This article is an attempt to provide one with no knowledge of telecommunications circuit switching with some insight into its complexity and technological progress. This subject has for many practicing telecommunication engineers been treated as enigmatic. The problem is that switching is a combination of many details. The power of modern technology has added to the complexity of the features and services that can be offered economically by these systems. Perhaps in no other area of telecommunication does the evaluation of the choice of technology and system architecture so obfuscate the true purpose of the system. The functional requirements of a switching system are relatively simple and easily understood, but the service and feature requirements are growing and being implemented at a rate greater than ever before. With its growth has emerged a new era of switching. It is the desire of the author to place the past and current technology, as well as the fundamentals into prospective so that the reader may be prepared for the new era in telecommunication circuit switching.