Holding the Phone

A steady, quiet ring of tiny phones can always be heard in the corridors of Rockwell Semiconductor Systems in Newport Beach. After all, hundreds of employees--including some of the system’s cleanup crew--carry wireless PBX phones.

The devices work through a private telephone switching system. Unlike alternative communication networks that use expensive digital equipment, PBXs use ordinary telephone wire to send information.

Hidden in the ceilings are hundreds of tiny relay stations that allow the portable devices to link up with the company’s regular interoffice phone system. Dial someone’s extension and the call can be routed either to the desk or to the hand-held phone.

But if the user leaves the building and walks more than 750 feet from a relay station, the phones won’t work.

“They’ve become our surrogate pagers,” said Ashwin Rangan, executive director for business process re-engineering and information technology. “It’s a really easy way for our staff--particularly our equipment technicians, infrastructure [workers] and administrative assistants--to stay in touch. If something breaks, we can’t afford to not know about it immediately.”

The communication network was started in 1995, when technicians realized the bandwidth used by some of their portable phones was causing the manufacturing equipment to work improperly. A standard phone installed inside the lab wouldn’t work either, because the wires could collect dust and contaminate the silicon.

The wireless PBX system works because the frequency is compatible with the company’s manufacturing equipment and the devices are so tiny that they don’t catch much dirt.

Today, 525 of the company’s 2,200 employees use the phones, Rangan said.

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P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com