Computer And Telephone Centre Costs £60,000

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30941, 23 December 1965, Page 10

Computer And Telephone Centre Costs £60,000

The £60,000 computer centre and telephone exchange building for the University of Canterbury will house one of the biggest installations of both kinds in New Zealand. The floor area will be 11,000 square feet. The telephone exchange on the ground floor will be the biggest in Christchurch, possibly in the Dominion, with provision for 1300 extensions. This floor will be ready in 14 weeks to allow the Post Office four months to install its P.A.B.X. exchange, the most modern available. Calls from Gate

There will be up to four operators who will also work an entrance communication system believed to be unique. Visitors arriving at any of the five main gates of the new university will speak from their cars into a vandalproof microphone stating the person or office on which they wish to call.

The operator will reply with directions on how to get to the particular building, where to park, and where to find the person wanted. Later the service may be extended to reporting when any person is out, thus saving waste of time for all concerned. The new School of Science will have only a limited telephone service in the next few months through the School of Engineering exchange. When the new main exchange comes into operation in July or August it will

probably be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and may eventually give continuous service. Second Computer

The computer centre on the overhanging upper floor will be ready in 30 weeks. To it will be moved the Mobil computer and ancillary equipment from the School of Engineering.

The university is considering the purchase of a second computer as the one now in use is working 18 to 22 hours a day, seven days a week, the Vice-Chancellor (Dr. L. L. Pownall) announced. Dr. Pownall said that the additional equipment was needed for research purposes and also for use by the registry, which planned increasing computer control and analysis of many of its operations. It is expected that the new computer centre will be functioning toward the end of next year.