AT&T and Bell Laboratories

Date: 15/07/13

Past and Present of AT&T and Bell Laboratories

Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French owned Alcatel-Lucent in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, United States. Previously it was a division of the AT&T Corporation (America Telephone and Telegraph Company). Bell Labs are credited with the development of radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, the charge coupled device (CCD), information theory, the UNIX operating system, the C Programming Language, R Programming Language and the C++ Programming Language.

The Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory, also variously known as the Volta Bureau, the Bell Carriage House, the Bell Laboratory and the Volta Laboratory, was created in Washington, D.C. by Alexander Graham Bell. AT&T is a Telecommunications Industry which develops, voice, video data and Internet to businesses and consumers.

The inventions and developments of Bell Laboratories had happened over a long period of time and they have proved to path breaking and very effective. Some of the important ones are as follows:

1920s

1924 - Bell labs physicist proposed a control chart to determine when a process was in a state of statistical control. First time Origin of the Modern Quality System -Six Sigma occurred.

1930s

Foundation for radio astronomy was laid. Investigated origins of static on long distance shortwave communications happened. He discovered radio waves being discovered from the centre of the galaxy. This was also the time when the discovery of electron diffraction which helped laid the foundation for solid state electronics followed by discovery of x-ray.

1940s

Photovoltaic cell was developed.

1947:  Transistor Point contact germanium device was invented. Transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronics signals and electric power. Later it paved the way for cheaper radios calculators and computers.

1950s

It revealed the method of Zone melting which enabled semiconductor purification zone refining.

1960s

The CCD was invented in 1969.

1970s

C programming was invented by Dennis Ritchie.

1980s

TDMA and CDMA DIGITAL Cellular technology was patented.

1990s

Invention of WLAN by the laboratory.

2000s

DNA Machine prototypes were developed.

The Split

At the time of the breakup, in fact, it was widely assumed in the business press that IBM and AT&T would now struggle for supremacy. What undermined such an assumption was the historical record: Everything Bell Labs had ever made for AT&T had been channeled into a monopoly business. “One immediate problem for which no amount of corporate bulk can compensate is the firm’s lack of marketing expertise.”

At present AT&T is one of the leading internet service providers and telecommunication industries.

http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/topics/mobility/

Various technologies and inventions are happening in their R&D section. Some of them are as important as invention of telephone. For example AT&T’s Enhanced Push to talk system. It brings walkie-talkie features to the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. Previously, the features were available only for Android 

devices.

http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/small-business/take-a-look-at-atts-enhanced-push-to-talk/

It is a wireless device also known as Press-to-Transmit, is a method of having conversations or talking on half-duplex communication lines. It includes on two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode.