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A CO is a Central Office. It is the place where a Phone Company has its Switches. A class 5 CO produces Dial Tone for end users. Class 1-4 COs only provide trunking for other COs. A CO is the backbone of the Telephone Network.
A NOC is a Network Operations Center. Anyone can have one. When I worked for GTE we built the world's largest Private Voice Network for Westinghouse. They had a NOC. So did a lot of other private corporations and CLECs. NOCs are places where technicians monitor and oversee their Network.
A POP is a Point Of Presence. It's a locations where a Carrier has a connection to the main Network. If AT&T wants to connect it's Long Distance Trunks to Ameritech's Local Network it's connected at a POP.
A COLO is a COLOcation facility. A place where the LEC (phone company) has a connection to some other organization(s) - usually one or more CLECs. So if Sprint (for example) wants to sell Dial Tone to end users over Verizon's cable plant, they need a Colo.
POPs, & COLOs are usually in a CO. NOCs (unless they belong to the carrier) are usually someplace else.
These are obviously very brief basic descriptions. Ask away if you've got more questions.
Sam
"Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?"
A COLO does not have to be telephone related. In the computer world, a COLO is a facility where you rent space (rack space, cage space) to place your equipment. A COLO can be anything from a storeroom at the back of your local mom-n-pop ISP where you can park a linux box, to multi-story datacenters.
A NOC can be anything from a PC or two sitting on the desk in the corner, to a multi-million dollar facility with multiple projection screens etc. NOCs are used by many industries, including telecommunications, utilities, and network operators.
A POP can be anything from a bank of modems and a portmaster in a rented closet (to provide local dialup access), to large meet-me rooms at some of the internet exchange facilities.
