Who Came Up with That? The Story Behind Some Black Box Product Names Part 1
Boxilla, a Giant Among KVM Managers
IT is probably the worst offender for using confusing product and company names. Many of these names are baffling, made-up words or are based on an obscure reference that the average person has no frame of reference for. But how these names came to be makes perfect sense once you hear the thought process that generated them.
In this series, we will poke fun at (and maybe explain) how Black Box’s most unusual product names came to be.
Let’s start with the giant reptile in our KVM product line – Boxilla.
When first reviewing the list of our “unusual” product names, we realized that most of the products with funny names are KVM products. KVM stands for keyboard, video, mouse. A KVM switch is a nifty piece of tech that lets a single user control multiple computers from one central keyboard, monitor (video) and mouse.
So why are so many of our KVM products given names that don’t say what the product actually is? As we are developing our KVM products, we use shortcuts when talking about them that sometimes become the final product name. You can’t blame us. It’s easier to say fewer syllables. Additionally, with the popularity of social media and texting, our culture is already conditioned to find the quickest way to convey something. So how did the short name Boxilla come to be?
When you hear the product name Boxilla, you immediately think of Mothra. Wait. You actually think of the misunderstood and massive creature Godzilla. You then probably think that Boxilla is a giant “black box” system from the start of the company in 1976 when most technologies were much larger in size than they are today. And while it’s fun to imagine we’re making monster-sized hardware (think of the warehouse issues and shipping prices), that’s actually pretty far off.
What exactly is Boxilla?
Boxilla is a KVM system manager/command center that is, and apparently always has been, a very reasonably-sized product. Boxilla gives you the ability to control users and monitor devices across your whole enterprise. The cool thing about the system is that it can extend beyond private networks and can work with third-party devices via API. It was the concept of being able to control a colossal network that lead to the name Boxilla.
Since Boxilla is such an
advanced KVM management system, we like to assume that Godzilla is happy to share his name with it. Well, then again, he is a massive monster, so maybe he isn’t the biggest fan of sharing in general.
Possible angering of Godzilla aside, the Black Box team is excited to delve into this new series and discover more of our company and products’ fascinating quirks.
Stay tuned for the next article when we discuss some famous colors!
Boxilla
Control Rooms
KVM
Network Security
TPS
