Company Recognized for Helping to Shape Today's Entertainment and Broadband
Industries With Invention of Coaxial Cable Technology
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)
announced today that it will be awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy
Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. AT&T will
receive the award for its invention of coaxial cable technology, which
delivered the first broadband transmission medium nearly 75 years ago.
AT&T will receive the award this evening at a ceremony held in
conjunction with the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The
late Lloyd Espenschied and the late Herman Affel, engineers at AT&T Bell
Telephone Laboratories, were the inventors and founding fathers of the
broadband coaxial cable system. A U.S. patent for their invention was
granted in 1934, and the technology was used two years later to deliver the
first television signals. Coaxial cable ultimately was deployed around the
world to enable transmission of large volumes of voice calls and video
content.
"We are pleased to be recognized with a Technology & Engineering Emmy
Award for the invention of this landmark technology, which revolutionized
the way that voice and video services were delivered for decades to come,"
said Dave Belanger, chief scientist at AT&T Labs. "AT&T Labs is proud to
follow in the footsteps of Lloyd Espenschied and Herman Affel today as we
continue to drive innovation in the communications and entertainment
industries."
The coaxial invention is one chapter in a long history of innovation at
AT&T Labs, which includes thousands of patents issued or pending worldwide
and has a heritage that has produced seven Nobel Prizes. Today, the
company's researchers remain at the forefront of innovation in networking,
communications and entertainment applications. AT&T has developed and
deployed a range of new-generation technologies within its unsurpassed
network, which today supports more than 13.4 petabytes of Internet Protocol
(IP) traffic on any given business day -- the equivalent of more than 2.1
megabytes for every man, woman and child on the planet.
Additionally, AT&T is driving new innovations in the delivery of video,
data and voice applications and is building on the power and flexibility of
IP. With its AT&T U-verse(SM) IPTV platform, the company is delivering new
video entertainment features and capabilities that are unmatched in the
marketplace. And with the convergence platforms developed at AT&T, the
company is quickly integrating its wireless and wireline networks to enable
more seamless communications and content delivery across the three screens
that matter most to customers: the wireless device, the personal computer
and the television.
History of the Coaxial Cable
In the early 1920s, AT&T engineers recognized the need to carry
high-frequency signals across long distances, so Espenschied and Affel
worked for years to develop a new kind of broadband wire system that could
transmit a continuous range of high frequencies over long distances. The
men discovered that they could not only transmit voice over distances but
also reduce frequency losses and prevent outside interference by using a
coaxial conductor -- a copper cable lined with two concentric cylinders of
conducting material separated by air.
Espenschied and Affel jointly applied for a patent on a broadband
coaxial cable system of transmission in 1929. The invention was disclosed
in a prize-winning paper published in the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers magazine in October 1934; their U.S. Patent No. 1,835,031 was
granted that same year. Coaxial cable is recognized as the first broadband
transmission medium, which initially carried voice signals. In 1936, the
first transmission of TV pictures on coaxial cable was delivered from the
Summer Olympics, in Berlin, to the German city of Leipzig. That same year,
coaxial cable paved the way for television by allowing video from NBC's New
York studio to be sent to a transmitter on the Empire State Building.
Note: This AT&T release and other news announcements are available as
part of an RSS feed at http://www.att.com/rss.
About The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is a
professional service organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts
and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for
artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television
industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy
Award for News & Documentary, Sports, Daytime Entertainment, Daytime
Creative Arts & Entertainment, Humanitarian & Public Service, Technology &
Engineering, and Business & Financial Reporting. Beginning in 2006, NATAS
began recognizing programming produced for the Internet, cell phones, and
portable media players with its new Broadband Emmy Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Content for Broadband and Portable Delivery. Excellence in
Primetime programming and international programming is recognized by its
affiliate, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Regional Emmys are
given in 19 regions across the United States. Beyond awards, NATAS has
extensive educational programs including National Student Television and
its Student Award for Excellence for outstanding journalistic work by high
school students, as well as scholarships, publications, and major
activities for both industry professionals and the viewing public. For more
information, please visit the website at http://www.emmyonline.tv.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its
subsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers of
AT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their
offerings are the world's most advanced IP-based business communications
services and the nation's leading wireless, high speed Internet access and
voice services. In domestic markets, AT&T is known for the directory
publishing and advertising sales leadership of its Yellow Pages and
YELLOWPAGES.COM organizations, and the AT&T brand is licensed to innovators
in such fields as communications equipment. As part of its three-screen
integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings.
Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services
provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at
http://www.att.com.
(C) 2007 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the
AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property. For more
information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroom at
http://www.att.com/newsroom.
SOURCE AT&T Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.att.com
http://www.emmyonline.tv
CONTACT:
Jason Hillery of AT&T, +1-314-982-9160,
jhillery@attnews.us
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