Raytheon BBN Technologies

BBN (Bolt, Beranek and Newman Inc.) now Raytheon BBN Technologies is one of the leading Research and Development companies in the United States dedicated in providing high-technology products and services to consumers. The company specializes in speech recognotion technologies, cyber security, advanced networking, sensor systems and information & knowledge technologies. BBN was one of the research companies involved in the development of ARPANET, which became the internet. The company was known for developing the packet switching, the first network e-mail and the first router. Robert G. Elmer serves as president of the company and its' main office is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Type:	Public
Industry:	ICT Industry
Founded:	1940
Founder(s):	Richard Bolt Leo Beranek Robert Newman
Headquarters:	10 Moulton Street Cambridge, MA 02138
Country:	USA
Website:	www.bbn.com
Key People
Robert G. Elmer, President

History

The Birth of BBN

BBN originated from the acoustics consulting firm founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professors Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek. Both men were in-charge of the MIT Acoustical Laboratory, which was known as the leading leading research and teaching laboratory in acoustics. Wallace Harrison, the architect who designed the United Nations headquarters in New York City asked MIT to provide consulting services for the acoustic design of the General Assembly Hall. The bidding request was passed down to Bolt and he won the contract. He figured that the job was too big and he cannot handle alone. He asked Beranek to help him with the project. At that time, the MIT administration was not interested in providing commercial consulting services but the institute allowed its employees to provide private consultancies during their free days. MIT rented out two rooms to Bolt and Beranek as their initial office and encouraged them to create a partnership, which was formed on November 1948. During the early years, Bolt and Beranek were working on the acoustical design of the UN General Assembly Hall, General radio Company and for New York City movie theaters that were previously awarded to Beranek. They were also providing noise control consultancies for some establishments. In 1950, Robert Newman became a partner of the firm. The partnership became Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) Inc. From an acoustics consulting firm the partnership became an innovative research and development company.

BBN during the 1950s

BBN became bigger during the 1950s. The partnership moved from the rented rooms at MIT to another office and eventually occupied a three storey building in Cambridge. Because of the rapid growth of the partnership, BBN was incorporated in 1953. Beranek resigned from MIT and served as Chairman and CEO of the company. In 1957, J.C.R. Licklider joined the company as vice president and head psychoacoustics, engineering psychology and information systems research departments. In 1958, he encouraged Beranek to buy a computer. Althought at the time he doesn't know what to do with the computer, he told Beranek that the company needs to get into the computer business to become famous and they need to learn what they can do to the computer. BBN purchased its first computer (LPG-30) worth $30,000 from Royal McBee company. The company had five research divisions including acoustics, life and information sciences, noise control, applied physics. Two of the division were involved in digital computing. Some of BBN's significant discoveries during the period include the voice masking for privacy, muffling system for Boeing aircraft which reduced the noise cause by the propeller by 15 decibels, structural dumping and the development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) program for pattern recognition.

Entry to the Computing Research

In 1961, BBN suffered a major setback when the specifications for the acoustic design of the Philharmonic Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York was not implemented by the architect. BBN spent millions of dollars and it took the company three years to modify the acoustic design of the hall. That particular contract damaged the reputation of the company. Beranek decided to redirect the company and engaged in other areas of research development. Licklider perceived the opportunity to push his vision in computing research.