(189) Wed 30 Oct 91 21:23 By: Maurice R Baker To: All Re: Oldest 1ESS in USA Retires St: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @PTH 1:340/201.0@Fidonet From: jj1028@homxc.att.com (Maurice R Baker) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Oldest 1ESS in USA Retires Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories From {Bell Labs News} of 10/28/91: ----Picture of a row of craftpersons with bolt cutters severing many multi-pair cables--- These New Jersey Bell technicians are actually in the process of taking a very well-behaved -- and the nation's oldest -- 1ESS(tm) out of service. The switch became the world's first commercial electronic switching system when it was installed in Succasunna, NJ in 1965. It was replaced with a 5ESS(tm) on September 28th. The cutover was accomplished in three steps. First, the new 5ESS was installed and hooked up to the incoming lines -- which were also still going to the old switch -- but not powered up. Then, at 1:00 AM, when there is relatively little traffic on the old switch, the cables coming in to the 1ESS were quickly cut. Once all the lines were cut, the new switch was turned on. The whole operation took only a few minutes, and agencies involved in emergency services were notified in advance of the brief service outage. The 1ESS design project, which was conducted at Whippany in the early 60's, was the largest single development effort undertaken by the Bell System up to that point, occupying more than 300 engineers and technicians. AT&T Network Systems and New Jersey Bell are considering donating part of the retired switch to the Smithsonian Institution. --- Fred-Uf 1.8(L)[BETA] * Origin: Megabyte BBS, UUCP, Fidonet, IMEx, total messaging (1:340/201.0) @Path: softwords!news.UVic.CA!ubc-cs!uw-beaver!zephyr.ens.tek.com!ogicse!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!spool.mu.edu!telecom-request @Message-ID: @Date: 30 Oct 91 21:23:04 GMT @PID: FredMail 1.8-BETA @PATH: 340/201