I am honored to participate on the AT&T Black Innovators Panel on Feb. 9. I especially want to highlight two Bell Labs contemporaries on the panel. My friend Dr. Marian Croak pioneered voice-over-IP technology and holds more than 100 patents in the field. Dr. James West is the inventor of the electret transducer microphone that is at the heart of practically every modern mobile communication device. After seven years at AT&T Bell Labs, I formed Telecom Analysis Systems (TAS) Inc. with Bell Labs colleagues Steve Moore and Charles Simmons. TAS (now Spirent Communications) produced advanced performance testing instruments for the telecommunications industry. We sold our equipment to telecommunications equipment developers in more than twenty-five countries.
AT&T is to be commended for leading the charge toward diversity in tech. The talent and technologies they sponsored quite literally form the framework for our modern world. Other technology companies can learn from the formula established by AT&T Bell Labs: diversity + excellence = success.
I’m looking forward to a lively discussion in front of the AT&T employee community, students who participate in AT&T mentorship programs, and guests.
