How synchronization evolved from analog to digital in the TLC world

We are back in the 1960s and 1970s, and the world is still analog: the home phone, with its reliable “hard dialer” that most people today have probably never seen (Fig. 1), is connected with a twisted pair cable to the public exchange. In Italy, it was the Società Italiana per l’Esercizio Telefonico (SIP Society), which has now become Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). If we try to connect with a client on the same exchange, our call will be handled by a Strowger switch, from the inventor Almon Brown Strowger, which connects us directly to the desired subscriber (Fig. 2).