As an IT/Telecommunications Director, I am often reminded of this paradox: “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. Let me explain … One of the first people to build a telephone exchange was Hungarian Tivadar Puskás in 1877 while he was working for Thomas Edison. George W. Coy designed and built the first commercial telephone exchange which opened in New Haven, Connecticut in January, 1878. The switchboard was built from "carriage bolts, handles from teapot lids and bustle wire" and could handle two simultaneous conversations. The first public commercial exchange had 21 subscribers. I thought it quite fitting that I honor this achievement by naming my blog – “21 Subscribers”.
While I am only speculating from this point on, George Coy his employees may have spent many hours following the initial deployment trying to figure out how to increase total capacity, sustain more simultaneous conversations, increase subscribers, maintain a level of service that people would pay, and trying to explain to potential customers why they need this technology in the homes and businesses. Sound familiar? While the technology we utilize today is more soft-switch than hardware switch, and oversubscription ratio has increased exponentially, we still seem to be answering the same questions.
This purpose of this BLOG is to share my journey and facilitate a collaborative environment for deploying relevant technology services in a cost effective manner that transform how we work and communicate. To that point, I am attempting to answer the question, “How do we unify communications”? The first stop on this journey will be “Directory Assistance” (later this week) …