 | | | About Bell Labs
More than any other institution, Bell Labs has helped weave the technological fabric of modern society. Its scientists and engineers have made seminal scientific discoveries, have launched technological revolutions that have reshaped the way people live, work and play, and have built the most advanced and reliable communications networks in the world.
Today, as the innovation engine behind Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs designs products and services that are at the forefront of communications technology, and conducts fundamental research in fields important to communications. Guided by both experience and vision, Bell Labs is taking the lead in shaping tomorrow's broadband networks powered with service intelligence at every network layer.
We invite you to learn more: The Bell Labs Difference
The new Bell Labs is spread across more than 10 countries - the largest R&D organization focused on the needs of large service providers, the leading source of new communications technologies and the most creative force in communications networking today.
The technology needs of leading service providers now drive our R&D efforts. For example, we have increased our investment in R&D that will enable simpler, more "service-friendly" networks with more intelligence in every layer. Bell Labs R&D also includes optical network technologies, packet data solutions, circuit-to-packet network migrations, spread-spectrum wireless technologies, and network operation and management software.
The breadth and depth of experience that the people of Bell Labs bring to the table are unrivaled in the industry. Perhaps that is why - more often than not - Bell Labs provides the vision and sets the pace for the entire communications industry. Our scientists and engineers are constantly pushing the envelope of what's possible in communications.
Bell Labs is so productive it receives about two patents per working day. Yet what Bell Labs brings to Lucent and its customers is more than a knack for creating new technologies. Customers' needs for technology integration, for network planning, optimization, and management have never been greater. And Bell Labs, which pioneered systems engineering and many areas of operations research, answers this call with its deep understanding of how large, complex networks fit together.
Shaping the Future
Past Bell Labs breakthroughs - like transistors, lasers and digital encryption - are the basis of today's communications industry. The innovations coming out of Bell Labs today are laying the foundation for tomorrow's networks. Examples include: - Softswitches, the "brains" of a new network architecture that enables service providers to quickly introduce new services and manage the convergence of voice and data traffic on their networks.
- Smart antennas and other wireless technologies that can reduce equipment size, cost, and power requirements.
- Raman and L-band amplifiers, which expand the capacity of optical networks.
- Software and technology that can shorten service-creation intervals, improve customer relationships, reduce costs, and optimize networks.
Research
While the vast majority - more than 90 percent - of the scientists and engineers at Bell Labs are applying their considerable talents to the needs of service providers, it is prudent to maintain a broader technical capability than what is currently required by our customers. For this reason, Bell Labs maintains a small, but prolific, long-term research program. That research explores such areas as the future of wireless and optical networking, the Internet, multimedia communications, physics and mathematics. Lucent's investment in long-term research provides the "seed corn" to ensure that we maintain a leading position in technologies critical to our future.
In the last few months, this research program has produced: - The world's first semiconductor laser that emits light continuously and reliably over a broad spectrum of infrared wavelengths.
- The discovery that crystals in the skeletons of marine creatures called brittlestars act as optical receptors. By studying them, we might learn how to design better optical elements for telecommunications networks.
- Improved superconducting materials.
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