Staging Server Database Not Connecting
It looks as if you've sorted thing out (dev.nec... vs nec.dev...)

In general, I find the domain name matching in the config files to be confusing and error prone. I always follow the advice in the Foolproof Multi-Environment Config recipe. Put this at the top of your index.php:

switch (strtolower($_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'])) {
  case 'nec.dev':
    define('CRAFT_ENVIRONMENT', 'DEV');
    break;
  case 'nec.dev.stagingdomain.com':
    define('CRAFT_ENVIRONMENT', 'STAGE');
    break;
  case 'nec-inc.com':
    define('CRAFT_ENVIRONMENT', 'LIVE');
    break;
  default:
    exit('No environment defined for '.$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME']);
}


Then your db.php and general.php will look like this:

return array(
  '*' =&gt; array(...),
  'DEV' =&gt; array(...),
  'STAGE' =&gt; array(...),
  'LIVE' =&gt; array(...),
);


And when you hit dev.nec.stagingdomain.com you will see that No environment defined error and fairly quickly see what is wrong.

(There is also an Enhanced Foolproof Multi-Environment Config recipe)