Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 11
Derogatory words for a product name is unacceptable (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
The author returns to the development of VoIP gateway. Development of a large-capacity model is given a go sign. But the team takes an unexpected stumble.
The VoIP gateway BS1200 was released in Japan and the U.S. in February 1998. Hence, there was debate that the product name should be passable internationally, and not limited to Japan. For the first VoIP gateway, I took the first letters from "Best Solution," which derives from my desire to provide the best solutions, and used BS in the product name according to OKI's in-house standards.
In the U.S., however, "BS" is also an abbreviation for bullsh*t. Apparently, it is a derogatory term and a word of abuse. It was a word that one would hesitate to use. There was a remark from the U.S. office that the abbreviation was unsuitable as a trademark and we were forced to come up with another name.
Photo 1 BV2000, developed as the large-capacity version of VoIP gateway
I myself had special feelings for BS1100. Since BS1200 had won a number of rewards overseas, I didn't want the name to change. But using a name that was more passable internationally in terms of global implementation also held water.
Then, the trademark of "BV" was decided starting with the large-capacity gateway as the new model. The name comes from the fact that I feel our VoIP gateway has the "Best Voice." Though the name seems slightly far-fetched, I wanted to use a name that meant something to me since using "BS" was not an option I had. This is the story behind the change in the name of the VoIP gateway series from BS to BV. Later, the large-capacity VoIP gateway was named "BV2000" (photo 1). The name "BV," has been used as the name of the series ever since, with the latest model being BV1270.
Improving the voice quality
Right about the time I returned to the development of VoIP gateway, development of a succeeding model aiming at higher voice quality began centering on Manager Matsunuma who the development of BS1200 was assigned after I left the project. OKI's VoIP gateway was indeed rated among the highest in the field of Internet telephony. However, this was limited to the field of Internet telephony and improvements were needed to bring quality closer to fixed telephones.
Once BS1100 and BS1200 were released into the market and into the hands of users for operation under various environments, we were beginning to see what improvements were necessary for better voice quality from the assessments and feedback we received. As obvious as it may seem at the present, there was still room for improving the quality of voice packets.
Continued to next page: The first BV2000 decided, but...
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