Plugging the Holes in a Telecom Network

Telecom operations typically have sophisticated network and systems management (NSM) software in place to monitor their servers, workstations and routers. Such systems often utilize Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) as a means of transmitting and receiving network monitoring information. Great if you run only modern equipment. But what about the other elements that impact the health of a network such as power sources, legacy PBXs, batteries, legacy telecom equipment that don’t recognize SNMP, or environmental factors such as temperature, water and humidity. If you don’t address these elements, they can exert a significant toll on downtime.

This was the case at the Matanuska Telephone Association – a phone company, cellular provider and Internet Service Provider (ISP) operating in the vicinity of Palmer, Alaska (about 45 miles north of Anchorage). Matanuska’s network spans an area of 10,000 square miles. While the backbone and central office were modern, many last-mile telecom huts on the periphery contained legacy equipment and non SNMP-enabled batteries that could not be centrally monitored.

How were service issues dealt with? If seven subscribers called with a problem with their phone or Internet, the company dispatched someone to fix it. “People sometimes had to wait overnight before a bug was resolved,” said Rich Allen, traffic administrator at the Matanuska Telephone Association.

The company solved the problem using a combination of two products: SNMP-Link 81 from Asentria, Inc of Seattle, WA, and a network monitoring system known as InterMapper by Dartware, LLC of Hanover, NH. AlarmsPro Inc., worked closely with Matanuska to deploy the hardware and software at its Palmer headquarters, as well as the telecom huts throughout its territory.

Network Blind Spots
Log into any monitoring system today and access the network maps. You can rapidly document the infrastructure and, at a glance, view the health of the network as a whole. If a situation is apparent, you can drill down to that specific locality to isolate the bug, and even investigate interconnections between devices.

The panorama can be so dazzling, however, that it masks a multitude of blind spots. These zones don’t show up on maps as they represent areas invisible to the system. This can include: legacy, non-SNMP and non-networked devices; PBX’s (enterprise phone system) or Central Office switches; temperature and humidity factors; water sensors and smoke detectors; door sensors; battery (power) sensors; air conditioning (AC) units; carbon monoxide sensors; and output relays.

Equipment rooms, for example, often contain devices that lack a network interface. Though many of these are quite old, they are often smoothly running and too expensive to replace. Fortunately, tools are available that “speak” to these boxes and bridge the gap with an SNMP network at a fraction of the replacement cost.

“There are three levels of integrating legacy devices into an SNMP network,” said Tim Stoner, president of Asentria. “You can read alarms issued from the device’s RS-232 serial ports (the standard ports between computers and peripherals); send queries concerning the amount of free disk space remaining, the number of phone calls made, and the voltage or signal strength; and set thresholds for each device to alert IT of any potential issues.”

Monitoring Temperature and Batteries
Two of the most important elements to monitor in telecom are temperature and battery voltage. All electronic equipment, after all, is sensitive to fluctuations in temperature. Many hardware specs list operating temperature in the 50 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit range – bad news if your business has to deal with the harsh winters of Alaska. That’s why Matanuska Telephone Association pays particular attention to the monitoring of temperature and battery health at its last-mile telecom equipment huts. “Temperature and battery conditions can bring any site to its knees,” said Frank Knapp, CEO of AlarmsPro. “If the temperature is too high, you can experience a thermal runaway which is very bad for the battery and can even cause explosions.”

Knapp explains that the batteries at a $100,000 battery plant will last far longer if they are buffered from extremes of temperature or voltage. His company worked with Matanuska to set up alarms if voltage levels decay. The phone company’s telecom huts contain banks of batteries that supply power to the equipment in case the power goes out.