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File: A HISTORY OF ESS
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$ THE HISTORY OF ESS $
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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
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