science

PTAT Systems

PTAT Systems is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand PTAT Systems rather than just read about it. In short: Private Trans-Atlantic Telecommunication Systems, (PTAT Systems) was an American telecommunications company. The company was created in March 1984 as Tel-Optik, and filed a Cable Landing License application in September 1984 and together with Cable and Wireless of the United Kingdom, built the first privately financed transatlantic fiber-optic cable, PTAT-1.

Key takeaways

PTAT Systems belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect PTAT Systems to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of PTAT Systems from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Private Trans-Atlantic Telecommunication Systems, (PTAT Systems) was an American telecommunications company. The company was created in March 1984 as Tel-Optik, and filed a Cable Landing License application in September 1984 and together with Cable and Wireless of the United Kingdom, built the first privately financed transatlantic fiber-optic cable, PTAT-1. It was turned on in May 1989 and was sold to Sprint Corporation in August 1989. PTAT-1 consisted of 3 operational fiber pairs and one spare fibre pair. The total bandwidth was 27 DS-3 channels of 45 Mbit/s each - a total of roughly 1.2 Gbit/s. When PTAT-1 was turned on it was 2/3s of the total bandwidth available across the Atlantic at the time. PTAT-1 was turned off when much larger systems made PTAT-1 no longer worth operating. The main spur of PTAT-1 linked New York and London via Manasquan NJ in the US, and Brean in the UK. A single fiber pair was looped down to Bermuda and up to Ireland providing 4 way connectivity. When planning started in the summer of 1983, the longest fiber system in the US was less than a mile long and ran at 1.5 Mbit/s, a T-1. The company was founded on premise that introducing international telecommunication competition would be easier via cable than via satellite, due to the regulatory environment that protected the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization. The relevant regulation for a cable system was the Cable Landing License Act of 1921, which stipulated that the party at the other end of the cable be acceptable to the US. As a result of the competitive pressure that PTAT-1 introduced to the international telecommunications market, by the time the system was turned on, the international telecom monopoly between AT&T and British Telecom was broken, and the cost of international telecommunications plummeted. PTAT-1 set the stage for the explosion of fiber optic systems which now circle the world. The founders of PTAT System, Inc. were Ron Coleman, Brian Hughes, Jim McGillan, and Konnie Schaefer. E. F. Hutton & Co. was the major financial partner in PTAT Systems. Ron Coleman was chairman and Konnie Schaefer was the president when the Cable Landing License was filed. Ron Coleman was CEO and chairman when the company was acquired by Sprint in 1989.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with PTAT Systems

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what PTAT Systems claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to PTAT Systems before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about PTAT Systems ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of PTAT Systems

In research: PTAT Systems appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses PTAT Systems in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: PTAT Systems is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Telecommunications companies of the United States, Transatlantic telecommunications, United States telecommunications company stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for PTAT Systems outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study PTAT Systems in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what PTAT Systems means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain PTAT Systems out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is PTAT Systems in simple terms?

Why does PTAT Systems matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study PTAT Systems?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on PTAT Systems.