A network operations center (NOC) is pronounced like the word “knock”, also it also known as a "network management center” is one or more locations from which network monitoring and control, or network management, is exercised over a computer, telecommunication or satellite network.

Computer environments can range in size from one to millions of servers.

In telecommunication environments, NOCs are responsible for monitoring power failures, communication line alarms (such as bit errors, framing errors, line coding errors, and circuits down) and other performance issues that may affect the network, and in telecom sector have to track details about the call flow.

Satellite network environments process large amounts of voice and video data, in addition to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information. Example organizations that manage this form of NOC include Artel, a service provider of commercial satellite bandwidth to the United States Department of Defense, located in Herndon, Virginia.

A NOC engineer has several duties in order to ensure the smooth running of the network. They deal with things such as DDoS Attacks, power outages, network failures, and routing black-holes. There are of course the basic roles, such as remote hands, support, the configuration of hardware (such as firewalls and routers, purchased by a client). NOC engineers also have to ensure the core network is stable. This can be done by configuring hardware in a way that makes the network more secure, but still has optimal performance. NOC engineers are also responsible for monitoring activity, such as network usage, temperatures etc. They would also have to install equipment, such as KVMs, rack installation, IP-PDU setup, running cabling. The majority of NOC engineers are also on call and have a 5-6 day rotation, working different shifts.