Bell Labs Lucent Technologies


Working here...
Our Computing Sciences Research Center has a distinguished history and position in computing research. Past contributions include operating systems (Unix, Plan 9, Inferno), languages (C, C++, AWK, ML), software tools (make, yacc, lex, f2c, spin), hardware (the Hobbit microprocessor), numerical software (netlib, AMPL), not to mention advances in fundamentals (computational complexity, discrete and numerical algorithms, semantics, verification). We are active today in several areas of computing sciences research---see our individual homepages to learn what we are up to. Our environment emphasizes both world-class individual research excellence and flexible collaborative connections, an ever-changing set of shared topics, among ourselves and with colleagues from Lucent Technologies and other institutions around the world. Two qualities that members would ascribe to our center without hesitation are intellectual intensity and the constant exchange of ideas across the widest possible array of interests. Familiar sights are people hard at work in their offices, people perched in other people's offices talking, people standing in the corridors debating technical points, and people sitting together bouncing ideas around. These features of the our local landscape generate an atmosphere that we feel is uniquely conducive to inspiration, creativity, accomplishment, and fun.

Recent history of Bell Labs


When AT&T split up in 1996, Bell Labs was split too, with some researchers joining AT&T Labs Research, a new research organization for the new AT&T. Most of our center stayed with Bell Labs as part of the newly created Lucent Technologies, a company formed from the systems and technology divisions of the old AT&T.  We also lost a few colleagues in subsequent splits when the companies Avaya and Agere were created.  

Lucent is technology-driven; its businesses rely on tangibles like networks, switches, wireless systems, optical fiber, chips, and consumer products, as well as on the software that designs, builds, runs, and supports them. As part of an expressly technological company, we have become more focused, more united, and more dedicated than ever to our center's inimitable mixture of research in multiple, complementary forms.

 In many instances our research is shaped by one person's insights; in others, it is guided by future technical needs of Lucent's business. And, of course, part of the mission of Bell Labs is to influence the future of science and technology through research excellence.

Computing technology bears directly on Lucent's business -- large communication switches, for example, are among the largest and most complex computers in the world -- so individually selected research topics often intersect Lucent's business interests. The rest of Bell Labs Research is a spectacular resource, containing leaders in many scientific and technological specialities; interchanges and interactions with these colleagues are exciting, productive, and encouraged. This spirit of cross-disciplinary collaboration is strikingly different from most university departments -- as is the freedom from writing grant proposals.

The center is itself multidisciplinary across significant portions of computer science. Although organized into departments, the center is best understood as a large group of talented researchers who focus their wide-ranging expertise in unpredictable ways on solving challenging problems.


Go to the Computing Sciences Research Center home page.

Modified: November 2004.
Credit: home icon by Renee French cornelia@world.std.com.
Copyright © 2004 Lucent Technologies. All rights reserved.