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Mondial ICC was the International Control Centre, the equivalent of a Manual Board, albeit done with screens and keyboards. |
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Mondial ICC |
Mondial ICC was the International Control Centre. Located on the sixth floor, Mondial's International Control Centre was officially opened on 3rd May 1984 by Lady Jefferson. [At the time, Sir George Jefferson was chairman of British Telecom.] |
The Brochure (1984)
The ICC is based on a 28 position ANE 40 system, and shares Ericsson switch block and processors with the Thames 2 ISC. Each operator working within the ICC is provided with a keyboard and VDU on which call details, including charging information, are displayed. The same information is also stored on magnetic tape, thus dispensing with the need for excessive amounts of paper for record-keeping. Each incoming call is queued and answered in order of arrival. In spring 1985, Mondial ICC is to be expanded to 58 positions. It will then be converted to an AXE/OPS system, working to a stand-alone digital switching unit at Keybridge House. The new Brighton ICC will also be connected to this centre, and so from the computer's point of view Mondial and Brighton ICCs will function as a single entity. [The Brochure]
Thames 2
There were two ICCs which were associated with Thames 2 ISC, one at Mondial building itself and one at Brighton, mopping up the skilled operators from the earlier BRICC (Brighton ICC). These used SPC (Stored Program Control) technology and were screen based. All the call switching was done by the ISC via trombone circuits. The screens worked remote via datalinks with speech circuits only for call set-up phase. [Peter Walker]
The Telephonists
I stayed at Wood Street 1 until 1986, when I moved to Mondial House. The people were great, but it had no telephone exchange atmosphere. It was completely computerised and as quiet as a morgue. I never thought of it as a switchroom. I missed the constant background noise of Wood Street 1 - the clunk that the weighted cords used to make when a call was cleared down, the constant click of the meters. Dare I say it, I even missed hearing my colleagues saying "International Service, which country, please?" in their funny London accents. By now, the powers that be had decided to change the salutation to "British Telecom International, can I help you?" Anyway, shouldn't it have been "may I help you?" At the time, it all seemed way too American for my liking and not far from "Would you like a milkshake with that!" [Andrew Roberts ]
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