Northern Telecom Ltd has enhanced its DMS-100 public switching system, to give public telephone operators more control over the design and capacity of their networks. The enhanced system, called DMS-SuperNode, comprises hardware and software components that enable telephone companies to program their network nodes for the first time. It incorporates a duplicated 128Mbps bus, the DMS-Bus, which links up peripherals and applications processors to perform applications functions. Also included in the enhancements is a 32-bit microprocessor, called DMS-Core, that is claimed to double the system’s processing power and will, promises Northern Telecom, offer five times the current processing power by 1990. The company has added a networking software package, called DMS-Link, for Integrated Services Digital Network, ISDN, signalling. The company says it can handle both US and European ISDN signalling. Shipments have begun in North America to some of the Bell operating companies. Northern Telecom claims there are around 1,500 DMS-100 switches in service worldwide. US observers were unenthusiastic, suggesting that AT&T had been winning business at the Canadian’s expense on the grounds that its processors were underpowered, and that the Supernode upgrade would do no more than enable it to hold its ground.
