Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: barefoot@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Heath Roberts) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: NorTel Gets US Military Order (and "AT&T" Building in Baghdad) Message-ID: <16375@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 24 Jan 91 07:39:40 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Heath Roberts Organization: NCSU Computing Center Lines: 54 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 63, Message 6 of 6 In article <16336@accuvax.nwu.edu> eastick@me.utoronto.ca (Doug Eastick) writes: >I also heard (thru the Northern Telecom grapevine) that one of the NT >US switching divisions received an order from the US Military for a >portable switch to fit into a transport trailer, ready to deliver by >this Friday (Jan 25th). The switch should handle as many lines a >possible. Plan is to ship it to middle east to "replace damaged >telecom lines". >Dunno if it is a DMS or SuperNode but my guess is it will be brown in >color. Probably a containerized DMS-10, which is actually brown and green. NT keeps several at its RTP facility ready to ship in case of a service affecting emergency somewhere. One of these will handle about 10,000 lines in the standard package (not a full-sized trailer) which can be air-dropped. There is also a containerized version of the DMS-100, that is four full-size trailers, and can handle about 50,000 lines. This one's a little more expensive and not designed to be airlifted. But if we can ship an Abrams tank, why not? If your Supernode front end dies but peripherials are still OK, NT can ship you one in four man-portable boxes on any airline. They snap together and have fiber cables between the modules. The Supernode actually is a DMS-100, just with a different front end. The older version DMS-100 uses a proprietary processor called the NT-40, the Supernode uses either a Motorola 68020 (most common), a 68030 (in the field) or an 88000 (still in the works) as its main CPU. The peripherial modules are the same, and all the software runs on either verison. The Supernode can handle more messages per time than the NT-40, and the NT-40 is gradually being phased out. Within a year or two, new versions of software (called BCS for batch change supplement) won't run on the NT-40. Northern doesn't require you to buy new versions when they are released, so there will be some NT-40's around for quite a while -- Northern Telecom will provide pack repairs for twenty years from the date it's officially discontinued. There's a newer switch, the S/DMS-100, which is designed to have the horsepower for higher speed direct digital communications. Its market niche is for telcos that want to implement FiberWorld, which is a really cool concept in telecommunciations. NT has some marketing videos that are pretty interesting. I'll find out if they're available to the public and let everyone know ... I think you can borrow them for a couple of weeks without charge, but there is a deposit. Heath Roberts NCSU Computer and Technologies Theme Program barefoot@catt.ncsu.edu