Misnomer

The DSL Forum is making a new push this week to embrace areas beyond DSL such as policy control in access networks and home networking devices. It’s not so much a new endeavor for the forum as it is a new way to communicate that the forum deals with a lot more than just DSL. The term “access agnostic” comes up often in the forum’s new messaging.

If the DSL Forum wants the world to know that it does more than just DSL, would a name change help that effort? That’s a tough call to make, Forum members say, because the name has a fair amount of “brand equity” built into it now as a result of getting so much attention over the years.

Forum leaders shouldn’t feel bad. The Metro Ethernet Forum went through a similar dilemma last year, when it embraced the term “carrier Ethernet” to describe its focus but opted to keep its old name. Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe, went so far as to call “metro Ethernet” a “misnomer,” though the MEF still maintains the name.

And let’s face it: More than one, ahem, telecom trade publication carries a name that is narrower than its focus, the result of decisions to maintain popular brands even when they don’t accurately describe the product.

It seems to be the consensus that an inaccurate but familiar name is better than one that perfectly suits your purpose but is mostly unknown.