Communications: ESS: Minimonster: `Monstrous¿ in capability, super in speed, Bell´s ESS needs less than one fourth the space of crossbar

An important aspect of electronic switching is the availability of customer services and administrative features made possible by stored program control. More than 480 features and services are now available in the Bell´s No.1 ESS, and by the end of this year this system will include almost twice the number of features previously available in the most sophisticated electromechanical switching systems. Flexibility, as was originally predicted, has proved to be the most important advantage achievable with stored program control. Furthermore, it has been possible to reprogram the systems to obtain greater capacity through the use of improved program techniques. The demand for new No.1 ESS features is growing and being met expeditiously, but the rate of new feature introductions is still insufficient to satisfy all requests.