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Above, SCD's Judy Green and Dolores Boyd; below, SCD's Teresa
Shibao.
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On 7 April 2004,
SCD's Network Engineering and Telecommunications Section (NETS) ceremoniously
decommissioned UCAR's Private Branch Exchange (PBX). It was the end
of an era for the UCAR telephone system, which first converted to PBX
in 1983. (Photos
of the decommissioning)
"We've changed technologies," says Teresa Shibao, a NETS
network engineer. "PBX was the older style, in which calls would
come in through a central exchange, or switchboard, and be routed to
the appropriate office. If the central system went down, that was it.
The newer style is based on IP [Internet Protocol] and is more distributed.
Multiple servers, some primary, some secondary, cover for each other;
if one goes down, another can back it up."
In the new Voice over IP (VoIP) system, which was implemented UCAR-wide
in 2002 and 2003, gateway computers handle digital input from the phone
service providers, looking up phone numbers in a database and routing
voice packets to the appropriate extension. ("VoIPsters!")
The PBX decommissioning occurred after NETS transferred the last few
telecom services to VoIP.
Call up, plug in
The PBX was revolutionary in its day. Twenty-one years ago, its installation
marked the transition to a what was then a high-tech computerized phone
system.
Before that, calls at UCAR/NCAR went through mechanical, not computerized,
switches that worked with the old-fashioned black rotary phones. Operators
connected callers by manually plugging cords in and out of a "cord
board."
Judy Green and Dolores Boyd, NETS telecom assistants, remember the
days when phone relays mounted on rows of racks in a large room would
make "click-click-click" ratcheting sounds each time a call
went through.
"Back then you couldn't dial private offices directly,"
Judy says. "A person would call up the central number and ask
to speak to someone; we'd plug the cord into the proper extension.
There were banks of sockets, or jacks, in front of us labeled with
numbers: the 200s, the 300s, the 400s, the 500s. We got to recognize
people's voices, we memorized extensions; kids would call to tell their
folks they'd gotten home from school. It was always busy, there was
seldom a dead day."
They also handled long-distance calls, international calls, and conference
calls.
The computer age
UCAR/NCAR telecommunications entered the computer age in 1983, when
PBX boards and processors replaced mechanical switches—but it
wasn't until 1991 that voicemail was installed. Up to that time, unanswered
calls would roll over to administrative assistants, who would personally
deliver messages written on "While You Were Out" pink slips.
Less often, central office answering machines would record messages
on tape cassettes.
In 1993, ten years after the first PBX installation, the aging system
was upgraded to newer, more efficient PBX technology. In 2002–2003,
NETS converted all of UCAR to VoIP.
Telecom pros
Teresa started work at NCAR at 1979 as an electrical apprentice and
soon became a licensed electrician. She began working with the phone
system in 1986, and was nominated for a 2003 UCAR
Outstanding Accomplishment Award (along with NETS network engineer
Jeff Custard) for her work on the VoIP project.
Judy joined NCAR in 1978 and has been at the switchboard for 26 years
this month, while Dolores worked at NCAR from 1976–78 as a telecom
assistant, returned on a temporary basis in the late 80s, and was given
a regular appointment in 1990. Their work has changed to fit the times
(now, for instance, they handle billing, distribute phone reports,
and maintain online phone directories)—but they still answer incoming
calls with a pleasant, "Good morning, NCAR—can I help you?
—Lynda Lester
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