Original MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas, was it a Northern Switch?

[GordonKapesMZ4]

I ran across some drawings today of the original MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas built in 1973 and had a huge fire in 1980. I was reading witness accounts from the fire and they keep talking about the PBX and PBX room. I was also reading the drawings and noticed a telephone room with a series of consoles close to the switch. I guess many switches of the day were the old electromechanical switches, but the description on the witness accounts from the Operators almost sounds like it was a Northern Telecom piece of equipment. Does anyone know if this hotel had a modern PBX like an SL-1 etc? I'll post in general telephony too.

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

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[GHTROUT]

When I worked for ACS (now Xerox) outsourcing, we won the account to be their IT department. I was told it was a Nortel. This was in 2010/2011. I had the chance to interview, but I never got the feeling Telecon was in the scope of the outsource agreement. I was not interested in moving.

~~
Gene at GHTROUT.com

 

[KCFLHRC]

The current MGM is Nortel, our company just upgraded it last year.

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

Great information. Soooooo, any way you can find out what the original system was in the 1970s and after the fire if it was replaced or just upgraded? Very interesting. The Operators kept talking about a switchboard that had Red LED's that lit up like a Christimas tree when the fire broke out. Sounds so much like an SL-1.

The Telco plan in the documents I was reading was set up exactly like the SL-100 Operator Room at Purdue. There was an area for 6 positions and 1 Chief Operator office and a Lounge connected to a restroom.





"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

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[hawks]

Well the SL1 was introduced to the public in 1975 but Nortel had been working on that platform since 68 or 69. So who knows maybe the MGM with all of $$'s they put into this to be the Grandest Hotel there teamed up with Nortel. I know the Meridian systems were in locations for testing before they hit the public market. Just throeing it out there...

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

I am pretty sure Las Vegas is currently still a huge Nortel installed base city.....am I right?

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

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[epcompx2]

The current MGM (not Ballys)was installed with NEC 2400 and later changed (after 2002) to Nortel. Las Vegas in general has quite a bit of NEC, at one point they claimed 50% of the large hotels downtown and on the Strip.

 

[epcompx2]

Just an FYI... The MGM Grand Hotel that the OP was asking about is now Ballys. The current MGM was built "around" the old Marina Hotel in the early 90's.

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

So does anyone know what the original Bally's system was? Maybe it was carried over from the old MGM Grand. Doubt there are any veterans out there who remember what the old MGM Grand pre fire system was....maybe I'll post on the General Telephony forum. It's just curiosity.


"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com

 

[KCFLHRC]

Maybe the old switch is what caused the fire? LOL

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

LOL, no it wasn't that glamorous....it was a pie case. Every time the case would kick on and off it would vibrate the copper piping and rub against the aluminum conduit which eventually pulled on the electrical wiring till it finally arced and caused a fire. Crazy how a dumb pie case could cause that. What made matters worse is that the casino and deli where the fire started didn't have fire sprinklers because it was considered a 24 hour operation....but the deli's hours changed and the fire started when it was closed. Anyways....I am sure these hotels now have very advanced communication systems due to all of this.

"Keep the Peace, Use RLS"

http://www.joetheucxguy.com