Laboratori Bell

Developmenthistory

TheBellTelephoneLaboratoryorBellLaboratorywasoriginallyaresearchanddevelopmentorganizationintheBellsystemthatengagedintelecom-relatedtechnologiesincludingtelephoneexchanges,telephonecables,andsemiconductors.

In1925,whenAT&Tpresident,WalterGifford(WalterGifford).AcquiredtheresearchdepartmentofWesternElectronicsCorporationandestablishedanindependententitycalled"BellTelephoneLaboratories."AT&TandWesternElectronicseachown50%ofthecompany.

TheworkofBellLabscanberoughlydividedintothreecategories:basicresearch,systemengineeringandapplicationdevelopment.Inbasicresearch,heismainlyengagedinthebasictheoreticalresearchoftelecommunicationstechnology,includingmathematics,physics,materialscience,behavioralscienceandcomputerprogrammingtheory.Systemengineeringmainlystudiesthehighlycomplexsystemsthatconstitutetelecommunicationnetworks.ThedevelopmentdepartmentisthelargestdepartmentofBellLabsandisresponsiblefordesigningtheequipmentandsoftwarethatmakeuptheBellSystemtelecommunicationsnetwork.

After1984,inaccordancewiththeUSgovernment'sagreementtospinoffAT&T,BellcorewassplitfromBellLabs.BellcoreprovidesunifiedresearchanddevelopmentservicesforaseriesofsmallBellcompaniesafterthespin-off.

In1996,BellLabsandAT&T'sequipmentmanufacturingdepartmentseparatedfromAT&TandbecameLucentTechnologies.AT&Tretainedasmallnumberofresearcherstobecomeitsresearchinstitution-AT&TLabs.

Importantresearchresults

In1933,KarlJanskydiscoveredthatthecenteroftheMilkyWaywascontinuouslyemittingradiowavesbystudyingelectrostaticnoiseinlong-distancecommunications.Thisradiowavewascalled3Kbackgroundradiation.Throughthisresearch,radioastronomywasestablished.

In1947,BellLabsinventedthetransistor.Participatinginthisresearch,JohnBardeen,WilliamShockley,andWalterHouserBrattainwontheNobelPrizeinPhysicsin1956.

Shannon(ClaudeShannon)publishedapaper"TheMathematicalPrinciplesofCommunication"in1948,whichlaidthefoundationformoderncommunicationtheory.HisresultsarebasedinpartonNyquistandHartley'spreviousworkatBellLabs.

BellLaboratoriesinventedthephotovoltaiccell.

BellLabsisalsothebirthplaceofUNIXoperatingsystemandClanguage.TheClanguagewasdevelopedbyBrianKernighan,DennisRitchie,andKenThompsonintheearly1970s.Inthe1980s,itwasdevelopedintoC++languagebyBiganiStrusschup.

Morethananyotherinstitution,BellLabshashelpedweavethetechnologicalfabricofmodernsociety.Itsscientistsandengineershavemadeseminalscientificdiscoveries,havelaunchedtechnologicalrevolutionsthathavereshapedthewaypeoplelive,workandplay,andhavebuiltthemostadvancedandreliablecommunicationsnetworksintheworld.

Today,astheinnovationenginebehindLucentTechnologies,BellLabsdesignsproductsandservicesthatareattheforefrontofcommunicationstechnology,andconductsfundamentalresearchinfieldsimportanttocommunications.Guidedbybothexperienceandvision,BellLabsistakingtheleadinshapingtomorrow'sbroadbandnetworkspoweredwithserviceintelligenceateverynetworklayer.

TheBellLabsDifference

ThenewBellLabsisspreadacrossmorethan10countries-thelargestR&Dorganizationfocusedontheneedsoflargeserviceproviders,theleadingsourceofnewcommunicationstechnologiesandthemostcreativeforceincommunicationsnetworkingtoday.

ThetechnologyneedsofleadingserviceprovidersnowdriveourR&Defforts.Forexample,wehaveincreasedourinvestmentinR&Dthatwillenablesimpler,more"service-friendly"networkswithmoreintelligenceineverylayer.BellLabsR&Dalsoincludesopticalnetworktechnologies,packetdatasolutions,circuit-to-packetnetworkmigrations,spread-spectrumwirelesstechnologies,andnetworkoperationandmanagementsoftware.

ThebreadthanddepthofexperiencethatthepeopleofBellLabsbringtothetableareunrivaledintheindustry.perhapsthatiswhy-moreoftenthannot-BellLabsprovidesthevisionandsetsthepacefortheentirecommunicationsindustry.Ourscientistsandengineersareconstantlypushingtheenvelopeofwhat'spossibleincommunications.

BellLabsissoproductiveitreceivesabouttwopatentsperworkingday.YetwhatBellLabsbringstoLucentanditscustomersismorethanaknackforcreatingnewtechnologies.Customers'needsfortechnologyintegration,fornetworkplanning,optimization,andmanagementhaveneverbeengreater.AndBellLabs,whichpioneeredsystemsengineeringandmanyareasofoperationsresearch,answersthiscallwithitsdeepunderstandingofhowlarge,complexnetworksfittogether.

ShapingtheFuture

PastBellLabsbreakthroughs-liketransistors,lasersanddigitalencryption-arethebasisoftoday'scommunicationsindustry.TheinnovationscomingoutofBellLabstodayarelayingthefoundationfortomorrow'snetworks.Examplesinclude:

Softswitches,the"Brains"ofanewnetworkarchitecturethatenablesserviceproviderstoquicklyintroducenewservicesandmanagetheconvergenceofvoiceanddatatrafficontheirnetworks.

Smartantennasandotherwirelesstechnologiesthatcanreduceequipmentsize,cost,andpowerrequirements.

RamanandL-bandamplifiers,whichexpandthecapacityofopticalnetworks.

Softwareandtechnologythatcanshortenservice-creationintervals,improvecustomerrelationships,reducecosts,andoptimizenetworks.

Inquisitionis

Whilethevastmajority-morethan90percent-ofthescientistsandengineersatBellLabsareapplyingtheirconsiderabletalentstotheneedsofserviceproviders,itisprudenttomaintainabroadertechnicalcapabilitythanwhatiscurrentlyrequiredbyourcustomers.Forthisreason,BellLabsmaintainsasmall,butprolific,long-termresearchprogram.Thatresearchexploressuchareasasthefutureofwirelessandopticalnetworking,theInternet,multimediacommunications,physicsandmathematics.Lucent'sinvestmentinlong-termresearchprovidesthe"seedcorn"toensurethatwemaintainaleadingpositionintechnologiescriticaltoourfuture.

Inthelastfewmonths, this searchprogramhasproduced:

Theworld'sfirstsemiconductorlaserthatemitslightcontinuouslyandreliablyoverabroadspectrumofinfraredwavelengths.

Thediscoverythatcrystalsintheskeletonsofmarinecreaturescalledbrittlestarsactasopticalreceptors.Bystudyingthem,wemightlearnhowtodesignbetteropticalelementsfortelecommunicationsnetworks.

Improvedsuperconductingmaterials.TheBellLabsDifference

ThenewBellLabsisspreadacrossmorethan10countries-thelargestR&Dorganizationfocusedontheneedsoflargeserviceproviders,theleadingsourceofnewcommunicationstechnologiesandthemostcreativeforceincommunicationsnetworkingtoday.

ThetechnologyneedsofleadingserviceprovidersnowdriveourR&Defforts.Forexample,wehaveincreasedourinvestmentinR&Dthatwillenablesimpler,more"service-friendly"networkswithmoreintelligenceineverylayer.BellLabsR&Dalsoincludesopticalnetworktechnologies,packetdatasolutions,circuit-to-packetnetworkmigrations,spread-spectrumwirelesstechnologies,andnetworkoperationandmanagementsoftware.

ThebreadthanddepthofexperiencethatthepeopleofBellLabsbringtothetableareunrivaledintheindustry.Perhapsthatiswhy-moreoftenthannot-BellLabsprovidesthevisionandsetsthepacefortheentirecommunicationsindustry.Ourscientistsandengineersareconstantlypushingtheenvelopeofwhat'spossibleincommunications.

BellLabsissoproductiveitreceivesabouttwopatentsperworkingday.YetwhatBellLabsbringstoLucentanditscustomersismorethanaknackforcreatingnewtechnologies.Customers'needsfortechnologyintegration,fornetworkplanning,optimization,andmanagementhaveneverbeengreater.AndBellLabs,whichpioneeredsystemsengineeringandmanyareasofoperationsresearch,answersthiscallwithitsdeepunderstandingofhowlarge,complexnetworksfittogether.

ShapingtheFuture

PastBellLabsbreakthroughs-liketransistors,lasersanddigitalencryption-arethebasisoftoday'scommunicationsindustry.TheinnovationscomingoutofBellLabstodayarelayingthefoundationfortomorrow'snetworks.Examplesinclude:

Softswitches,the"brains"ofanewnetworkarchitecturethatenablesserviceproviderstoquicklyintroducenewservicesandmanagetheconvergenceofvoiceanddatatrafficontheirnetworks.

Smartantennasandotherwirelesstechnologiesthatcanreduceequipmentsize,cost,andpowerrequirements.

RamanandL-bandamplifiers,whichexpandthecapacityofopticalnetworks.

Softwareandtechnologythatcanshortenservice-creationintervals,improvecustomerrelationships,reducecosts,andoptimizenetworks.

Inquisitionis

Whilethevastmajority-morethan90percent-ofthescientistsandengineersatBellLabsareapplyingtheirconsiderabletalentstotheneedsofserviceproviders,itisprudenttomaintainabroadertechnicalcapabilitythanwhatiscurrentlyrequiredbyourcustomers.Forthisreason,BellLabsmaintainsasmall,butprolific,long-termresearchprogram.Thatresearchexploressuchareasasthefutureofwirelessandopticalnetworking,theInternet,multimediacommunications,physicsandmathematics.Lucent'sinvestmentinlong-termresearchprovidesthe"seedcorn"toensurethatwemaintainaleadingpositionintechnologiescriticaltoourfuture.

Inthelastfewmonths, this searchprogramhasproduced:

Theworld'sfirstsemiconductorlaserthatemitslightcontinuouslyandreliablyoverabroadspectrumofinfraredwavelengths.

Thediscoverythatcrystalsintheskeletonsofmarinecreaturescalledbrittlestarsactasopticalreceptors.Bystudyingthem,wemightlearnhowtodesignbetteropticalelementsfortelecommunicationsnetworks.

Improvedsuperconductingmaterials.TheBellLabsDifference

ThenewBellLabsisspreadacrossmorethan10countries-thelargestR&Dorganizationfocusedontheneedsoflargeserviceproviders,theleadingsourceofnewcommunicationstechnologiesandthemostcreativeforceincommunicationsnetworkingtoday.

ThetechnologyneedsofleadingserviceprovidersnowdriveourR&Defforts.Forexample,wehaveincreasedourinvestmentinR&Dthatwillenablesimpler,more"service-friendly"networkswithmoreintelligenceineverylayer.BellLabsR&Dalsoincludesopticalnetworktechnologies,packetdatasolutions,circuit-to-packetnetworkmigrations,spread-spectrumwirelesstechnologies,andnetworkoperationandmanagementsoftware.

ThebreadthanddepthofexperiencethatthepeopleofBellLabsbringtothetableareunrivaledintheindustry.Perhapsthatiswhy-moreoftenthannot-BellLabsprovidesthevisionandsetsthepacefortheentirecommunicationsindustry.Ourscientistsandengineersareconstantlypushingtheenvelopeofwhat'spossibleincommunications.

BellLabsissoproductiveitreceivesabouttwopatentsperworkingday.YetwhatBellLabsbringstoLucentanditscustomersismorethanaknackforcreatingnewtechnologies.Customers'needsfortechnologyintegration,fornetworkplanning,optimization,andmanagementhaveneverbeengreater.AndBellLabs,whichpioneeredsystemsengineeringandmanyareasofoperationsresearch,answersthiscallwithitsdeepunderstandingofhowlarge,complexnetworksfittogether.

ShapingtheFuture

PastBellLabsbreakthroughs-liketransistors,lasersanddigitalencryption-arethebasisoftoday'scommunicationsindustry.TheinnovationscomingoutofBellLabstodayarelayingthefoundationfortomorrow'snetworks.Examplesinclude:

Softswitches,the"brains"ofanewnetworkarchitecturethatenablesserviceproviderstoquicklyintroducenewservicesandmanagetheconvergenceofvoiceanddatatrafficontheirnetworks.

Smartantennasandotherwirelesstechnologiesthatcanreduceequipmentsize,cost,andpowerrequirements.

RamanandL-bandamplifiers,whichexpandthecapacityofopticalnetworks.

Softwareandtechnologythatcanshortenservice-creationintervals,improvecustomerrelationships,reducecosts,andoptimizenetworks.

Inquisitionis

Whilethevastmajority-morethan90percent-ofthescientistsandengineersatBellLabsareapplyingtheirconsiderabletalentstotheneedsofserviceproviders,itisprudenttomaintainabroadertechnicalcapabilitythanwhatiscurrentlyrequiredbyourcustomers.Forthisreason,BellLabsmaintainsasmall,butprolific,long-termresearchprogram.Thatresearchexploressuchareasasthefutureofwirelessandopticalnetworking,theInternet,multimediacommunications,physicsandmathematics.Lucent'sinvestmentinlong-termresearchprovidesthe"seedcorn"toensurethatwemaintainaleadingpositionintechnologiescriticaltoourfuture.

Inthelastfewmonths, this searchprogramhasproduced:

Theworld'sfirstsemiconductorlaserthatemitslightcontinuouslyandreliablyoverabroadspectrumofinfraredwavelengths.

Thediscoverythatcrystalsintheskeletonsofmarinecreaturescalledbrittlestarsactasopticalreceptors.Bystudyingthem,wemightlearnhowtodesignbetteropticalelementsfortelecommunicationsnetworks.

Improvedsuperconductingmaterials

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