AT&T Labs Research - Spring 2013

For the Long Haul: Maximizing Transmission Distances for 400-Gb/s Signals over the Existing Grid

by: Xiang Zhou, Lynn Nelson, Pete Magill, Mon May 13 12:34:00 EDT 2013

As network traffic continues to increase exponentially, the IEEE is mulling a faster Ethernet standard (400 Gb/s) to send even more data over the network—good news for content providers. Network providers, responsible for delivering all this data, will need to increase capacity.

With spectrum well-utilized, finding more capacity will entail tradeoffs. To understand those tradeoffs, researchers tested a novel method that tunes spectral efficiency for each link, in the process setting a distance record (12000 km) for high spectral efficiency (4.125 b/s/Hz) over the existing 100-GHz grid. Read more.

TwitterScope for Exploring, Monitoring Tweets

400+ million tweets daily. Collectively they serve as a real-time indicator of trending topics; individually they contain information of interest—if they can be found. To locate specific tweets while monitoring overall trends, AT&T researchers created TwitterScope. In passive mode, TwitterScope gives an overview of current topics. Used as a data exploration tool, it lets users mouse over tweets to read, save, or retweet them, follow an embedded link, or see past tweets.

New Models Project Dramatically Greener Arctic

Arctic wooded areas may expand as much as 50% in the next decades say a team of scientists who used new machine-learning algorithms to model the redistribution of vegetation in the Arctic under future climate conditions. The models suggest warming is accelerating faster than expected. The team, led by Richard Pearson of the American Museum of Natural History, included AT&T researcher Steven Phillips and several university scientists. Results were published in Nature Climate Change.

Interactions Corporation Will License AT&T WATSON

AT&T and Interactions Corporation announced a licensing agreement to incorporate AT&T Watson(SM) speech technology into Interactions' speech-enabled virtual-assistant applications for businesses. The companies will also collaborate on speech-powered virtual assistants for customer care. "What we're delivering represents a quantum leap beyond anything that's been possible with applications built around conventional ASR technology," said Michael Iacobucci, CEO of Interactions.