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We Pay Tribute to Erlang
Most modern call centers continue to make mission critical decisions based on technology that Agner Erlang invented over 100 years ago.
Agner was a brilliant scientist but he died before the invention of the computer. He worked in an era where most calls were local calls--because few long distance lines had been run.
He endured tremendous technological limitations because the switches of his day only counted calls on a crude odometer. Constrained by such limited information, he developed a method of estimating port and agent requirements. He had to compromise accuracy and assume that calls arrive randomly.
Erlang warned us of the limitations of this approach. He cautioned that his methods should not be used in relation to non-random call activity such as peak hours, opening hours, etc.
He also advised us that he would quickly abandon his own methods if he ever had access to the details of inter-arrival times.
If Erlang were alive today he would no doubt be shocked and disappointed to find the modern telecommunications industry is still using the methods that he designed for circumstances long since extinct.
L3 Prime pays tribute to Agner Erlang by being the first to build the technology that Erlang would have built--if he had only had access to a computer and a telephone bill.
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