Operations research at Bell Laboratories through the 1970s: Part I

This historical account of operations research at Bell Laboratories was dra fted in the late 1970s when the authors were part of the Operations Researc h Center within Bell Laboratories at AT&T; it has not previously appeared i n the open literature. We have added a few references to later publications that describe particular aspects of the period covered. Discussions of tec hnological practices and organizational arrangements expressed in the prese nt tense represent a viewpoint of about 1980, before "divestiture" split up the Bell System. The principal topics in this issue of Operations Research are the organizational history, and teletraffic theory and engineering. Up coming issues of Operations Research will include parts II and III of this account, comprising capacity expansion in telephone networks, operations an alysis, applied statistics, and related OR activities. A comprehensive tabl e of contents for parts I, II, and III can be found in the Online Collectio n of the Operations Research Home Page, at www.informs.org/pubs.