System 1240 (later System 12) was an ambitious new Digital Telephone Exchange developed in 1977 by

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three business ...

. It reportedly cost US$1 billion. It anticipated the features of

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Work ...

of the 1990s. BTMC_SYSTEM_12_ELC_CHIP_SET

The design was done at the Advanced Technology Center (

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and then

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.) Manufacturing was by ITT's subsidiaries, such as BTM in

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, where the first production system was installed at

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, Belgium, in August 1982. Initial sales, particularly in Europe and Mexico, were strong, but the new system took longer than expected to integrate, with further losses. Against the advice of headquarters, ITT Telecommunications ( ITT Kellogg) in Raleigh, North Carolina undertook the conversion to the US market, and although sales were announced in 1984 and 1985, the attempt ultimately failed, in early 1986.ITT System 12
at frankoverstreet.com

Reception

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'' reported that "Araskog focused the company on an all-consuming push to develop and market System 12" and "shoveled profits from good businesses into System 12's insatiable maw". System 12 was intended to operate in all markets, and in all modes, from local switches to long distance.

References

ITT Inc. Telephone exchange equipment Telephone exchanges {{telephony-stub