IEEE History Center: Richard Snelling Abstract

Richard Snelling Oral History

Snelling studied Industrial Engineering in the University of Florida, while serving as a reservist for the Korean War.  He joined Southern Bell after graduating, where he specialized in transmission and special service engineering. He went back to school and received a master's degree in electrical engineering.  His career at Southern Bell ended as Executive Vice President for Southern Bell and Bell South.  He joined the AIEE in 1956; all of Bell System was in the AIEE, as were most people in the power and telephone industries.  He notes that IRE folks tended to look down on AIEE folks as dummies, while AIEE folks thought IRE folks were goofy flakes.  There were more IRE people in the space industry, so there was IRE dominance at the first Cape Canaveral region joint meeting after AIEE and IRE merged—an unusual occurrence.

Transformations in the telephone industry included, in transmission, the change from tiffin ring copper to electronics.  He notes engineering challenges posed by the attempt at reducing outside plant's investment, and that getting technology changes into the “last mile” was always the hardest part of transformation.  He discusses the tensions and dynamic between Bell Labs and the operating companies (Network Heads) in the 1970s.  He discusses how fiber allowed development of capacity without much investment.  He mentions frictions during the AIEE and IRE merger, joint meetings of Super Com and IEEE, and attempts at globalizing IEEE.

After Snelling retired from South Bell in 1991, he became involved with the Georgia Center for Advanced Telecommunications and Technology and the Olympics Committee.  He mentions his involvement in the development of intelligent network devices.  He talks about the dynamic between telephone companies and equipment manufacturers, and the role of the Antitrust Divestiture Act.  He discusses his activities in various boards after retirement, including DCA, Boston Technology, VSI, and Digital Wireless.  He talks about founding the Home Wireless Network company and Home Wireless Network' s new development of an interface platform.  He discusses standardization, including the IEEE role in standardization, and speculates on IEEE’s potential role regarding the Internet, the professionalization of engineering, and the globalization of engineering.  Snelling talks about the impact of the Cold War on networks' design, computer hacking as a real threat to national security, and powering and backup power during emergencies.