electronic switching system (ESS)

Electronic Switching System (ESS) is an American term for a large telephone switching system of an exchange.

ESS systems are electronic switching systems operating in time division multiplex, which digitize the analog voice data, insert the digital data into the corresponding time slots and switch them to another line.

What switching components such an electronic switching system has is not clear from the designation. It can consist of electromechanical components, but also only of semiconductor components.