Bell-Northern Research (BNR) and Nortel Memories

The purpose of this page is to preserve and share memories of BNR (Bell-Northern Research) and Nortel covering the twenty year period from 1981 to 2001. During this time, I was employed at BNR and Nortel at the Carling campus in Ottawa Canada. These were tremendously exciting years to be working in the telecommuncations industry.

About the BNR Logo

Many publications described the achievements of Nortel. For example the intent of telesis was "to portray BNR's technical progress to an international audience in telecommuncations, business communications systems, the scientific community and government". A more personal and "in the trenches" perspective was painted in the Global Reports from 1992 to 1995 (subsequently merged into the Nortel World publication). If there is sufficient interest from BNR and Nortel alumni in preserving some of these memories, a DVD of high-quality scanned images will be compiled and made publically available.

Excellence In Advanced Technology: The BNR Advanced Technology Lab 1990
Telesis 1991 1/2 FiberWorld (PDF 10Mb)

BNR GLOBAL REPORTS 1992-1995: Preview the first page of all 31 issues

Full Issues:
Feb, 1992 June, 1992 Feb, 1994

Here are some powerful images of Nortel and BNR from the past:

BNR Themes of Progress brochure (c. 1980) 12 page slide show ... click each image to advance
BNR Themes of Progress brochure (c. 1980) (PowerPoint version 19 Mb)
BNR Central Aerial Photograph (c. 1980) click for high-resolution image
Aug 1992 Global Reports: Boris Yeltsin visits BNR
Aug 1992 Global Reports: John Tyson on Corporate Design Group

The following sample represents the high resolution scanned quality planned for DVD compilation:

First page of 1992 first edition Global Reports (click image for page bottom)

Nortel Lab5 Design (c. 1993 PDF 13 Mb)

Bell-Northern Research Ltd: from The Financial Post selects the 100 Best Companies .. , 1986

2002 Ottawa Citizen article (Bert Hill) & 1996 John Roth letter to employees