貝爾實驗室是電晶體、雷射器、太陽能電池、發光二極體、數字交換機、通信衛星、電子數字計算機、蜂窩移動通信設備、長途電視傳送、仿真語言、有聲電影、立體聲錄音，以及通信網的許多重大發明的誕生地。自1925年以來，貝爾實驗室共獲得兩萬五千多項專利，現在，平均每個工作日獲得三項多專利。 貝爾實驗室的使命是為客戶創造、生產和提供富有創新性的技術，這些技術使朗訊科技（Lucent Technologies）公司在通信系統、產品、元件和網路軟體方面處於全球領先地位。
貝爾電話實驗室或貝爾實驗室，最初是貝爾系統內從事包括電話交換機，電話電纜，半導體等電信相關技術的研究開發機構。
1925年，當時AT&T總裁，華特·基佛德（Walter Gifford）。收購了西方電子公司的研究部門，成立了一個叫做“貝爾電話實驗室公司”的獨立實體。AT&T和西方電子各擁有該公司的50%。
貝爾實驗室的工作可以大致分為三個類別：基礎研究，系統工程和套用開發。在基礎研究方面主要從事電信技術的基礎理論研究，包括數學，物理學，材料科學，行為科學和計算機編程理論。系統工程主要研究構成電信網路的高度複雜系統。開發部門是貝爾實驗室最大的部門，負責設計構成貝爾系統電信網路的設備和軟體。
1984年以後，按照美國政府分拆AT&T的協定，從貝爾實驗室中分割成立了Bellcore。Bellcore 為分拆後的一系列小貝爾公司統一提供研究開發的服務。
1996年，貝爾實驗室以及 AT&T 的設備製造部門脫離 AT&T 成為朗訊科技。 AT&T保留了少數研究人員成為其研究機構——AT&T實驗室。
貝爾實驗室的重要研究成果包括：
1933年，卡爾·央斯基（Karl Jansky）通過研究長途通訊中的靜電噪聲發現銀河中心在持續發射無線電波，此電波稱為3K背景輻射。透過此研究而建立了射電天文學。
1947年，貝爾實驗室發明電晶體。參與這項研究的約翰·巴丁（John Bardeen）、威廉·蕭克利（William Shockley）、華特·豪舍·布拉頓（Walter Houser Brattain）於1956年獲諾貝爾物理學獎。
香農（Claude Shannon）於1948年發表論文《通訊的數學原理》，奠定了現代通信理論的基礎。他的成果是部分基於奈奎斯特和哈特利先前在貝爾實驗室的成果。
貝爾實驗室發明光電池。
貝爾實驗室也是UNIX作業系統和C語言的發源地。C語言是由Brian Kernighan、Dennis Ritchie 和 Ken Thompson 在1970年代早期開發的。在1980年代，又由比加尼·斯楚士舒普發展為C++語言。
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.
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. 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. 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
