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4 . .-J Western Electric i T h i r d Q u a r t e r 1 9 8 3 Sugar Grove, Illinois Installation A Small Town Gets The Latest Sugar Grove, III., site of our latest 5ESS* office, is a small village about 50 miles due west of the Chicago Loop. State Route 47 used to bisect the town, but since the by-pass was built about 15 years ago. Main Street is as quiet as a suburban cul-de-sac. Total population according to the sign at the town limits is an optimistic 1,400. Prior to World War II, Sugar Grove was a typical Mid-Western farm center. With a population of1,400, the vil It hasn't changed a great deal. The Village of Sugar Grove is bisected by lage has one church, one grade school main crops are still corn and soybeans. State Route 47 and old Chicago, and one restaurant that closes at 2 pm For a few years following the war, Burlington andQuincy Railroad practically all the villagers were re tracks tired farmers. Starting in the mid-50s, however, with the construction of the East-West tollway a few miles north of town. Sugar Grove became a bedroom community for Aurora and various o t h e r i n d u s t r i a l c o m m u n i t i e s t o t h e east; A number of the residents now work at Western Electric in Montgom ery, Caterpillar in Aurora and, before the strike, at the Federal Aeronautical Administration Training Center. Like many of the towns in north This community center was built in western Illinois, Sugar Grove is ap Illinois Bell's step-by-step office was 1930. The Police force and Village Clerk proaching its sesquecentennial. The located in this rented building hid have offices in the rear first settlers to arrive in the area den behind the village general store. crossed the Fox River at Oswego in the spring of 1834. There were five young men in the party. They came West from Medina County, Ohio, seek ing opportunity and farms of their own. They came with two wagons and two yoke of oxen, four cows, two axes and each man had a flint-lock gun. Until they could build cabins to h o u s e t h e i r f a m i l i e s w h o h a d r e m a i n e d "back East," the young adventurers t o o k s h e l t e r i n a n a b a n d o n e d I n d i a n shelter. The Indians called it "Sinqua- sip" meaning sugar camp. Apparently it was located in a grove of sugar maples although none grows in the area now. Main Street is lined with walnut trees. The settlers began plowing the fer tile, rolling prairie that summer of 1834. Even today, the soil is rich and black. Wives and children began arriv ing in the summer of 1835. And some of the current residents can trace their roots to those early arrivals. The land was not surveyed until 1839 and 1840. The settlers didn't pay for their claims until the great government land sale in Chicago in 1842. ' Tr a d e m a r k o f W e s t e r n E l e c t r i c Third Quarter Contents 35th Year T h e 5 E S S ™ S w i t c h — A Special Issue A few comments on the 5 from WE President, Donald Procknow 4 A New Era in Switching Why the 5 will make things easier for telephone company planners 8 Why a Local Digital Switch? The rationale behind "going digital" C e d a r K n o l l s — 10 A n I n s t a l l e r ' s V i e w What the 5 looks like to the people who install it 14 Making It Everything about the 5 is new and different—including the way we make it 18 Marketing the 5 The 5 is a "hot" item, but it still takes salesmanship to sell it You Can't Tell it 22 from the Real Thing Simulation is the name of the game in training Moving Towards a D i g i m I N e t w o r k T h e a i l - d i g i t a l n e t w o r k d r a w s c l o s e r 28 CombustionBurning Problem is a A new approach to the energy crunch 32 WE People—Del Nauman Science and an ancient mystery WE WE is published for employees of George Gray Steve Tomczyk On the Cover Western Electric. President: D.E. Procknow; Editor Design Secretary; A.M. ZIgler; Saul Flngerman Leonard Stern This imaginative rendering of our Treasurer: R.E. Ekeblad. new symbol for the 5ESS™ switch Editorial office: 222 Broadway, NY NY 10038 Managmg Editor Photography Telephone: (212) 669-2621 Adele Donohue-Evans Thomas J. O'Donoghue o v e r l o o k s a s e a o f i n f o r m a t i o n - Associate Editor Production processing keyboards—themselves symbolic of the new system's ability Copyright © 1983 by Western Electric Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved. t o s w i t c h v a s t a m o u n t s o f Printed In the United States of America. information. Title "WE" Is a registered U.S. trademark. Western Electric 5 2 WE The 5ESS Switch I'm pleased to have the opportunity ing. It's an excellent product, so fea switch a reality. And, within WE itself, to add a few words about the 5ESS*- ture-rich that it will be the bench we have had exceptional efforts by our switch in this special edition of WE. mark, the one against which all others people in development, in manufac It's not often that a product comes will be measured for years to come. ture, in marketing and sales. And, of along that revolutionizes an entire I'm proud of the 5ESS switch, and course, we've been working very industry. Despite all the claims in I'm proud of the way it's being man closely with our telephone company advertising and television commer aged and coming on-stream. Our c u s t o m e r s t o m a k e s u r e w e a r e m e e t cials, most new products are just Pitches have always been at the heart ing all of their needs. 1 expect these evolutionary steps in a series. of the Bell System and, in many ways, cooperative efforts to continue and The 5ESS switch, however, is a have contributed to America's reaping intensify as the 5 approaches its full revolutionary switching system, the t h e b e n e fi t s o f t h e fi n e s t t e l e c o m potential. most advanced in all the world and m u n i c a t i o n s n e t w o r k i n t h e w o r l d . Western Electric today is in wonder the one that will change the telecom The 5ESS switch will ensure our suc ful shape to meet the challenges and munications industry for all time. The cess in this part of our business and opportunities of tomorrow. It's true we 5 is a wealth of firsts: the first central guarantees that we will remain at the m u s t c o n t i n u e o u r w o r k t o r e m a i n a t office switch to use lightguide for its heart of the nationwide switched net the very forefront of technology and, own internal communication and work and play a major role in the along with Bell Labs, to develop and transport; the first to use software that international marketplace as well. manufacture the new products that is growable, shrinkable and upwardly The cutover in Sugar Grove, Illinois, will be wanted and needed. But, today, portable; the first to use the 256K is an important milestone in terms of we have the right people to do the RAM. And we're the first to mass realizing at least a portion of the awe job. We have the right structure and produce the 256K itself. There's a some potential of the 5ESS switch. organization. We have the world's most whole world of brand-new technology This cutover represents a great coop advanced digital switch and a tremen coming together in the 5ESS switch. erative effort. Western and Bell Labs dous product line backing up that It's our flagship product and truly have been working closely and well switch. We're ready for whatever to represents a new era in digital switch together for years to make the 5ESS morrow brings. President T h i r d Q u a r t e r 1 9 8 3 • T r a d e m a r k o f W e s t e r n K l e c t r i c 3 By Kathy Fitzgerald "The 5ESS* switch represents much more than Western Electric's entry into the local digital switch market." So says Bob Carlson, General Manager of WE's switching product line.