General Information

Serial #

14AA01564

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

SYNTHETIC CASING, KEYS & PARTS/ GLASS SCREEN/ METAL PARTS

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

27.5 cm

Width

26.6 cm

Height

24.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Telephony

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Northern Telecom

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

1988+

Canada

Launched by Bell Canada in Montreal in 1989 & Toronto in 1990, Alex was the last major attempt to commercialize videotex service in Canada. Using either terminal or pc, Alex offered residential users access to variety of information, messaging & home shopping services via telephone lines. Alex was commercial failure, due in part to high usage fees & paucity of services but was precursor to internet & world wide web.

Function

This terminal was home user component of the Alex videotex network which enabled users to have access to many services such as home banking, shopping, current events & information, travel & transportation, games & lotteries etc.

Technical

Data on Alex was formatted for North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax (NAPLPS), which was based on Telidon system developed in Canada. NAPLPS excelled in rendering of digital images and offered users visually richer on-line experience than text-only information services employing ASCII. Alex users employed special purpose terminal or personal computer running NAPLPS emulation program, which connected to system by modem over telephone lines; at telephone central office Alex calls were handed off to Videotex Access point (vap) which established link over datapac, public packet switched data network, to remote computers providing information services. Idon, which had been founded by former Telidon program director general, Herb Brown, and former Telidon program director of System Technology, Douglas O’Brien, was hired by Bell design the technology for the Alex Project. According to Douglas O'brien, the technology for Alex was based on a Norpak Mark 4 decoder. Interestingly, it also appears that the Alex terminal computer's keyboard was designed to flip up and close to protect it and to keep kids off of it.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

MOULDED LETTERING ON CASING FRONT & TERMINAL FRONT READS "Bell" & "ALEXtel"/ MOULDED LETTERING ON BACK READS "nt [LOGO] northern/ telecom", "MADE IN CANADA FABRIQUE AU CANADA", 120 VAC - 60 Hz - 1.0 AMP"/ LABELS READ "MODEL NO./ NT9G52AA", "Communications/ Canada/ 332 2794 A" & "nt [LOGO] northern/ telecom/ NNTM000001/ SER, NO. 14AA01564"/ BLACK & WHITE LETTERING ON KEYS & FOR CONTROLS

Missing

APPEARS COMPLETE

Finish

TEXTURED FINISH IN 2 SHADES OF LIGHT GREY/ WHITE KEYS

Decoration

N/A