AT&T Archives: The Hello Machine (Bonus Edition)

[Music] before Carol Ballard the director of the hollow machine had moved on to making full-length movies like the Black Stallion and never cry wolf he produced a series of now highly regarded short films this is one of them the film examines the building of an electronic switching system in Southern California the new system replaced the electromechanical system that came before it tripling the number of calls that could be placed over 18 t's long distance network it was the culmination of nearly 20 years of research at a development cost of 500 million dollars 10 times its original budget by 1974 when this film was made more than five million customers would have had their calls routed through such a system and it's this kind of human-to-human connection that Ballard tries to spell out in this poetic film he especially lingers on shots of the hands building the system the people at Western Electric weaving sewing and wrapping the wires that would soon carry voices this machine here in our archives is the original master console for the 4th version of the ESS the first fully digital system it was installed in Chicago in 1976 and could handle 600,000 calls per hour nearly doubling its predecessor today ESS systems are giving way to what's called a soft switch system designed to handle data as well as voice channels enjoy the film [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hi I'm here and I Puente know what I'll say stress one more chore uh anyway her I'm fine your geraniums a simpie listen we're having a surprise birthday party tomorrow night believe this I'm lost look you can't hurt you if I feel like that oh hey Joe [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: AT&T Tech Channel

Views: 62,968

Keywords: AT&T Tech Channel, AT&T, AT&T Archives, History, Technology, Communication, Invention, Innovation, Switching, 5ESS, Phones

Id: K_q_k_QDraQ

Length: 13min 14sec (794 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 01 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/mikelieman]

MeFi analysis -- https://www.metafilter.com/146147/Ballards-stance-is-that-it-takes-humans-to-connect-humans-not-machines

[u/[deleted]]

"You call these bagels?"

The guy at the beginning.

[u/rixoff]

(That's a 4ESS, not a 1ESS.) But what a wonderful link, thanks for sharing!

[u/stillwaxin]

Neato!