The Tip of the Spear: X2nSat’s Network Operations Center

As a support technician working in our primary Teleport here at X2nSat, I usually come in contact with customers when something is not working 100% properly on some level. The good news is that 95% of the time when customers contact the Network Operations Center we are able to take the call right away with no hold time. We also are able to solve their immediate issues 95% of the time without having to escalate the call to a higher level of support.

Everyone on our team works very hard to be as proactive as possible to ensure that our system resources are ready to go in the moment our clients need us the most. Most of the time back-up hardware sits idle. Some of these assets are exposed to some pretty harsh elements of nature in remote locations. VSAT equipment can degrade and become dysfunctional over time due to these factors or extensive use. The equipment must be 100% reliable whether it is used for primary communications or as an emergency back-up.

Support technicians also play a critical role in gathering and reporting important information to our engineering team. This allows us to solve the issues of today, but it also gives us the ability to continually improve and upgrade our systems to decrease the odds that a similar problem will occur again in the future.

This is where the job of VSAT support specialists play a key role in taking a proactive approach to maintaining system reliability and performance. Inevitably failures are going to happen. The goal is always to achieve 100% uptime. Sitting back and waiting to react to a problem will only cause it to take longer to apply the appropriate solution.

The issues we deal with on a daily basis range from simple configuration tweaks to a more complex discussion with our engineering team and the client. Whatever the issue, we follow a strict troubleshooting protocol: documenting the issue, monitoring the behavior, customer follow-up, and implementation of the solution.

Throughout this process the most important job our techs have is to know how to ask the right questions and know which performance indicators of the equipment could lead us to the cause of the problem. Sometimes it can come down to a severe weather event beyond anyone’s control. VSAT equipment can be impacted in this situation due to its reliance on line-of-site technology.

As I mentioned above, 95% of the time we are able to solve the problem remotely from the NOC quickly. Occasionally we may have to deploy a technician on-site to upgrade or replace a piece of equipment and make sure the solid communications with the network are now taking place. Working in the NOC as a support technician can be extremely satisfying to know that you have all the tools, knowledge, and capabilities of the X2nSat team at your fingertips to provide customers with a swift and seamless solution.

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