History of the Telstra Research Laboratories

April 1, 2006 - 11:59AM

Telstra today announced that its Research Labs (TRL) would not be closing down, despite the fact the Clayton and Sydney sites had almost all been emptied of staff and equipment and that the Clayton site had reportedly been sold to a local meat processing factory looking for spacious new premises to expand into.

"Its all been a big misunderstanding.... really!" said Telstra boss Sol Trujillo. "Its been a crazy few months and we've only just realised our mistake. We were in a meeting in my office way back when ... and Greg (Winn) kept saying "will someone shut the goddamn lavatory" referring to my executive toilet. Somehow it was recorded into the minutes of the meeting as "shut the laboratory" and well... we know what happened next. Man... who'd have believed it????" laughed Sol.

Telstra management wasn't exactly sure how the mistake would be repaired but was determined that TRL would live on several more years.