The brain: Bresnan’s new operations center in Billings features sophisticated control room

Jim Boelter sometimes describes the sophisticated computer network at the center of the new Bresnan Communications facility in Billings as a living, breathing entity.

When you step into the building’s Network Operations Center (NOC), located on the second floor of the company’s new building at 1860 Monad Road, the network-as-organism metaphor doesn’t seem far-fetched.

Giant computer readouts flash across one wall as systems analysts huddle around two rows of consoles. The scene brings to mind a control room for a NASA space flight, or a scene deep in the bowels of the Pentagon.

Real-time information

The big screens provide real-time information on how the network is operating in the 200 communities where Bresnan provides cable television and high-speed Internet service.

To a visitor, it’s impossible to decipher the meaning behind the dotted lines and brightly colored bars flashing across the screens. But Bresnan’s trained analysts use the displays to keep a close watch on how the system is operating.

"If anything hiccups, we know what it is right away," Boelter said.

By TOM HOWARD
Of The Gazette Staff

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/03/27/build/business/30-the-brain.inc