American Telephone and Telegraph Inc. One of the largest US telecommunications providers. Also noted for being the birthplace of the Unix operating system and the C and C++ programming languages.
AT&T was incorporated in 1885, but traces its lineage to Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone in 1876. As parent company of the former Bell System, AT&T's primary mission was to provide telephone service to virtually everyone in the United States. In its first 50 years, AT&T established subsidiaries and allied companies in more than a dozen other countries. It sold these interests in 1925 and focused on achieving its mission in the United States. It did, however, continue to provide international long distance service.
The Bell System was dissolved at the end of 1983 with AT&T's divestiture of the Bell telephone companies. Today, AT&T operates worldwide in competitive, high-technology markets, with only its long distance services remaining under government regulation. With 2.4 million registered shareowners, AT&T's is the most widely held stock in America.
See also 3DO, Advanced RISC Machine, Berkeley System Distribution, Bell Laboratories, Concurrent C, Death Star, dinosaurs mating, InterNIC, System V, Nawk, Open Look, rc, S, Standard ML of New Jersey, Unix International, Unix conspiracy, USG Unix, Unix System Laboratories.
[Would someone write a story around those "see also"s?]
(07 Dec 1994)