a range of enterprises and service providers. Three years ago, faced with significant and rapid growth, the company outgrew its ongoing network support and operational capacity, while also needing a much more sophisticated network management toolset.

To provide the level of service demanded by its customers, the company decided to build an in-house Network Operations Center (NOC). However, it did not have internal expertise for such an undertaking, nor the time to determine which toolsets were appropriate. In addition, an interim solution was needed to manage the company’s increasingly complex network environment, including optical, routing, switching and security. The key was to provide high-quality service without compromising the company’s brand or customer confidence. INOC was selected to help.

The Solution

INOC was initially engaged to help with 24x7 network monitoring and management support. INOC’s team brought a high level of technical expertise, and the ability to integrate into the company’s processes and workflow. Inbound support calls were answered securely and efficiently, under the company’s own brand. INOC’s support enabled the company to design and build its planned state-of-the-art NOC and redundant operations center. For over a year, the data center’s team worked closely with INOC to develop a successful foundation for their new NOC. Leveraging INOC’s 15 years of experience in designing, building and providing NOC services, the company effectively accelerated their own NOC’s capabilities and proficiencies, which included:

• Developing workflows and processes, clearly laying out the detailed work instructions for NOC personnel
• Creating a NOC runbook to guide operations
• Purchasing and deploying the appropriate NOC tools
• Hiring qualified staff (particularly challenging for second and third shift)

While network outages are of the utmost concern, environmental factors also play a role. With INOC’s experience in monitoring and managing these factors—e.g., temperature, humidity, airflow, power—the company’s NOC could be prepared for multiple support scenarios.

The Results

Since working with INOC, the company’s incident response time and customer service have improved considerably. With a well-documented process in place, its in-house NOC provides high-level, 24x7 support for customers. Incoming calls are answered quickly and trouble tickets swiftly opened, logged and managed to resolution.

While initial operational issues had to be ironed out, the company trusted INOC to review systems and processes, improve and implement solutions. INOC’s monitoring systems also allowed for greater visibility across multiple networks and accurate tracking of support metrics.

With cross-connects in its meet-me room as a gauge, in two years time, the company grew in tens of thousands of cross-connects. By enlisting INOC’s support, the company was able to scale to this growth—and better prepare for the future.