Design Thinking update: Netcool Network Health Dashboard demo at InterConnect 2015

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The IBM Netcool design team will demo a Network Health dashboard at InterConnect 2015 (Cloud Infrastructure and IT Optimisation - PED 810-1 and  810-2). The following are some thoughts underpinning our view of what a Network Health dashboard should deliver.

Modern networks are under sustained pressure, which in turn makes the job of the Network Operations Center increasingly challenging. For example, voice over IP and video applications put particular demands on network infrastructure, giving rise to the ‘slow is the new broke’ mind-set for those depending on the network for their critical business applications.

The effectiveness of any Network Operations Center depends on having accurate, real-time visibility of the network infrastructure. Operations often prioritize, at a minimum, the visibility of actionable and critical events that help isolate and highlight outages that need immediate attention. What is important to point out here is the unseen, under-the-bonnet analytical engine that is required to  greatly reduce the number of incoming events to an actionable subset that support will have to process in response to network outages. In addition, other operational processes can give further visibility to support and aid the NOC in their mission to deliver a quality network service to the business.

Maintaining an updated visibility on the Network Operations Center dashboard of network configuration that is both standardised for all of the different network vendors, but also aligned with corporate policy is an important consideration for operations support personnel. Correct configuration ensures both efficient network operation and, of equal importance, a secure network.

Visibility of the performance of the network will be a major importance for successful operations, with a special focus on areas of the infrastructure that are experiencing performance degradation. A good dashboard will automatically highlight the top problematic devices that need immediate attention. Support will want to drill down into these devices and observe recent performance history.  

The network health dashboard will require other capabilities: the presentation should always be up-to-date, accurate, and responsive; should facilitate the need to partition the network visibility using different criteria, such as region, service and customer; customize the look-and-feel in accordance with user needs; extend the participating data sources with extra 3rd party feeds; and can easily be included in wider infrastructure monitoring applications. Of course, the dashboard needs to be based on modern technology that does not depend on Java applets.

All in all, a sophisticated Network Health dashboard solution that will help transform the challenging job done by Network Operations Center support personnel and guarantee the network service that the business relies upon. Come see our Netcool Network Health dashboard demo at InterConnect 2015 at the Cloud Infrastructure and IT Optimisation PED 810-1 and  810-2.

Tom Randles
Product Manager
IT Service Management - Netcool Network Management
http://www.twitter.com/RandlesTom