Network Operations Center Technicians

In the 1920s, AT&T established regional traffic control bureaus that served as clearinghouses that received information about any issues that affected the telephone company’s switching centers. These bureaus were early versions of network operations centers. In the 1960s, AT&T built network control centers (NCC) that displayed switch and routing information in real-time. In 1977, it replaced the NCCs with network operations centers that had domestic and international status boards that were updated five times a minute, according to a history of NOC monitoring from CHR Solutions, a broadband technology provider. In the 1980s, the automation of NOCs increased, but there was still a strong need for technicians to administer, monitor, repair, and maintain these systems. Today, the Internet of Things has vastly increased the number of devices that are connected to networks, prompting a need for further automation (with the help of artificial intelligence, AI). Automation will not eliminate the work of technicians. Instead, it will help them to better monitor the large number of connected devices and allow them to address issues that emerge with network performance and security—tasks that cannot be fully done by AI and other technology.