Not directly telephony-related, but UNIX arose from Bell Labs.
" Work on Unix began at Bell Labs after AT&T, (which owned the lab), " MIT and GE pulled the plug on an ambitious project to create an " operating system called Multics. " " The idea was to make better use of the resources of mainframe " computers and have them serve many people at the same time. " " "With Multics they tried to have a much more versatile and " flexible operating system, and it failed miserably," said " Dr Peter Salus, author of the definitive history of Unix's " early years.
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