We all understand that the network is the backbone of the entire IT infrastructure, so vital to business survival.  Even if your applications, databases and physical and virtual systems are performing well, your users will never know it if there are network issues that negatively affect business services and the customer experience. On the other hand, if the network is performing well, but there are issues with applications, databases or systems, chances are someone will always assume it's a network problem.

So, when I recently took over product marketing for CA eHealth Performance Manager, it was no surprise to me to learn that the network team gets initially blamed for most of the issues that crop up; it seems to be an easy assumption for the other domain teams to make, especially when their performance tools say all is fine in their realm. 

Enterprise Management Associates conducted a survey in 2008 that I feel produced some great information:

• When application-related problems occur, what are the primary ways in which IT most often finds out about the problem? The first answer was of course end users, but next in line? The NOC or monitoring center.
• 89% of IT organizations use triage teams to solve service performance problems. Why? Because there is no high-level visibility across domains that would allow for quick identification of the underlying issue.
• For these cross-domain triage teams, what types of personnel are most often included? Survey says... Network Personnel/Management 96% of the time!

As I've participated in customer calls recently, I've found it very interesting to note how the maturity level of the IT organization and how the organization maps IT to business services has a direct impact on how it views the evolving role of the NOC.  No longer just tasked with network performance management, the NOC is increasingly being asked to become the first line of support to determine within what domain an issue is rooted. The more mature the IT organization, the better tools in their NOC, and the more they rely on them.

What is the takeaway from this interesting information?  Don't Knock the NOC!  It just might end up being your best line of defense to remove you from the ever dreaded triage team!