163 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
163 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
File: A HISTORY OF ESS
|
|||
|
|
Read 15 times
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
|
|||
|
|
$ $
|
|||
|
|
$ THE HISTORY OF ESS $
|
|||
|
|
$ --- ------- -- --- $
|
|||
|
|
$ $
|
|||
|
|
$ $
|
|||
|
|
$ An original phile by: $
|
|||
|
|
$ $
|
|||
|
|
$ $
|
|||
|
|
$$$$$$$$$$$$-=>Lex Luthor<=-$$$$$$$$$$$
|
|||
|
|
$ $
|
|||
|
|
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Of all the new 1960s wonders of
|
|||
|
|
telephone technology - satelites, ultra
|
|||
|
|
modern Traffic Service Positions (TSPS)
|
|||
|
|
for operators, the picturephone, and
|
|||
|
|
so on - the one that gave Bell Labs the
|
|||
|
|
most trouble, and unexpectedly became
|
|||
|
|
the greatest development effort in
|
|||
|
|
Bell System's history, was the
|
|||
|
|
perfection of an electronic switching
|
|||
|
|
system, or ESS.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
It may be recalled that such a
|
|||
|
|
system was the specific end in view
|
|||
|
|
when the project that had culminated
|
|||
|
|
in the invention of the transistor had
|
|||
|
|
been launched back in the 1930s. After
|
|||
|
|
successful accomplishment of that
|
|||
|
|
planned miracle in 1947-48, further
|
|||
|
|
delays were brought about by financial
|
|||
|
|
stringency and the need for further
|
|||
|
|
development of the transistor itself.
|
|||
|
|
In the early 1950s, a Labs team began
|
|||
|
|
serious work on electronic swithcing.
|
|||
|
|
As early as 1955, Western Electric
|
|||
|
|
became involved when five engineers
|
|||
|
|
from the Hawthorne works were assigned
|
|||
|
|
to collaborate with the Labs on the
|
|||
|
|
project. The president of AT&T in 1956,
|
|||
|
|
wrote confidently, "At Bell Labs,
|
|||
|
|
developement of the new electronic
|
|||
|
|
switching system is going full speed
|
|||
|
|
ahead. We are sure this will lead to
|
|||
|
|
many improvements in service and also
|
|||
|
|
to greater efficiency. The first
|
|||
|
|
service trial will start in Morris,
|
|||
|
|
Ill., in 1959." Shortly thereafter,
|
|||
|
|
Kappel said that the cost of the whole
|
|||
|
|
project would probably be $45 million.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
But it gradually became apparent
|
|||
|
|
that the developement of a commercially
|
|||
|
|
usable electronic switching system -
|
|||
|
|
in effect, a computerized telephone
|
|||
|
|
exchange - presented vastly greater
|
|||
|
|
technical problems than had been
|
|||
|
|
anticipated, and that, accordingly,
|
|||
|
|
Bell Labs had vastly underestimated
|
|||
|
|
both the time and the investment needed
|
|||
|
|
to do the job. The year 1959 passed
|
|||
|
|
without the promised first trial at
|
|||
|
|
Morris, Illinois; it was finally made
|
|||
|
|
in November 1960, and quickly showed
|
|||
|
|
how much more work remained to be done.
|
|||
|
|
As time dragged on and costs mounted,
|
|||
|
|
there was a concern at AT&T and some-
|
|||
|
|
thing approaching panic at Bell Labs.
|
|||
|
|
But the project had to go forward; by
|
|||
|
|
this time the investment was too great
|
|||
|
|
to be sacrificed, and in any case,
|
|||
|
|
forward projections of increased
|
|||
|
|
demand for telephone service indicated
|
|||
|
|
that within a phew years a time would
|
|||
|
|
come when, without the quantum leap
|
|||
|
|
in speed and flexibility thaty
|
|||
|
|
electronic switching would provide, the
|
|||
|
|
national network would be unable to
|
|||
|
|
meet the demand. In November 1963, an
|
|||
|
|
all-electronic switching system went
|
|||
|
|
into use at the Brown Engineering
|
|||
|
|
Company at Cocoa Beach, Florida. But
|
|||
|
|
this was a small installation,
|
|||
|
|
essentially another test installation,
|
|||
|
|
serving only a single company. Kappel's
|
|||
|
|
tone on the subject in the 1964 annual
|
|||
|
|
report was, for him, an almost
|
|||
|
|
apologetic: "Electronic switching
|
|||
|
|
equipment must be manufactured in
|
|||
|
|
volume to unprecedented standards of
|
|||
|
|
reliability.... To turn out the
|
|||
|
|
equipment economically and with good
|
|||
|
|
speed, mass production methods must
|
|||
|
|
be developed; but, at the same time,
|
|||
|
|
there can be no loss of precision..."
|
|||
|
|
Another year and millions of dollars
|
|||
|
|
later, on May 30, 1965, the first
|
|||
|
|
commercial electric centeral office
|
|||
|
|
was put into service at Succasunna,
|
|||
|
|
New Jersey.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Even at Succasunna, only 200 of the
|
|||
|
|
town's 4,300 subscribers initially had
|
|||
|
|
the benefit of electronic switching's
|
|||
|
|
added speed and addItional services,
|
|||
|
|
such as provision for three party
|
|||
|
|
conversations and automatic transfer
|
|||
|
|
of incoming calls. But after that, ESS
|
|||
|
|
was on its way. In January 1966, the
|
|||
|
|
second commercial installation, this
|
|||
|
|
one serving 2,900 telephones, went into
|
|||
|
|
service in Chase, Maryland. By the end
|
|||
|
|
of 1967 there were additional ESS
|
|||
|
|
offices in California, Connecticut,
|
|||
|
|
Minnesota, Georgia, New York, Florida,
|
|||
|
|
and Pennsylvania; by the end of 1970
|
|||
|
|
there were 120 offices serving 1.8
|
|||
|
|
million customers; and by 1974 there
|
|||
|
|
were 475 offices serving 5.6 million
|
|||
|
|
customers.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The difference between conventional
|
|||
|
|
switching and electronic switching
|
|||
|
|
is the difference between "hardware"
|
|||
|
|
and "software"; in the former case,
|
|||
|
|
maintenence is done on the spot, with
|
|||
|
|
screwdriver and pliers, while in the
|
|||
|
|
case of electronic switching, it can
|
|||
|
|
be done remotely, by computer, from
|
|||
|
|
a centeral point, making it possible
|
|||
|
|
to have only one or two technicians
|
|||
|
|
on duty at a time at each switching
|
|||
|
|
center.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The development program, when
|
|||
|
|
the final figures were added up, was
|
|||
|
|
found to have required a staggering
|
|||
|
|
four thousand man-years of work at
|
|||
|
|
Bell Labs and to have cost not
|
|||
|
|
$45 million but $500 million!
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The End
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Lex Luthor
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[Courtesy of: Sherwood Forest ][]
|
|||
|
|
[914/359-1517]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
[1-34, Last=26, Quit=Q] Read File #
|
|||
|
|
|