TOPS - Traffic Operator Position System is a computerized operator

telephone switchboard A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange ...

designed by Bell-Northern Research Labs for the SP-1 4 Wire Switch in the early 1970s and still widely used today by toll and directory-assistance operators. The terminals known as 'TOPS Positions' are usually connected to

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was foun ...

DMS-100 The DMS-100 is a member of the Digital Multiplex System (DMS) product line of telephone exchange switches manufactured by Northern Telecom. Designed during the 1970s and released in 1979, it can control 100,000 telephone lines. The purpose of ...

and DMS-200

telephone switch telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syste ...

es.

Systems

Below are some of the different TOPS systems developed:

TOPS MP

TOPS Multipurpose Position. An earlier-generation operator position for toll and assistance and directory assistance.

TOPS - MPX

A previous-generation operator position based on industry-standard personal computer customized with Nortel Networks components and interfaces to provide connectivity with IBM directory databases.

TOPS

Traffic Operator Position System. Nortel Networks' operator services system is based on the DMS TOPS switch.

TPC

TOPS Position Controller. (Previous generation equipment required for TOPS MP positions) The processing unit provides intelligence and interfaces to the switch for up to four TOPS MP operator positions.

Technical details

The Class 5 switch system for Traffic Operator Position System (TOPS) enables the definition of up to 255 unique

queue __NOTOC__ Queue () may refer to: * Queue area, or queue, a line or area where people wait for goods or services Arts, entertainment, and media *''ACM Queue'', a computer magazine * ''The Queue'' (Sorokin novel), a 1983 novel by Russian author ...

s of calls to operators—and up to 255 unique profiles defining the responsibilities of operators and teams, that is, the queues from which they can draw calls. This technology was first introduced in the DMS 200/300. Previously, only four queues were available, all straight-line models, forecasted with

Erlang distribution The Erlang distribution is a two-parameter family of continuous probability distributions with support x \in exponential distribution">exponential variables with mean 1/\lambda each. Equivalently, it is the distribution of the time until the '' ...

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

s and table look-ups. Now, a vast array of queues were available, with variable grades of service, served by multiple queues of operators in both primary and secondary capacity. The lookup tables were no longer capable of forecasting for this complex queueing environment. TOPS Keyboard

Above: A picture of a keyboard from the Nortel TOPS position (terminal)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tops (Nortel) Telephone exchanges