Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 10
Return to the development of VoIP products (1998)
These contents translated a serialization article carried by ITPro IP telephony ONLINE published by Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. Jump to the original (Japanese).
Shinji Usuba
General Manager
eSound Venture Unit
Business Incubation Division
Systems Network Group
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd
After the development of the first product, the author had moved on to another project. However, he held a strong desire to return to VoIP product development after feeling the reaction during the presentation at ISS.
Photo 1 BS1200, the second VoIP gateway model
In February 1998, five months after the presentation at ISS (International Switching Symposium) held in Toronto, Canada, OKI released the BS1200 (photo 1), the new VoIP gateway model. It was the successor of BS1100, making its debut as VOICEHUB. Starting with this model, implementation into the corporate network market shifted into high gear.
About this time, equivalent products began to appear mainly in the U.S., and we were able to hear the opinions from implementations among leading users. Our BS1200 was appraised highly in specialized magazines such as Internet Telephony in the U.S., and it received a number of awards (photo 2). Fortunately, the reputation began to spread within Japan that it can be sufficiently used as a viable commercial product.
Photo 2 BS1200 was appraised highly overseas
A number of awards was received from Internet Telephony, Network World, etc.
I was happy that a suitable market referred to as VoIP gateway was opened, and that our product was used by many customers. On the other hand, I was feeling left out at the time since I had moved to another development project, and not VoIP gateway.
At ISS, there were various reactions. But I was certain that there was also a positive response and felt strongly that now is the time to develop VoIP gateway. I also firmly believed that VoIP products would become popular. With such strong emotions, I strongly requested my return to the development of VoIP gateway to my supervisor. And two months later, my wish came true — just like that. This was due to a major change in OKI's in-house environment.
Continued to next page: Favorable wind with new CEO...
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