Citation
(1999), "Switch off", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948daa.006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1999, MCB UP Limited
Switch off
We are currently investigating the replacement of our telephone switch. (Actually three switches on three different sites.) Telephone technology has moved on since we got the current switches - about ten years ago - and there are signs of the growing convergence of telephone and computing technologies. However, it is still the case that our data network fails (in part) about once or twice a week and that the devices on it (the computers but more importantly the servers that control the major applications) fail once or twice a month. Or telephone network fails ... well, never really ... and the switches fail perhaps once or twice a year. Yet, telephone switches are really only simple computers. They are however over-engineered to be absolutely robust. Until the computer industry offers the same levels of reliability (and there are signs of "industrial strength servers" becoming more common) we will probably stick within the telecommunications world for our next solution. Perhaps when that is due for renewal the convergence and the reliability will be solid.