The telephone network of the 1960s

In 1960 the transmission technology of the public switched telephone network was ordinary cable pairs, carrier systems on both paired and coaxial cable, and point-to-point microwave radio systems. Voice signals were frequency multiplexed for efficient transmission, but remained in analog form from end to end of a connection. Electromechanical switching systems provided circuit-switched connections, and about half of the customers could directly dial long distance calls. The following decade saw the beginnings of electronic switching and direct distance dialing on a global basis. Meanwhile, applying digital technology to achieve lower costs and better quality for voice transport began in earnest, and the interconnection of data terminals and computer centers became an increasingly important communications need. The initial data communications approach, still used with ever increasing sophistication and speed, was to convert data to speech-like form with data modems. Later, the direct connection of digital data to digital network facilities became the method of choice for building computer communications networks and the backbone of the Internet. It now appears likely that one day all signals, including voice, will be transported by unified high-speed digital networks with a common set of protocols.