Fault Tolerance
Composite switches are inherently fault-tolerant. If a subswitch fails, the controlling computer can sense it during a periodic test. The computer marks all the connections to the subswitch as "in use". This prevents new calls, and does not interrupt old calls that remain working. As calls in progress end, the subswitch becomes unused, and new calls avoid the subswitch because it's already "in use." Some time later, a technician can replace the circuit board. When the next test succeeds, the connections to the repaired subsystem are marked "not in use," and the switch returns to full operation.
To prevent frustration with unsensed failures, all the connections between layers in the switch are allocated using first-in-first-out lists (queues). As a result, if a connection is faulty or noisy and the customer hangs up and redials, they will get a different set of connections and subswitches. A last-in-first-out (stack) allocation of connections might cause a continuing string of very frustrating failures.
Read more about this topic: Telephone Exchange
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—Horace [Quintus Horatius Flaccus] (65–8 B.C.)
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—New Yorker (April 23, 1990)