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Photographic Memory

1980: Switching to computerized telephone lines

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.