IEE Electronics Division: Chairman´s address. Quality and reliability in a telecommunications system

User satisfaction with a public service is a highly subjective matter. It can be influenced by many factors, a high proportion of which are not under the control of the provider of the service. Techniques for gauging it are widely employed, but, for the purposes of system planning and equipment design, more objective - and hence quantifiable- criteria must be used. The Address deals with two of the subjective factors that affect customer satisfaction with a telecommunications service - quality and reliability. These, in turn, are strongly influenced by congestion and faults in the systems, and some practical aspects of each are discussed. The interdependence between intrinsic equipment reliability, fault-minimising configuration and good maintenance is emphasised. Some of the effects of the introduction of stored-program control into telephone exchanges, and the spread of microelectronics generally, are indicated.