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Lucent Technologies

Lucent Technologies is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lucent Technologies rather than just read about it. In short: Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies business unit of AT&T Corporation, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs.

Lucent Technologies — main illustration
Lucent Technologies — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Lucent Technologies belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Lucent Technologies to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Lucent Technologies from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies business unit of AT&T Corporation, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs. Lucent was acquired by the French technology company Alcatel on December 1, 2006, forming Alcatel-Lucent.

Name Lucent means "light-bearing" in Latin. The name was applied for in 1996 at the time of the split from AT&T. The name was widely criticised, as the logo was to be, both internally and externally. Corporate communications and business cards included the strapline 'Bell Labs Innovations' in a bid to retain the prestige of the internationally famous research lab, within a new business under an as-yet unknown name. This same linguistic root also gives Lucifer, "the light bearer" (from lux, 'light', and ferre, 'to bear'), who is also a character in Dante's epic poem Inferno. Shortly after the Lucent renaming in 1996, Lucent's Plan 9 project released a development of their work as the Inferno OS in 1997. This extended the 'Lucifer' and Dante references as a series of punning names for the components of Inferno - Dis, Limbo, Charon and Styx (9P Protocol). When the rights to Inferno were sold in 2000, the company Vita Nuova Holdings was formed to represent them. This continues the Dante theme, although moving away from his Divine Comedy to the poem La Vita Nuova.

Logo The Lucent logo, the Innovation Ring, was designed by Landor Associates, a prominent San Francisco-based branding consultancy. One source inside Lucent says that the logo is a Zen Buddhist symbol for "eternal truth", the Ensō, turned 90 degrees and modified. Another source says it represents the mythic ouroboros, a snake holding its tail in its mouth. Lucent's logo also has been said to represent constant re-creating and re-thinking. Carly Fiorina picked the logo because her mother was a painter and she rejected the sterile geometric logos of most high tech companies. After the logo was compared in the media to the ring a coffee mug leaves on paper, a Dilbert comic strip showed Dogbert as an overpaid consultant designing a new company logo; he takes a piece of paper that his coffee cup was sitting on and calls it the "Brown Ring of Quality". A telecommunication commentator referred to the logo as "a big red zero" and predicted financial losses.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Lucent Technologies: Lucent headquarters, Murray Hill, New Jersey, 2007
Lucent headquarters, Murray Hill, New Jersey, 2007
Lucent Technologies: Lucent Technologies Nuremberg building was an expansion to two existing buildings in Germany previously owned by Philips Kommunikations Industrie and acquired by AT&T Network Systems.
Lucent Technologies Nuremberg building was an expansion to two existing buildings in Germany previously owned by Philips Kommunikations Industrie and acquired by AT&T Network Systems.
Lucent Technologies: Lucent Technologies building at Highlands Ranch, Colorado. This center building is address 8742 Lucent Blvd and later became Alcatel-Lucent. The other two buildings on the left and right were also built for Lucent until one was later used by Avaya.
Lucent Technologies building at Highlands Ranch, Colorado. This center building is address 8742 Lucent Blvd and later became Alcatel-Lucent. The other two buildings on the left and right were also built for Lucent until one was later used by Avaya.
Lucent Technologies: Lucent Technologies buildings were former Philips Telecommunications buildings in Larenseweg, Hilversum, Netherlands. Two out of the four office buildings were demolished in 2015. The former office parking lot became a school building named Lucent College.
Lucent Technologies buildings were former Philips Telecommunications buildings in Larenseweg, Hilversum, Netherlands. Two out of the four office buildings were demolished in 2015. The former office parking lot became a school building named Lucent College.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lucent Technologies

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lucent Technologies claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lucent Technologies before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lucent Technologies ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lucent Technologies

In research
Lucent Technologies appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Lucent Technologies in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Lucent Technologies is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2006 mergers and acquisitions, Alcatel-Lucent, American companies established in 1996, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Lucent Technologies outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lucent Technologies in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Lucent Technologies means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Lucent Technologies out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lucent Technologies in simple terms?

Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the divestiture of the former AT&T Technologies business unit of AT&T Corporation, which included Western Electric…

Why does Lucent Technologies matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lucent Technologies?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lucent Technologies.

Tags

  • 2006 mergers and acquisitions
  • Alcatel-Lucent
  • American companies established in 1996
  • Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
  • Defunct companies based in New Jersey
  • Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States
  • Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2006
  • Telecommunications companies established in 1996
  • Telecommunications equipment vendors

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