Communications for Time Sharing at Bell Telephone Laboratories

The communications system proposed for provision of remote access to computers for users at Bell Telephone Laboratories is described with emphasis on the dial terminal arrangements. It is planned to offer time-sharing services from four large-scale computers located at the four major Bell Telephone Laboratories installations: three in New Jersey and one in Illinois. Provision of full flexibility of access is planned by utilizing the voice communications arrangements at each location to provide switching for the remote terminals and computer ports involved. It is proposed that the Bell Telephone Laboratories-Western Electric common control switching arrangement network (CORNET), which provides interlocation communication for users at the major locations as well as users at the various branch laboratory installations throughout the country, be utilized for this purpose. Areas of primary consideration in planning communications for the system are discussed, and proposed implementations reflecting these considerations are presented. The considerations largely concern the use of a single communications facility to carry a heterogeneous load resulting from the integration of traffic with two distinctly different sets of characteristics. A number of proposals toward making the most effective use of the telephone communications facilities to carry the two types of traffic simultaneously are described. These proposals are directed at specific equipment and program configurations utilized at the four Bell Telephone Laboratories locations studied. Specific implementations proposed herein include new central office arrangements, as well as new PBX configurations.