[music]
[telephone ringing]
Hell, Sam Peterson.
[from phone] "Hi Sam, this is Bill Crain from Freehold." "Bill how are you?"
"Pretty good thanks, how's everything with you?"
"Good, how's the planning coming along down in Freehold?"
"Well, we have some changes to introduce. It looks like we'll need
some extra lines near the network area."
"What are the changes?"
We'd like to put in at least two about 20-30 feet from the processor."
Narrator: Sam Peterson is a telephone company building space planning engineer.
He's just been notified of a change in an equipment program
for the central office building he's been working on.
"Alright, Bill. I'll look into it."
Narrator: Operating company engineers have a new software tool
to help space planners in the layout and design
of central offices and transmission stations. It is a timeshared computer graphics system
called TOPES
which stands for Telephone Office Planning and Engineering System.
TOPES uses commercially available terminals
to gain access to a variety of computer programs created by Bell Labs and
Western Electric for the Bell System.
"Hello, John Marshall." "Hi Joan, Sam Peterson, Newark."
"Hi Sam."
"Joan, I'm afraid we may be violating some critical cable length limitations in our
plan for the Number One ESS, the one we talked about last week.
Could you switch on TOPES for me? Check my floor plan with me, see i f we have a problem."
"Wait a second, I'll called up the program."
Narrator: TOPES software consists of five units -
Design, Plan, News, Data, and Archive.
All of the terminals are connected to the host computer
at Western Electric's data center in New Jersey.
Sam and an AT&T
equipment planning consultant Joan Marshall are using the
graphic conferencing feature of the TOPES design unit to discuss a floor plan."
"My TOPES number is 34."
Narrator: Graphic teleconferencing is just one feature of the TOPES design unit.
From 2 to 20 terminals can be linked together for a conference.
Any change in a drawing, graph or text
made on one screen will appear simultaneously on
all other screens linked In the conference.
"What part of the plan are you questioning, Sam?"
"Uh, near the network area."
"Okay, let's try moving those equipment frames closer to the processor
to minimize the buss length.
Like this -"
"How's that?"
"Okay. I'll make a hard copy. Hold it a second."
TOPES makes it possible to look
quickly at alternate plans, helps provide ready access to equipment
floor plan data,
and permits us to ensure that all equipment requirements
are met in a proper way.
Layout and design of telephone offices
requires meeting equipment needs for installation,
operation,
office cabling,
cooling,
power and lighting.
All while living within the physical constraints of the building in which
it is housed.
John Osmers,
a Long Lines equipment planner, is using the TOPES design unit to position and draw
symbols for the various elements of his office plan.
Preparing office plans directly on the terminal screen is the principal feature
of the TOPES design unit.
He's putting in building walls, columns,
and equipment. TOPES can perform engineering calculations because the
system stores data on location,
power consumption, heat dissipation,
floor loading and other information for equipment and equipment groups.
Any rectangular area of the display can be enlarged for
detailed study,
or to make changes.
John has finished using the TOPES design unit.
Next, he requests access to the TOPES plan unit. John's working in the plan unit
because he wants to identify the space,
power and other building requirements he'll need for a #4 ESS office.
The computer asks John a list of questions about
service requirements for the facility.
When he supplies the appropriate information
the computer prints planning information, floor area required,
cabling information, power consumption, and a list of equipment for the new office.
This will help John to develop several alternate office plans.
Fred Munson
is an equipment engineer. He requires the latest technical information
to do his job efficiently. Each time someone logs into
the TOPES system a notice of new information
in the news unit is automatically received.
For example,
new office planning guidelines called TOPES-O-Grams,
or a new program feature called TOPES Notes, can be requested.
Messages and requests for graphic conferencing
from other engineers can also be received.
The fourth TOPES unit, the data unit, supplies space planners with a catalog of engineering symbols
and datasheets for hundreds of equipment frames
and equipment groups.
Now Joan Marshall is demonstrating the fifth unit of TOPES,
the archive unit.
It will have almost unlimited capacity for offline storage
and retrieval of records from the TOPES host computer
in order to save storage costs
and offer more convenience than manual systems.
Each of the five TOPES units we've seen
deals with an essential part of office planning and layout procedure.
Design, graphics, text,
engineering data and calculations for the preparation of floor plans
for central offices and transmission stations.
Also graphic teleconferencing for discussion
and approval of plans.
PLAN: computations to determine equipment and floor space requirements.
The TOPES Plan unit contains several modules:
Local, Toll, Power, Cable and Building. Some of these modules are still being developed.
NEWS: office planning bulletins about new equipment,
information about new TOPES features and messages from TOPES users.
DATA: floor plan data for equipment frames and equipment groups,
and a catalog of frequently used symbols for engineering drawings.
And finally, the ARCHIVE unit, for storage and retrieval of floor plans and records.
TOPES: Telephone Office Planning and Engineering System. It can save a planner
almost one-third of the time he or she would normally spend
to create a floor plan.
With TOPES complete office plans are being designed in three to five hours per thousand square feet.
It helps engineers because layout and design directly on the terminal
is fully automated.
The most up-to-date information is available immediately.
And alternate plans can be developed quickly.
TOPES is a modern efficient aid
for space planners and engineers.
hall