In article <a2pq14lo0gqe7gppeundqrkvprsc8k5o1l@4ax.com>,
Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com> wrote:

> Moses Networks Promise LAN

I knew some of the developers there, and just *loved* the product name.
In the end, it was more of a promise than a LAN, however.

My all-time favorite communications product name was from a company
(whose name I forget) up in Marin county who built a very simple device.
"Back in the day", terminals connected to computers using modems, which
had a "DCE flavor" (modem-to-host computer) and a "DTE flavor"
(modem-to-terminal) for the wiring. If you wanted to connect a terminal
directly to a computer, you could eliminate the modem, but needed to
cross-connect the transmit/receive pairs in the cable. Today we all know
this as a "null modem" cable, and it is fairly ubiquitous, but it hasn't
always been so.

This small company marketed a "null modem" device; a small box that had
the transmit/receive cross-wiring, with connectors that would allow the
use of ordinary, uncrossed-wiring modem cables to the DTE and DCE.
Simple, but useful if you don't have a null modem cable.

No technological genius here, but great marketing savvy. Instead of
calling it a "cable crossover" or some such, they called the device a
"QuasiModem"--the box had a picture of a bent-over Quasimodo carrying
the device under his arm, with the slogan "We've got a *hunch* you'll
like it!"

Believe it or not, between the last two sentences I just went outside my
office and shot a bobcat who was chasing my house cat, whose name
happens to be "Cat 3"(he is my third cat). No, I am not planning to
upgrade him to Cat 5.

--
Rich Seifert Networks and Communications Consulting
21885 Bear Creek Way
(408) 395-5700 Los Gatos, CA 95033
(408) 228-0803 FAX

Send replies to: usenet at richseifert dot com