Adastral Park

Adastral Park is the name given to what was once the BT Research Laboratories or BT Labs based at Martlesham Heath near Ipswich in the English county of Suffolk.

In keeping with the stellar theme of the site name, buildings on site are named after stars or constellations (an example being the Main Laboratory Block now named the Orion building). The Orion building is easily recognisable from the nearby A12 road with its 200ft. radio (now named Pegasus) tower dominating the skyline.

The site name change occurred in the late 1990s with the aim of turning the site into a high tech business park no longer exclusively for the use of BT. The name was created by Stewart Davies, the CEO of the BT business headquartered at the site at that time. It is derived from the motto of the Royal Airforce - per adua ad astra - through adversity to the stars. The Royal Airforce were the original residents of the site. Experimental aircraft test flights flew from the airfield and the name was meant to reflect the history of experimentation and innovation which is the continuing focus for the Park. During this transformation, car parks were moved to the perimeter of the site with the centre being transformed with open park land and a water feature to provide a 'park' feel to the complex. The site is expected to accommodate approximately 4000 employees.

Companies based at Adastral Park besides BT include:

*Alcatel-Lucent
*Azure
*Cisco
*Fujitsu
*O2 plc
*Arqiva
*CIP
*University College London (See [http://www.adastral.ucl.ac.uk/ UCL Adastral site] )

When the name change to Adastral Park first came in, there was a little controversy. A BT contractor, Richard Hayman made a grab for the "adastralpark" domain name, and tried to sell it to BT at an inflated price. BT refused to yield and dismissed the contractor. In return, the contrator set up a low-brow dating site using the domain. The situation remains to this day.

There is also a satellite earth station (operated by Arqiva [ [http://www.arqiva.com/products-and-services/satellite-solutions/contact-us-489 Contact Us ] ] )- the location was chosen for the visibility of satellites on the eastern horizon.

The original Laboratories (when BT were part of the Post Office) were first opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1975. Previous to this the Post Office Research Station was located at Dollis Hill. Martlesham Heath was originally chosen as the location for a research facility because the surrounding countryside was relatively flat and therefore ideal for testing the radio-based communication systems in vogue at the time. See also Martlesham Heath where further history of the site and surrounding area can be found.

See also

* BT
* Post Office Research Station

References

External links

* [http://www.atadastral.co.uk/ Adastral Park home page]
* [http://www.connected-earth.co.uk/Galleries/Frombuttonstobytes/Digitaltelephony/Digitalswitching/index.htm Connected Earth Museum] on the origin of BT Laboratories, Martlesham
* [http://www.adastralpark.com/ Adastral Park dating service (not BT)]
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/11/21/bt_sacks_domain_grab_contractor/ Coverage from theregister.co.uk on domain grab]
* [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/11/23/the_gossip_on_bt_domain/ Further coverage on domain grab]