Some time back I spoke with Acme Packet and one of their customers, O1 Networks. That chat was diriven by a press release about some work the two companies were doing together. That podcast is online here. Acme Packet had been in my preipheral vision prior to that podcast, but that brought them more distinctly into my view. They've had a number of news releases, updates and enhancements since then.

Yesterday I spoke on the phone with Kevin Mitchell, Acme's Director of Solutions Marketing and Seamus Hourihan, their Senior VP of  Marketing and Product Management.

How'd You Get That Name?

Naming a company is one of the toughest decisions for a startup. A great name should be memorable and help tell your "story." And the name should be near the beginning of the alphabet - or at least before Cisco, if you are in the telecom field.

Once you have a name, you still have to design a logo that faithfully represents your company's mission. Unfortunately, you'll get plenty of "helpful" advice about your name and logo from almost everyone, including your mother!

We based our name and logo on our "story:"
"Enabling peak performance for interactive communications across IP network borders, so service providers can increase their revenues and profits by delivering new voice, video, and multimedia applications."

It was blatantly obvious the only choice was:

		\Ac"me\, n. - the highest point or level attainable [syn: apex, height, elevation, peak, pinnacle, summit, superlative, top, vertex]
		\pack"et\, n. - The unit of data sent across an IP network. Most correctly used to describe application layer data units.

The intersecting peak and packet represent interconnecting networks, where we enable interactive communications across IP networks.

The star represents the light we shine on your networking and business challenges.

The gold color represents the "gold bits," or valuable premium communications, we help you deliver.

The teal blue color represents the modern professionalism we apply to solving your problems.

The italic font represents the forward-looking, visionary team we have assembled.

The lower case text represents our approachable team that works with you to achieve your business goals of increased revenues and profits.

That's it. Now you know the entire "story" behind our name, logo, and mission.

Technorati Tags: Acme Packet, session border controllers, unified communications, VoIP