Noc, Noc? Flag's Here

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The FLAG Telecom Network Operations group, operates two Network Operation Centers (NOC) - one in Heathrow, London, and the second in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The Heathrow NOC, adjacent to the United Kingdom's largest International Airport, manages the global telecommunications network and services provided by FLAG Telecom, while the Fujairah NOC concentrates on FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) Cable system. Both these centers operate with a workforce of less than 80 people.

The NOCs manage FLAG Telecom transmission (both Sub Sea and terrestrial backhaul) and Internet Protocol (IP) networks, monitoring for network and service faults, quality of service and traffic levels. In addition to these two sites, there is a Disaster Recovery site in London Docklands, which can be activated, to be up and running within two hours.

With a varied role and d i f f e r e n t v e n d o r equipments, including Alcatel, Lucent, Xtera, Zaffire, Ciena, Juniper and Cisco, FLAG uses Netcool Omnibus as a Network Management 'manager of managers' to collate network alarms and ensures that the Network Operations Centre engineers can identify what part of the network has a fault, and more importantly what impact it is causing.

Although some issues can be remotely resolved by the NOCs, two Field Engineers have been deployed to look after FLAG's Points of Presence (PoPs) and Cable Landing Stations (CLS).

The Heathrow NOC is staffed on a shift roster of four engineers per shift and operates five shifts, providing 24x7 coverage. The shift is augmented during the working day and the Field Engineers can also provide assistance by remotely accessing the Network Management Systems. Three Regional Operations Managers manage Europe, Middle East, United States and Asia Pacific regions.

FLAG NOC engineers are responsible for turning up and fault finding on services. The workload can at times be very stressful, but is also rewarding as they manage a global network and deal with over 47 nationalities in twenty countries (and that is just within FLAG Telecom). The second line is Technical Support Engineers who are experienced telecommunication engineers with specialization in transmission, IP or subsea skill-sets. The Technical Support group based in London, Hong Kong and Fujairah regularly works with customers and vendors in identifying and resolving

software or hardware issues. FLAG Telecom p r o v i d e s r e g u l a r professional training for engineers to ensure that they are in the forefront of technology.

Reliance and FLAG are continuously improving interfaces with each other, so as to make the customers' experience of Reliance seamless. Both operational teams are also in regular contact and beginning to develop closer ties between the Group's Network Operations Centers.

As reported earlier, Project FALCON will provide further opportunities for both teams to work together with FLAG already sharing its experiences in the new Cable Landing Station planned for Mumbai, which will be staffed and operated by Reliance Infocomm engineers closely working with the FLAG Heathrow NOC.