Date: 28 Sep 92 22:28:00 UT
From: JOHN.D.GRETZINGER@gte.sprint.com
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Last GTE Cord Board Removed                               
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 743, Message 1 of 8

The following article is from the GTE California internal news
letter that I thought might be of interest.

  ------<< cut here >>-------

California Pulls the Plug on the Last Remaining Cord Board

When customers dial "0" for operator, the friendly voice offering
assistance is the same, but the technology that brings them that old
familiar service has gone through some changes.

An era will come to an end when GTE California's last cord board is
removed from Thousand Oaks Special Operator Services Traffic (SOST)
office by the end of the year.  The significance of its removal goes
back to the beginning of telephony itself.

The first commercial telephone cord board was placed in service in New
Haven, Conn., in January 1878, creating the first exchange.  It served
21 telephones and consisted of a series of switches mounted in a way
that allowed interconnection of various customer lines.  The early
exchanges served few customers, and calls were completed manually by
the operator using names instead of numbers.

The basic cord board method of placing calls has gone through a series
of modernizations but has changed little in 100 years.  A light
indicates that a customer is waiting, and the operator picks up the
customer by plugging a back connection plug into the board.  The
operator acknowledges the customer's needs and places the call using
the front cord connection plug.  The call is manually ticketed and
timed and held on the board by the operator until it is completed.

"We had 17 pairs of cords on our board and we were always working to
get that board filled up," said Anna Jean Leoffler, a retired GTE
operator services supervisor who began working with cord boards in
1947 for Southern Bell, in Memphis, Tenn.  "It could get quite hectic.
Why, once a supervisor was assisting me with a call and almost plugged
my finger into the board!"

The cord board was not replaced until 1976 when GTE California began
its conversion to Traffic Services Position System.  TSPS brought many
advantages to the customer.  The system distributed the calls to
operators automatically, permitting automated calling card and
coin-paid call handling.

To the company, TSPS advantages included shortened call handling time
and reduced the number of calls that had to be manually ticketed and
timed.  GTE California was completely converted to TSPS by 1984.

However, TSPS could not handle every type of call.  Certain calls,
such as ship to shore, air to ground and mobile calls, required
special handling and were routed to a SOST operator who placed the
call using the old cord board equipment.

"The SOST board came about as a result of mechanization.  When we went
to TSPS, there were certain calls that required special handling.
Today those calls get routed to a SOST operator," said Mary Caproni,
Operator Services Manager - Thousand Oaks.

In 1988, Operator Services Position System (OSPS) began replacing
TSPS.  This conversion enabled GTE to meet the growing needs of our
customers.  In addition, OSPS positioned the company to compete as a
full-service provider.

"The system distributes calls evenly to all operators and provides
automatic coin telephone service, mechanized calling card service and
an operator reference data base," Caproni said.

There are currently four GTE California OSPS offices with a work force
of 595 employees.  More than 84,000,000 calls a year are handled by
OSPS operators, with an average call taking 24 seconds.  The average
cord board call would take one minute nine seconds.

Many operators will miss working the cord board.

"I remember when I started as an operator in 1969, we had two rooms
full of cord boards," said Betty Gerdeman, a 23-year veteran operator.
"I have worked cord boards, SOST, TSPS and OSPS.  There has really
been a dramatic change in technology.  Today there are no cords, no
tickets or manual look up of information -- everything is
computerized.

"The biggest change is that everything on the cord board was done by
sound and you had to constantly question the customer for information.
Now, it's all visual.  Calls automatically drop into the operator's
position and computer icons give the operator information on the call
being placed."

The number of SOST calls has decreased greatly due to the technology
of OSPS, the AT&T take-back of calls and the activity of cellular
telephones.

In an effort to find a more economical way to process the
non-mechanized calls that SOST currently handles, an employee
involvement task team was formed.  The E.I. team developed alternative
methods of handling the SOST functions which will eliminate the need
for the cord board and increase call efficiency.

The remaining SOST operators who have been providing assistance for
unique customers will bring a long history of personal services with
them as they join the OSPS operator team.

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All typos are property of the submitter and were absent from the
original.

John D. Gretzinger   Internet: jdgretz@northridge.witchcraft.com
                     CI$:      73020,267
Standard disclaimers apply - my employeer has no opinions on anything