Intelsat

Quick Facts- The Challenge Combine four separate departments into one all-encompassing network operations center. The Solution 72 55-inch NEC X555UNV displays in a 3x24 configuration and Hiperwall software. The Result A 6.75-by-96-foot, high-tech video wall for management and monitoring of missioncritical customer operations.

Watch the amazing effort as NEC and Hiperwall team up to combine four discrete operations centers into one comprehensive Network Operations Center for this Global Satellite Services Provider.

Mission accomplished: NEC Displays and Hiperwall Software Power Network Operations Center for Global Satellite Services Provider

For a company to provide support for its global customers' mission-critical operations requires complete visibility into all their network processes, worldwide – and finding the technology that can provide that level of visibility is no simple task.

To streamline operations and enhance customer support, Intelsat, a global leader in providing integrated satellite communications, decided to combine multiple departments into a new Network Operations Center (NOC) – but that meant adding a technology solution robust enough to support four formerly separate departments and a host of operational services.

Intelsat offers innovative connectivity solutions to relay information all over the globe. The company operates the world's first globalized network, delivering high-quality video and broadband services anywhere in the world. The network combines the world's largest satellite backbone with terrestrial infrastructure, managed services and an open, interoperable architecture.

Before the fall of 2016, Intelsat previously ran four discrete operations centers that were separated based on function: a radiofrequency operations center, which handled the space segment; a managed services operations center, which handled end-to-end fiber, the terrestrial network and all managed services on that network; an occasional-use service center, which handled occasional-use bookings and provisioning; and a teleport operations center, which handled teleports, including equipment and maintenance.

As Intelsat continued expanding, the company decided to combine the four discrete operations centers into one comprehensive NOC.

"As Intelsat grows, it's bringing more services online," said Robert Wilson, senior manager of the NOC Support department for Intelsat. "The NOC brings multiple functions into the same room to identify and create synergies."

To make the NOC fully functional, Intelsat needed to upgrade its technology.

"Before the operations centers were combined, each center had its own video wall used for monitoring, but in the NOC, we needed something that could better accommodate our enhanced customer support model," Wilson said.

A team culled from multiple Intelsat departments, including employees from the network engineering, operations engineering and facilities engineering teams, began exploring some technology options to supercharge the NOC.

The NOC has been up and running since December 2016, with anywhere from 25 to 35 people working at any given time, 24/7. The video wall runs across the front of the NOC room and is used to monitor active video and audio for managed services. The wall also supports various element managers and network monitoring systems, so the fault and performance management tools are up on the video wall at all times. A universal IR remote allows NOC staff to control individual, groups of, or all monitors at once to fine-tune settings and brightness with just one remote.

As events occur across Intelsat's global networks or as issues arise, the network monitoring tools or element managers go into alarm mode, and NOC staff responds with a deep dive into the matter.

Wilson said the NOC video wall has helped facilitate the merging of the previously separate groups at Intelsat.

"There are always mixed feelings when you bring different groups together [in a company], so when you come into this state-of-the-art center and see this wall that ties the room together – it really helped that process," he said. "The employees love it, and you can tell the NOC staff is very proud of it."

Wilson added Intelsat has a conference room in the back of the NOC, with blackout curtains separating the conference room window from the operations center for privacy during meetings. Customers who come in for a meeting are sometimes treated to an unveiling of the video wall when a button is pushed and the blinds rise, revealing the NOC and the 6.75-foot-high, 96-foot-wide wall.

"Some customers are speechless because it looks so good," he said. "almost all of our main video customers have commented how little discrepancy there is between the colors and contrast of each monitor, and that the wall looks like a single pane of glass. That's something not often found, and a true testament to the product."