LOS ANGELES-As the official communications and wireless company of the 2000 Democratic National Convention, SBC Communications Inc. provided voice, data, video and wireless services for the four-day convention, and the more than 15,000 journalists and 5,000 participating delegates.
SBC noted that more than 450 digital subscriber lines were installed for the convention, the largest number ever for a single event in the United States. In addition, 5,000 miles of copper wire have been added to the convention sites; more than 6,000 phone lines have been installed to support voice and data communications; and to support a projected capacity of 10,000 direct lines, two prefixes were reserved for convention use-336 and 362.
“SBC has been planning for this convention and the broadcast activities associated with it for the past 18 months,” said Rich Motta, vice president for DNC operations for SBC. “We’ve been thinking through the impacts on the network and engineering improvements, allowing for the fact that we are not only providing infrastructure for the convention-but for use long after the final gavel closes the event.”
To commemorate the convention, a limited-edition red, white and blue faceplate imprinted with the DNC2000 logo accompanies Nokia 5190 handsets purchased by delegates and journalists.
