  A network of noisy bistable elements with global time-delayed couplings is
considered. A dichotomous mean field model has recently been developed
describing the collective dynamics in such systems with uniform time delays
near the bifurcation points. Here the theory is extended and applied to systems
with nonuniform time delays. For strong enough couplings the systems exhibit
delay-independent stationary states and delay-dependent oscillatory states. We
find that the regions of oscillatory states in the parameter space are reduced
with increasing width of the time delay distribution function; that is,
nonuniformity of the time delays increases the stability of the trivial
equilibrium. However, for symmetric distribution functions the properties of
the oscillatory states depend only on the mean time delay.
