100 Years of Telephone Switching

The purpose of this book lies outside the usual framework of studies devoted to technology in a given branch of industry. Its main objective is to show how, in only two decades, the highly specialized telephone switching industry was completely transformed and how it revolutionized its manufacturing processes and its products, a phenomenon largely unknown to the public. The change was so drastic that it has been compared to the metamorphosis of the insect which progresses from the caterpillar phase to that of the butterfly. The second aim of the book is to show how the change occurred within the context of the major electronic revolution of recent decades, following the inventions of the transistor and integrated circuits.

Introduction. Reading the Book - Its Structure. History and Technology: Some Basic Comments Concerning the Cases of Electronics and Telecommunications Developments. Language Issues. The Roots of Electronic Switching (1935-1950). Electronics and the Switching Technology. A Philosophical View of the Studies on Electronic Switching after World War II. 1945-1955 Research into Electronics for Telephone Switching. The 1955-1960 Period. The Beginning of the Computer Industry. In the History of Mankind, the Fascinating Long March until the 1930's to Develop Computing Devices. First Computer Development in the 1940's. A Brief Summary of the Computer Industry Development from the 1950's. A History of Software. Semiconductor Researches. Semiconductors. Researches on Semiconductors in the Bell Laboratories. The Spread of Transistor Technology until the 1960's. After the Preliminary Research, the Development of the Post 1965 SPC Systems. AT&
T/Western Electric Developments. The Breakthrough of the SPC Technology Outside of AT&
T. GTE. Canada (SP1, TOPS, C1-EAX). Japan (D10, D20, D30). UK (TXE2,3,4,4A). W. Germany (KAMA, ESK, EWS). France (from Aristote to E10). ITT (Metaconta
Systems 10 and 11). L.M. Ericsson (AKE, ARE, begin AXE). Philips (PRX). The Success of the SPC Concept for the Design of Switching Exchanges. A Chronology as Traced by Successive ISS's. Typology/Analysis of SPC 1st Generation. Software for SPC Exchanges. Software for SPC Exchanges. The Importance of the Software: Beginnings of the Use of High Level Languages (CHILL, C Language, SDL, MML, etc.). In the 1970's, the Digital Revolution. Birth, Beginnings of a New Industry: the Integrated Circuits - Solid State Components. Digitalization in Telecommunications. Time Division Digital Switching. The Appearance of New (Digital) Services at the End of the 1970's (`Telematics'). Towards the Full Digitalization of the Network (Beginnings of ISDN). A Typology of 1st Generation Digital Switching Systems Available at the Beginning of the 1980's. The Second Generation Digital Switches. Distributed Control and Distributed Switching. Extending Time Division Switching. Second Generation Time Division Systems. Signaling in the Electronic Era. International Developments in Telephone Signaling (1960-1984). Subscriber Line Signaling. A Geoeconomic Overview of the Environment for Switching: a Comparison of 1960 and 1985 Situations. The Worldwide Telephone Development between 1960 and 1985. Structures of Telephone Operating Agencies in 1960 and 1985. Structures of the Switch Manufacturing Industry in 1960 and 1985.