Comment by eatonphil

2 years ago

The new home is still NJ: New Brunswick.

> When Nokia’s research arm, Nokia Bell Labs, said in early December the company will move out of the Murray Hill campus over the next five years to relocate to a new tech hub being built in New Brunswick, the announcement spurred an outpouring of memories online from current and former employees.

> Bell Labs’ new headquarters will be located at the HELIX innovation center in New Brunswick. Originally known as “The Hub,” the HELIX innovation center will be a large complex in the city’s downtown on the site of the former Ferren Mall.

More news on the real estate side of things:

https://re-nj.com/legacy-moment-inside-the-landmark-deal-to-...

I'm excited for New Brunswick here. Would love to see this small city develop. With relatively cheap cost of living, Rutgers, decent zoning (they've got a number of highrises and seem to be adding more), and being a few train stops away from NYC (and a direct bus IIRC?) it seems like a really compelling place to invest in.

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eatonphil

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stn8188  2 years ago

I agree that investment in the city of New Brunswick seems like a great idea for the reasons you stated. At the same time, it just feels so grand and historic to walk the same halls as the likes of Shannon, and it's a bit sad that I may not be able to see it again. (I've only visited a handful of times to work on some joint projects though). Hopefully the new lab space/equipment will be very modern and efficient though! One last thought... Traffic is gonna be a bear for anyone driving in! It was miserable a decade ago when I was at Rutgers.

  • ioblomov  2 years ago

    While I’m not saying Shannon never walked the halls of Murray Hill, his publishing A Mathematical Theory of Communication in 1948 meant that he was working at the lab’s previous location in the West Village…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Laboratories_Building

    • jakderrida  2 years ago

      1966?? So, like, pretty much all the world-changing, paradigm-shifting revelations were in West Village?

      So, while working with Verizon, they falsely claimed it to be Basking Ridge, NJ (which they bought and boasted as the Brains of Bell to invoke a symbolic victory of sorts) until I found out they were either lying or swindled and it was another place in Jersey. Yet again, I find out from you that it was just another fake "Brains of Bell".

      Even though I feel used once again, I do appreciate your post.

      5 replies →

fuzztester  2 years ago

>Murray Hill campus

Wow. I remember reading in some of the early books about C or Unix (such as K&R or K&P), the words "Bell Labs, Murray Hill, New Jersey" in one of the early pages, such as the Introduction, Preface or copyright page.

f001  2 years ago

Heh. I was wondering how they’d manage to keep people when moving to the Canadian province of New Brunswick… this makes a lot more sense.

timeimp  2 years ago

I got:

Access Denied - GoDaddy Website Firewall

Block reason: Access from your Country was disabled by the administrator.

from Australia.

I wonder why they'd block an entire country...