Comcast’s Video Production Manager Ed Hauge, famous on this blog for his Comcast Neighborhoods shows, paid a visit recently to the XOC in Everett. Ed was working on a video that we could show employees about this important group, but we thought you might enjoy it too. The XOC is the operations center that is the eyes and ears of the Comcast network: its employees monitor the strength of signal to devices throughout Western Washington and Spokane, with links to the rest of the Comcast network nationwide.
The 60 men and women who work 24 hours a day at the XOC in Everett are the tech equivalent of public health workers. While public health workers aim to keep people healthy and identify risks to human health, the XOC techs keep the network healthy and our customers happy. They use extraordinarily detailed diagnostic tools and screens to watch over the network.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2-Ts3-PU8s?rel=0]
In this video, the XOC is a calm place, but it was a lot livelier when the storms in January 2012 hit the network. Matt and his team led frequent team phone calls that went through the damage area by area and calculated the best methods of repair. We’re glad they are there. Just a few more thoughts:
– Matt Durand, who narrates the video, has been in the telecom business for 32 years. He started out as a cable installer in Billings, Montana. His role now is senior director of the Washington XOC, and he also supervises a network team that spans the company’s West Division.
– Did you want to know what XOC stands for? OC is operations center, of course. You might think the X stands for Xfinity, but actually the center predates that brand. The X actually stands for “Excellence” (in writing, XOC looks cooler than EXOC)
