Range Telephone Cooperative Uses Third-Party T/Mon Monitoring Service

Range Telephone Cooperative, Inc. is a local exchange carrier providing telecommunication services to southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming. Established in 1953 as a non-profit cooperative, Range Telephone currently serves over 7,700 subscribers in eighteen telephone exchanges. Range provides computer services, Internet (Dial-up and DSL), phone systems for both residential and business applications, local/long distance, and network communication solutions.

Michael Tiday Central Office Technician Range Telephone

With a fairly wide network, Range was looking to enhance their existing monitoring solution to have more precise control and visibility of their network.

Growing Without Compromising Network Alarm Monitoring

Range uses a third-party alarm management provider, VisionNet, to manage and monitor their alarms. VisionNet uses the T/Mon NOC as its preferred master, and Range communicates to VisionNet's T/Mon NOC through NetGuardian remotes. VisionNet provides the 24/7-monitoring manpower, redundant masters & equipment, and monitoring facilities, offering a unique service to telecom companies climbing the growth ladder. This allows Range to focus on its network expansion and enhance its product offerings without sacrificing critical alarm monitoring.

Enhancing Network Visibility

Prior to the transitioning to VisionNet, Range needed more detail and information from their alarm monitoring company than the current vendor could provide.

"Now we get a call and they can tell us exactly what the problem is."

Range and VisionNet have worked together to database all of Range's alarms, allowing Range to have specific detail when a call comes in from VisionNet about a network-affecting alarm. "We have made progress from then, now we get a call and they can tell us exactly what the problem is." says Michael Tiday, Range Telephone Central Office Technician. The central office now evaluates the seriousness of the alarms and is able to login to both the NetGuardians and the T/Mon NOC through a secure web interface to get more detailed information on the alarm. Range is able to make cost-effective decisions while protecting their network and equipment.

The NetGuardians currently monitor Range's network alongside other legacy units; all reporting to the T/Mon NOC alarm monitoring system. In NetGuardian-equipped sites, Range now also monitors door alarms, temperature, AC power, and battery levels. With the NetGuardian, Range plans to keeps a close eye on their AC power and battery levels, allowing the dispatch office to route generators to sites that have the most immediate need. With the extended visibility provided by both the NetGuardian and T/Mon NOC, Range knows when and how to route resources to keep their network healthy while also saving windshield time and expense.

Lowering Cost Through a Regional NOC and Having the In-House Monitoring Option

With the introduction of the T/Mon SLIM at a DPS Factory Training event, Range learned how they could create a regional NOC at their dispatch office and still maintain a seamless integration with VisionNet's T/Mon NOC. "This puts us in a position where we can do our own databasing and things of that nature," says Michael. This architecture is also more fault-tolerant because the T/Mon SLIM can provide full visibility at an element-manager level should the communications link to the T/Mon NOC fail.

The T/Mon SLIM provides an in-house monitoring option for small- and medium-sized networks.

At the Factory Training class, both Dennis Cathey and Michael Tiday were introduced to an array of DPS solutions and capabilities. "We didn't realize at the time, well we didn't realize until this class, what the NetGuardian can actually do!" exclaimed Michael. The full-featured NetGuardian allows Range to monitor and control their network through its web browser, as well as providing terminal server functionality, advancing Range on their way to an enhanced monitoring solution.

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Mac Smith

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