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ORL and AT&T

The laboratory formerly known as AT&T Labs Cambridge was a great place to work. It went through several identity changes while I was there, starting as Olivetti Research Ltd (ORL), becoming the Olivetti & Oracle Research Lab, and then finally being bought by AT&T. I'd had connections with the lab for a long time, and worked there as a full-time employee from finishing my PhD in early 1996 until the lab closed in 2002.

Here are a few of the things I worked on there:

  • The Broadband Phone

    Broadband Phone - sketching

    I started the Broadband Phone project in early 1999. That was great fun! Fast-moving, high-profile within AT&T, and got lots of attention. People like gadgets.

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  • VNC

    VNC logo

    VNC is a system for sending graphics over networks, and it's used mainly as a way to control one computer desktop from another one.

    I worked on VNC for a couple of years, writing the original Windows and Windows CE viewers, and the first Windows VNC server.

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  • Augmented Vehicles

    One of our in-car computers

    My last area of endeavour at AT&T was on the Augmented Vehicles project, where we were designing more intelligent in-car systems to try and make time spent on the move more productive, safe, educational and enjoyable.

    One of the ideas we explored was context-sensitive phone management...

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  • Virtual Network Computing

    Tristan Richardson, Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Kenneth R. Wood & Andy Hopper, IEEE Internet Computing, Vol 2 Number 1, Jan/Feb 1998, pp 33-39

    VNC is an ultra-thin client system based on a simple display protocol that is platform- independent. It achieves mobile computing without requiring the user to carry any hardware.

    Downloads

    vnc-ieee.pdf
    1.79 MB
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