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

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. A comprehensive table of contents for parts I, II, and II I can be found in the Online Collection of the Operations Research Home Pag e, at http://or.pubs.informs.org. We describe the work done in the Bell System up to about 1980, mainly at Be ll Labs, both in developing the techniques of operations research and in ap plying them to the telecommunications business. This account does not inclu de military OR or direct support of other federal government activities. Pa rt III covers statistics, data management, and economics.