Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 24
Develop a broadband VoIP gateway (June ~ October 2001)
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
Due to the drastic drop in prices of broadband services, we started the development of a broadband VoIP gateway. It was a development effort with different requirements from the corporate gateway.
Photo 1 : VA14, first broadband VoIP gateway
The development of "VA14," was the first VoIP gateway for broadband network providers (photo 1). There were two issues: Price and delivery. We were expected to achieve short delivery at a low price.
When thinking in terms of cost reduction, use of LSI had the potential for drastically reducing the price. It was also a tradition at OKI to pursue what is ideal in terms of technology and the development of a special LSI was an option. However, we were still unclear on the market scale at that time and there was no guarantee that sales would cover the development cost.
Furthermore, we would never make it in time for commercialization in 2001 if an LSI was developed at the normal speed. We needed a new approach to accelerate development.
Keeping down material cost with common parts
Material cost drop as more and more are used. If the cost cannot be reduced, the quantity cannot be increased and thus there exists a negative cycle. Price drop, however, when the quantity starts to increase triggered by some event. When the price drop, the quantity further increases, creating a positive cycle. It is the paradox of "what comes first: the chicken or the egg?" The most important factor in this product development was to create a "trigger" for this positive cycle. But what?
We found the answer in common parts. There was not enough time for creating a special LSI and it was difficult to have a grasp on an unclear demand. So, we decided to thoroughly use common parts that can be found in the market in huge quantities even if slightly redundant in terms of features. These, for example, are parts used in cellular telephones.
Although this measure did not lead to the ultimate device cost cutback since it steered away from the ideal design of developing a special LSI, cost would certainly decrease. And I gave this certainty priority.
Continued to next page: Problem is conversion of hardware to software...
Page 1 | 2
