Editing Nortel (section)

=== Independence from Western Electric ===
In 1949, an [[antitrust]] suit in the United States forced [[AT&T Corporation|AT&T]]/[[Western Electric]] to sell its stake in Northern Electric to Bell Canada. AT&T spun off Northern Electric in 1956. Deprived of its Western Electric tie, Northern began developing its own products. In 1953, Northern Electric produced its first television sets using [[Cathode-ray tube|tubes]] made by [[RCA]].<ref name="NortelHistory1950-1959">{{cite web
 |author      = Nortel Networks
 |title       = Corporate information: Nortel History&nbsp;– 1950 to 1959
 |publisher   = Nortel Networks
 |year        = 2007
 |url         = http://www.nortel.com/corporate/corptime/1950.html
 |access-date  = November 17, 2007
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080218193405/http://www.nortel.com/corporate/corptime/1950.html
 |archive-date = February 18, 2008
}}</ref> Bell Canada acquired 100 percent of Northern Electric in 1964; through public stock offerings starting in 1973, Bell's ownership of Northern Electric and its successors would be reduced, though it continued to have majority control.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pinheiro |first=John |date=1987 |title=At&t Divestiture & the Telecommunications Market |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24122300 |journal=High Technology Law Journal |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=303–355 |jstor=24122300 |issn=0885-2715 |access-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517124905/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24122300 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1966, the Northern Electric research lab, Northern Electric Laboratories (the predecessor to [[Bell-Northern Research]]), started looking into the possibilities of [[Optical fiber|fiber optic cable]], and in 1969, began work on digitizing telephone communications. Also in 1969, Northern began making inroads into the US market with its switching systems. In 1972, it opened its first factory in the US in [[Michigan]]. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Northern began shipping its first [[Telephone switch#Digital switches|digital switching systems]], one of the earliest such systems to be sold.<ref>{{cite web |title=Overview & Background on Electronic & Digital Switching Systems |url=https://telephoneworld.org/telephone-switching-systems/overview-background-on-electronic-digital-switching-systems/ |website=telephoneworld.org |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=April 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419181100/https://telephoneworld.org/telephone-switching-systems/overview-background-on-electronic-digital-switching-systems/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Northern Telecom was, with Bell-Northern Research, in the early 1970s a part owner of [[MicroSystems International]], a semiconductor manufacturer based in Nepean, outside Ottawa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xq4yAAAAIBAJ&pg=1077,2047709|title=Ottawa Citizen – Google News Archive Search|website=[[Google News]]|access-date=2019-08-20|archive-date=April 9, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409222853/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xq4yAAAAIBAJ&pg=1077,2047709|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3EC4nqKcmIC&q=microsystems+international+nepean&pg=PA101|title=Perspectives on Ottawa's High-tech Sector|last1=Novakowski|first1=Nickolas|last2=Tremblay|first2=Rémy|date=2007|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=9789052013701|language=en|access-date=November 2, 2020|archive-date=February 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221015508/https://books.google.com/books?id=g3EC4nqKcmIC&q=microsystems+international+nepean&pg=PA101|url-status=live}}</ref>