Bell-Northern Research (BNR) was a telecommunications research and development company established In 1971 when Bell Canada and Northern Electric combined their R&D organizations. It was jointly owned by Bell Canada and Northern Telecom. BNR was absorbed into Nortel Networks when that company changed its name from Northern Telecom in the mid-1990s.

BNR was based at the Carling Campus in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with campuses at locations around the world, including Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Richardson, Texas; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Harlow and Maidenhead, United Kingdom. Bell-Northern Research pioneered the development of digital technology, and created the first practical digital PBX, (SL1), and central office (DMS). Under the direction of then Nortel Chief Executive Officer, John Roth, BNR lost its separate identity in the 1990s, and was folded into the Nortel R&D organization.

History

For much of its early history, Bell Canada operated as the Canadian division of the Bell System. Development and manufacturing of their various telephony products generally took place in the US, and then, to avoid duty, were manufactured in Canada at their Northern Electric subsidiary (which would later become Nortel Networks), the Canadian analog to the US Western Electric.

Pre-1970s

Northern Electric spun off a subsidiary in 1934, Dominion Sound Equipment, originally to develop equipment for sound in movies. Over time, the division evolved in an attempt to use its design talent and manufacturing ability on third party projects. In 1937, this aspect became the Special Products Division. For many years the SPD was used as Bell Canada's R&D arm, although as before, most telephony designs were created at Bell Labs in the US.

In 1949, the United States Justice department attempted to force AT&T to divest itself of its Western Electric subsidiary. As a result of this legal action, Western Electric sold its shares in Northern Electric to Bell Canada.

In 1957, Northern Electric started its own research and development labs in Belleville, Ontario. Two years later, Northern Electric created the Northern Electric Research and Development Laboratories in Ottawa.

1970s

In 1971, Bell Canada and Northern Electric combined their R&D organizations and formed Bell-Northern Research. J.W.J. Williams, the inventor of Heapsort was also an influential figure in the development of digital switching.

As part of its internal IT infrastructure, BNR also created an email system called COCOS (COrporate COmmunication System), and a powerful relational database system called GERM (General Entity-Relationship Model).

BNR also had labs in Maidenhead, England, Montreal, Quebec, Edmonton, Alberta, Wollongong, Australia, and Tokyo, Japan; as well as Atlanta, Georgia and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1990s

With the formation of Bell Canada Enterprises (later shortened to BCE) in 1983 as the parent company of Bell Canada and Northern Telecom, BNR in Canada was jointly owned 50-50 by Bell Canada and Nortel. Nortel assumed a majority share in BNR in 1996, and BNR was gradually folded into Nortel, which acquired the remainder of BNR when BCE divested itself of Nortel. Unfortunately, the collapse in demand for Nortel products in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble, which occurred after aggressive spending on acquisitions and hiring under CEO John Roth, required Nortel to trim its workforce from 96,000 (in 2001) to 35,000 people (as of 2006).

See also

  • Nortel Networks
  • Bell Canada
  • Nortel Retirees and former employees Protection Canada (NRPC)

References

  • Knights of the New Technology: The Inside Story of Canada's Computer Elite, Longmans 1983, describes the innovations, and some of the personalities.
  • B-NSR