Before the Dawn of IP Telephony - Part 7The unexpected presentation at an academic conference (1997)
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
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd
Completing the development of the first VoIP product at the end of 1996, I left the scene of VoIP gateway product development for the time being.
The development project members were dismissed when the nationwide network installation of BS1100, the first VOICEHUB model, was completed. The development of VoIP gateway products moved on to BS1200 — the successor of BS1100 — and a new development project was launched. However, I was to participate in other projects from that point on.
In all honesty, it felt as if the baby I had painfully given birth to was snatched away from me before I had even a chance to raise it. However, VOICEHUB was in good hands. Manager Mr.Matsunuma had taken good care of the succeeding model and did a wonderful job with it.
Research paper selected by ISS
It was the latter half of May 1997, two months after I had moved on to a different project. I heard Department Manager Mr.Okuno who was sitting 20 meters away from me shout, "Really? You're serious?" He was the very person who gave the go sign for the development of VOICEHUB as the Planning Department Manager.
According to Mr. Okuno, it appeared that the entry of the research paper sent to the academic conference ISS (International Switching Symposium) was selected. The call was to notify us that the research paper sent to ISS under the title of "Internet Access Gateway System for Voice Communication" concerning the development concept of VOICEHUB was selected by ISS. From the surprise in Mr. Okuno's voice, I knew this was an unexpected event.
ISS was a symposium of the highest level in the field of communications, a gathering of communication carriers and vendors worldwide. It was held once every three years. The 1997 ISS was to be held in Toronto, Canada.
That year, there were applications for 498 research papers from around the globe. 147 of them passed and were given the opportunity to make a presentation in Toronto. OKI's paper was one of the elite 147 selected. We were told only research papers of the highest class would remain since ISS is an authoritative international symposium participated by communication researchers and developers of Japan, U.S., Europe, etc. Despite the entry, Mr. Okuno probably never dreamed that the research paper would be selected.
To begin with, people in the Operations Department carried on a mission of product development and had no relations with academic conferences such as the ISS. In fact, all of the other entries by OKI were by the Research & Development Department. But with the recommendation of Mr.Okuno, and Manager Mr. Konishi made the entry based on the research paper on OKI's Research & Development Publication No. 174. Upon hearing of the news that the research paper was selected by ISS, I felt like jumping with joy. The value of VOICEHUB was recognized by the world.
In reality, the research paper was far from the main trend of the industry. For this, we were told that the paper was not assessed highly in the stage of referee reading by the ISS members within Japan, and even within OKI before the paper was even out. Hence, I was even happier with the outcome.
After the research paper was selected, Mr.Konishi and I wrote the paper that was to be officially registered for the presentation at ISS in Toronto that September. We started our preparations and reorganized our points. Creating references was not easy, since this was my first time making a presentation in English. Although we were not as ready as we would have liked, we departed Japan on September 20th.
Arrival in Toronto to day of presentation
Photo 1 : Photo taken at the welcoming party. We were relaxed, having a nice time.
Our presentation was scheduled on the fifth day of the symposium, so we still had time after our arrival in Toronto. Though ISS is an academic conference, there is a side to it that gives an impression of a large party, with no meaning of disrespect. We found that it was quite entertaining when leaving the pressure of the presentation aside. And we enjoyed ourselves up to the welcoming party (photo 1).
As the presentations started, however, we became more and more concerned. We felt discouraged as there were very little presentations related to VoIP, no matter how many times we checked the list of presentations that were announced. Furthermore, the presentations of others were brilliant and I felt my confidence shrink quickly as I listened to them.
We made a hasty decision to brush-up our presentation. Also, we were waiting anxiously for the arrival of Mr. Yaya, a member from our Silicon Valley base, for support. Due to an airplane accident, however, his arrival was delayed.
It was on the night two days before the presentation when Mr. Yaya finally arrived. The relief I felt when Mr. Yaya arrived at last was beyond words. Only one day left until the presentation. On the day prior to our presentation, we cancelled all other appointments and locked ourselves in our hotel room to proofread our presentation and check the anticipated questions and planned answers.
Photo 2 : Photo taken the night before the presentation. Author on right, evidently nervous about the presentation.
That evening, we were invited to a dinner by OKI related personnel. In truth, we were not able to enjoy ourselves for obvious reasons (photo 2).
... To be continued
