Internet NOC-ing shop opens in London

ISP iBahn has opened a network operations centre (NOC) to monitor its hotel broadband services.

iBahn's NOC opened in Hammersmith, London, and monitors every piece of equipment attached to iBahn's European network via management tools that can detect problems and flag them up to a team of technicians.

Neil Williams, director of EMEA operations at iBahn, told silicon.com: "The main advantage of the NOC is it's a centralised place where we can bring together all the monitoring functionality into one location and then turn ourselves into a much more proactive organisation."

With its Fair Wi-fi campaign silicon.com is looking to...

♦  Raise awareness of the problem of hotels overcharging

♦  Inform the hotel industry about the strength of public opinion opposed to excessive charging

♦  Encourage hotels to be more open about their charges and better inform consumers

♦  Publicise user demand for wi-fi access

♦  Provide expert opinion and highlight best practice where hotels have shown it is possible to offer reliable and cost-effective wi-fi services

♦  Enable consumers to make more informed decisions about where they stay

Williams said the system looks at how the equipment is functioning and, although the traffic volumes are checked, there is no monitoring of the type of traffic going through iBahn's devices.

The centre is staffed by technicians who monitor the iBahn network, allowing real-time scrutiny of network statistics and trends while also enabling the techies to pinpoint any network issues.

iBahn launched a hotel broadband service earlier this year which allows customers to pick a free but slower broadband connection or a high-speed package that comes at a price.

silicon.com unveiled its 'Fair Wi-fi' campaign in January to highlight the issue of hotel internet access pricing. The campaign to bring down hotel wi-fi prices has been gathering support from the likes of The Good Hotel Guide and via an online petition.