How Startec Global Communications Monitor the Switches, Softswitches, and DACS in Their International Network

Startec Global Communications provides innovative, affordable, convenient, and easy-to-use telephone, Internet, and, communications services. Since 1989, Startec has been the leading provider of telephone services to ethnic businesses and consumers in the United States. The company also works with international long-distance carriers and Internet service providers transacting with the world's emerging economies.

"We have a softswitch, a GSP switch, DACSes and Fiber muxes. We're running both TDM & VoIP for the domestic and international calls that we're terminating, including both wholesale and retail traffic."

Monitoring ASCII Text Alarms can be Tricky
With sites across the US and into Canada, Startec needed an effective way to collect alarms from their DACS units, Fiber-muxes, Sonus softswitch, and GSP switch.

Although the DACS and switching gear output alarms via human-readable ASCII text messages (including TL1 protocol), simply assigning operators to "watch for important alarms" was not a good option. For ASCII text streams with any significant traffic, human operators easily become overloaded, leading to missed alarms and unresolved threats. Even if your operators are perfect, it's still a waste of manpower to have your technicians hovering over long text streams all day.

Startec also wanted to monitor environmentals - like temperature and humidity - at several sites. This was not an embedded feature in their existing equipment, so they needed a stand-alone box to perform environmental monitoring.

Startec's T/Mon manages alarms sent via ASCII text and TL1 protocol (also ASCII-text-based). It also collects DCP alarms from Startec's NetGuardian RTUs (NetGuardians can alternatively report via SNMP to any SNMP manager).

"Any time circuits go down, we'll see those alarms. Whether they are GSP alarms, Soft switch alarms DACS or Fiber mux alarms."

Startec Did Their Homework and Chose a Solution
After researching their options, Startec selected a T/Mon master station to collect alarms from their Sonus softswitch, GSP switch, DACS, and TDAX gear. To cover environmentals, they also deployed several NetGuardian 216T and NetGuardian 832A remotes. These NetGuardians report back to the T/Mon master.

Walid Karim NOC Manager Startec Global Communications

How Startec's NOC Manager Monitors the Network
Walid Karim is the NOC manager at Startec Global Communications. "I take care of day-to-day operations in the NOC, including the employees and network," Karim said. "I make sure that our network is optimal at all times. We're quite busy."

"We have a softswitch, a GSP switch, and DACSes and fiber muxes," he said. "We're mostly running VoIP & TDM for the domestic and international calls that we're terminating, including both wholesale and retail traffic."

Startec uses T/Mon as their top-level master. "We use T/Mon as a monitoring tool to monitor our Sonus softswitch and our GSP switch," Karim said. "It also monitors DACSes and fiber muxes in Miami, New York, LA, Vancouver & Toronto sites."

Startec Global uses the ASCII processor in their T/Mon master station to convert TL1 text alarms into computer-readable alarms. After conversion, T/Mon filters alarms by severity, so technicians aren't distracted by unimportant alarms.

"T/Mon gives us an overall view of our network," he continued. "Any time we have a circuit go down, we'll see those alarms. Whether they are GSP alarms, Soft switch alarms DACS or Fiber mux alarms."

"The thing that makes it easier is the support that DPS has. I know that, if I run into an issue, I can always count on their support."

"The T/Mon collects alarms via LAN," Karim said. "We also have NetGuardian 832A's for door alarms and environmental alarms like humidity and power failures."

No-Fee Factory Training Delivers "a Lot of Information" in 4 Days
Karim recently attended DPS Factory Training to gain more familiarity with T/Mon. "I took over the responsibilities of the previous NOC manager. He used to take care of the T/Mon configuration," Karim said. "I've never had the opportunity to get into the T/Mon. I've looked at the alarms, but not as far as configuring and setting it up.

"I like the structure of the class. It provides a lot of information, especially for someone who's new to T/Mon and NetGuardians."

While at training, Karim also saw the T/GFX monitoring interface and hoped to get started with it after returning home, "We use T/Windows to monitor our T/Mon," he said. "I saw T/GFX at training and I was very much interested. Once I go back home, hopefully I can set up T/GFX there. It's similar to what we use for IT monitoring. We're used to that."

As demonstrated in this screenshot, T/Mon GFX would provide a bird's eye view of Startec's international network.

For Karim, paying no tuition to attend training was a key advantage. "Training was free. That was the 'Number One' thing," he said.

He also appreciated the organization and content of DPS Factory Training. "I like the structure of the class," said Karim. "It provides a lot of information, especially for someone who's new to T/Mon and NetGuardians."

For Successful Alarm Monitoring, Manufacturer Support is the Key
Karim noted that alarm monitoring is a complex topic, but strong manufacturer support is a significant help. "Learning monitoring means having a lot of information to process, but the thing that makes it easier is the support that DPS has. I know that, if I run into an issue, I can always count on their support."

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NetGuardian 832A

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NetGuardian 832A