Contel Lowers The Boom On IPC Brass; Salomon Left Holding Analog Turret?

Widespread depression in the North American key telephone business hit Contel IPC last week as all but a handful of its top executives were dismissed. The terminations, which came at the hands of Atlanta-based Contel Corp., IPC's parent company, follow two years of decreasing sales and periodic layoffs.

The scant detail of the shakeout released by IPC leaves unresolved the status of its deal with Salomon Brothers Inc. to install between 700 and 1000 analog key telephone positions in early