AT&T Labs
Encyclopedia
AT&T Labs, Inc. is the research & development division of AT&T
, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX; Atlanta, GA; San Ramon, CA; and Redmond, WA. AT&T Labs – Research, the 450-person research division of AT&T Labs, is based in the Florham Park and Middletown NJ locations.
AT&T Labs traces its history from AT&T Bell Labs, which had a distinguished role in many key inventions of the modern age. In the same tradition, researchers at AT&T Labs investigate fundamental scientific, mathematical, and engineering questions over a broad range of disciplines related to AT&T businesses.
Much research is in areas traditionally associated with networks and systems, ranging from the physics of optical transmission to foundational topics in computing and communications.
Other research areas address the immense technical challenges of large operational networks and the resulting massive datasets, leading to advances in fundamental data structures and multi-petabyte databases and data warehouses.
The growing complexity of networks—the increasing reliance on wireless communications, the emergence of cloud computing, and the growing number and sophistication of services built into the networks (VoIP, IPTV, gaming)—has spurred the creation of advanced statistical and correlation tools and new visualization and data mining techniques.
The proliferation of mobile devices has pushed for improved speech and language technologies and new multimodal interfaces, many of which adapt easily for assistive technologies. Researchers are also studying how real-time, geospatial data from mobile devices can aid community planners in understanding local social dynamics.
Powerful, ubiquitous wireless networks also present new opportunities in telehealth
and the smart grid where low-power sensors become part of the network, relaying a constant data stream.
All research projects depend on new ideas and innovative applications of existing ones. Fulfilling this function inside the Labs requires interdisciplinary work in mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and algorithms and optimization. From outside the Labs, additional expertise and new ideas come from collaborations both with other industrial labs and with universities. Over 70 active university collaborations not only contribute to individual projects but help cement long-term relationships with academic researchers.
(a Unix
shell programming language); UWIN
a package for running Unix applications on Windows; Graphviz
, a graph visualization system; Natural Voices text-to-speech software; speech recognition software; E4SS (open source software for developing telecommunications services); very large databases; video processing software; and other useful open-source tools and libraries. The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (now operated by the OEIS foundation) is the creation of AT&T Researcher Neil Sloane
.
Researchers at AT&T Labs have successfully transmitted 100 Gigabits per second over a single optical link. In 2009, AT&T researchers led the winning team in the Netflix Prize competition.
and Lucent Technologies
. Lucent retained the name Bell Labs
and AT&T adopted the name AT&T Laboratories
for its R&D organization.
AT&T Labs also traces its origin to Southwestern Bell Technology Resources, Inc. (SWB TRI) which was founded in 1988 as the R&D arm of Southwestern Bell Corporation. It had no connection to Bellcore, the R&D organization owned equally by all of the Baby Bells.
In 1995, Southwestern Bell Corporation renamed itself SBC Communications, Inc., resulting in the subsequent name changes of companies such as SWB TRI to SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (SBC TRI).
In 2003, SBC TRI changed its name to SBC Laboratories, Inc.. SBC Laboratories focused on four core areas: Broadband Internet, Wireless Systems, Network Services, and Network IT.
In 2005, SBC Communications and AT&T Corporation
merged to form AT&T
. AT&T Labs, Inc. became the new name of SBC Laboratories, Inc. upon the completion of the transaction. The merger brought in AT&T Laboratories
along with its research facilities in New Jersey
.
In 2006, BellSouth Laboratories was also merged with AT&T Labs. BellSouth Labs had offices in Birmingham
, Alabama
and Atlanta
, Georgia
.
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX; Atlanta, GA; San Ramon, CA; and Redmond, WA. AT&T Labs – Research, the 450-person research division of AT&T Labs, is based in the Florham Park and Middletown NJ locations.
AT&T Labs traces its history from AT&T Bell Labs, which had a distinguished role in many key inventions of the modern age. In the same tradition, researchers at AT&T Labs investigate fundamental scientific, mathematical, and engineering questions over a broad range of disciplines related to AT&T businesses.
Much research is in areas traditionally associated with networks and systems, ranging from the physics of optical transmission to foundational topics in computing and communications.
Other research areas address the immense technical challenges of large operational networks and the resulting massive datasets, leading to advances in fundamental data structures and multi-petabyte databases and data warehouses.
The growing complexity of networks—the increasing reliance on wireless communications, the emergence of cloud computing, and the growing number and sophistication of services built into the networks (VoIP, IPTV, gaming)—has spurred the creation of advanced statistical and correlation tools and new visualization and data mining techniques.
The proliferation of mobile devices has pushed for improved speech and language technologies and new multimodal interfaces, many of which adapt easily for assistive technologies. Researchers are also studying how real-time, geospatial data from mobile devices can aid community planners in understanding local social dynamics.
Powerful, ubiquitous wireless networks also present new opportunities in telehealth
Telehealth
Telehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. Telehealth could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone or as sophisticated as doing robotic surgery between facilities at different ends of the...
and the smart grid where low-power sensors become part of the network, relaying a constant data stream.
All research projects depend on new ideas and innovative applications of existing ones. Fulfilling this function inside the Labs requires interdisciplinary work in mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and algorithms and optimization. From outside the Labs, additional expertise and new ideas come from collaborations both with other industrial labs and with universities. Over 70 active university collaborations not only contribute to individual projects but help cement long-term relationships with academic researchers.
Achievements
Since its creation in 1996, AT&T Labs has been issued over 2000 US patents. Researchers at AT&T Labs developed the Korn shellKorn shell
The Korn shell is a Unix shell which was developed by David Korn in the early 1980s and announced at USENIX on July 14, 1983. Other early contributors were AT&T Bell Labs developers Mike Veach, who wrote the emacs code, and Pat Sullivan, who wrote the vi code...
(a Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
shell programming language); UWIN
UWIN
UWIN is a computer software package created by David Korn which allows programs written for the operating system Unix be built and run on Microsoft Windows with few, if any, changes...
a package for running Unix applications on Windows; Graphviz
Graphviz
Graphviz is a package of open-source tools initiated by AT&T Labs Research for drawing graphs specified in DOT language scripts. It also provides libraries for software applications to use the tools...
, a graph visualization system; Natural Voices text-to-speech software; speech recognition software; E4SS (open source software for developing telecommunications services); very large databases; video processing software; and other useful open-source tools and libraries. The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (now operated by the OEIS foundation) is the creation of AT&T Researcher Neil Sloane
Neil Sloane
Neil James Alexander Sloane is a British-U.S. mathematician. His major contributions are in the fields of combinatorics, error-correcting codes, and sphere packing...
.
Researchers at AT&T Labs have successfully transmitted 100 Gigabits per second over a single optical link. In 2009, AT&T researchers led the winning team in the Netflix Prize competition.
History
AT&T Laboratories, Inc., known informally as AT&T Labs, was founded in 1996, as a result of the split of AT&T Bell Laboratories into separate R&D organizations supporting AT&T CorporationAT&T Corporation
AT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
and Lucent Technologies
Lucent Technologies
Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
. Lucent retained the name Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
and AT&T adopted the name AT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories, Inc. was the research & development division of AT&T Corporation. It was founded in 1925 as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., following the merger of the research & development divisions of American Telephone & Telegraph and Western Electric.-History:In 1996, most of Bell Labs...
for its R&D organization.
AT&T Labs also traces its origin to Southwestern Bell Technology Resources, Inc. (SWB TRI) which was founded in 1988 as the R&D arm of Southwestern Bell Corporation. It had no connection to Bellcore, the R&D organization owned equally by all of the Baby Bells.
In 1995, Southwestern Bell Corporation renamed itself SBC Communications, Inc., resulting in the subsequent name changes of companies such as SWB TRI to SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (SBC TRI).
In 2003, SBC TRI changed its name to SBC Laboratories, Inc.. SBC Laboratories focused on four core areas: Broadband Internet, Wireless Systems, Network Services, and Network IT.
In 2005, SBC Communications and AT&T Corporation
AT&T Corporation
AT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
merged to form AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
. AT&T Labs, Inc. became the new name of SBC Laboratories, Inc. upon the completion of the transaction. The merger brought in AT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories
AT&T Laboratories, Inc. was the research & development division of AT&T Corporation. It was founded in 1925 as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., following the merger of the research & development divisions of American Telephone & Telegraph and Western Electric.-History:In 1996, most of Bell Labs...
along with its research facilities in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
In 2006, BellSouth Laboratories was also merged with AT&T Labs. BellSouth Labs had offices in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
and Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.