ISE Magazine, May 2019

I S E I C T S O L U T I O N S E D U C AT I O N 4 4 Smile Because It Happened The Disentangling From Copper to Fiber The only toll road I knew into adulthood was the one between Dallas and Fort Worth Believe it or not when the original construction was funded the toll booths were torn down and road was no longer a toll road That was a big deal that I remember well I suspect that my revulsion for perpetual toll roads comes from that memory Today travelling from Iowa to Indiana the only Interstate highway through Chicago is a toll road Planning a trip there recently I looked at the map yes I have one and saw Hwy 30 that would allow me to bypass without paying a toll I thought How much longer can it take Three hours on that road driving on ice and then water I experienced the reality After a dog with car sickness one roadside stop in Chicago Heights and one fall on the ice we finally arrived at the hotel On the trip back those 3 hours reduced to 38 minutes by paying 110 to use the toll road Toll roads are here to stay Conditions have changed and I must expect changes in circumstances to follow Massive Copper R D budgets are also a thing of the past Therefore we must expect changing circumstances The Engine Starting in the 1940s through the 1980s Bell Labs drove Western Electric and often the gap between the lab and the field limited progress The process was almost military in nature In fact the Western Electric catalog looked like it was copied from the U S Army Kudos to Bell Labs and Western Electric but it was time for others to have a shot The innovation that came from divestiture of the Bell System in 1984 was incredible Wonderous things were created you could almost feel the energy Divestiture made Western Electric compete with outside vendors The massive engine driving copper technology was so fast that a 2 week vacation would put you behind With divestiture came the requirement that Technology and Operations groups must depend on outside vendors This did not start out smoothly and it took years in many cases to work out the coordination Despite the struggles some amazing technology was created NETWORK MAINTENANCE CORNER vernon@ vmaysolutions com @ vernonmay12 As the Chief Technologist and Founder of Vernon May Solutions Vernon an expert in OSP and ISP Operations is focused on new technology introduction from Marketing and Sales to Design Enhancement to Training to Product Approval Along with writing a quarterly column for ISE magazine he also hosts seminars available throughout the country For more information please email Vernon or visit http vmaysolutions com