Photographic Memory
1980: Switching to computerized telephone lines
Aramco has long worked to keep its employees and dependents connected, even in 1980 with a new computerized phone system.
Mohammed Humaida, foreman of the Telephone Switching Unit of the Communications Operations Department, inspects some of the recently installed switch equipment at the Dhahran Telephone Exchange. In 1980, a new computerized telephone switch had just been installed in Dhahran to keep pace with the growing community. The telephone switch connected individual lines when a number was dialed. The new system had 14,000 lines, which could expand to 40,000 lines. It replaced a system with 9,500 lines.