I've always felt BBN [1] was pretty close, not the size of Bell labs, but tons of really awesome research. They've been purchased and sold many times (now with

I've always felt BBN [1] was pretty close, not the size of Bell labs, but tons of really awesome research. They've been purchased and sold many times (now with Raytheon) but they are the company behind the original arpanet and, despite many transitions, they've always seemed to preserve their culture (Leo Beranek, nearly 100 now, still stops by from time to time) and passion for research . [1] http://www.bbn.com/ http://www.bbn.com/