Sega's First Transoceanic Email

The morning after Nakayama Takuya found reinforcements, Nohara, the team leader, with bloodshot eyes, personally waited at the company entrance for the two top students sent by Professor Yonezawa.

Both were in their early twenties. One wore thick glasses and looked focused, while the other seemed a bit carefree, full of curiosity about the game posters and model figures at Sega Headquarters.

"Thank you both for your hard work." Team leader Nohara handed over his business card, his humble attitude surprising both students.

In the conference room, Nohara laid out all the error logs and code documents he had compiled over the past few days on the table, getting straight to the point without a single wasted word. "The main problem is that during the third handshake protocol, the server rejects our connection requests. We've tried various message formats, but all have failed."

The student with glasses adjusted his glasses, picked up the document, and quickly flipped through it, letting out a disdainful snort, "You haven't even mastered the RFC821 standard; the header encapsulation in your client application is flawed."

Another student moved closer to the computer, ran the relevant part of the program to debug it, glanced at the code, and added with a smile, "Not entirely. Sega's servers probably have custom security checks that your program isn't compatible with. It's a minor issue."

The two worked in perfect harmony, and in just over ten minutes, they clearly dissected the technical barriers that had plagued the entire team for days.

Nohara's face flushed red and then turned pale, a mixture of shame at being looked down upon by a junior and elation at finally finding a breakthrough in the problem.

He took a deep breath and bowed to the two of them. "Please!"

With these two powerful "cheat code" reinforcements, the atmosphere in the Computer Software Development Team was completely transformed.

The previous somber and oppressive feeling vanished, replaced by the crisp sound of keyboard clicks and the occasional heated technical debate.

The two students from Tokyo Tech rewrote the core communication module in just half a day and successfully established a stable connection with the server.

When the green words "CONNECTIONESTABLISHED" popped up on the screen, the entire office erupted in a barely suppressed cheer.

Team Leader Nohara excitedly pumped his fist, feeling as if a huge rock that had been weighing on his chest for days had finally been lifted.

When Nakayama Takuya stepped into the development team again, he was greeted by a vibrant and energetic atmosphere. "Executive Director!" Team Leader Nohara greeted him quickly, beaming with enthusiasm. "The communication issues have been completely resolved. We're now working on final optimizations and feature integration to ensure on-time completion!"

"Very good." Nakayama Takuya nodded, his gaze sweeping over the two Tokyo Tech were discussing something with Nishino and Mikazuki. "How effective were the reinforcements my teacher arranged?"

"It's more than just easy to use!" Nohara exclaimed with admiration. "They are true experts in network communications! Executive Director, I was just being too picky this time."

Nakayama Takuya patted him on the shoulder. "Remember, leave professional matters to professionals."

A week later, the final version of the email client was successfully released, and the project officially entered the internal testing phase.

As planned, the Logistics International Receiving and Dispatch Group at the Tokyo headquarters and the corresponding department at the Redwood City headquarters in the United States became the first to "take the plunge".

The Computer Software Development Team specially dispatched two core programmers, bringing the latest software version, to the United States for on-site installation and training.

On the day of the training, in the conference room at the Tokyo headquarters, several veteran employees from the logistics team stared blankly at the new software interface on their computer screens.

"Nakayama Special Advisor, is this really more reliable than a fax?" a senior team leader asked worriedly. "What if the recipient says they didn't receive the document after it's been sent? A fax has a sheet of paper as proof."

The programmer in charge of the training smiled and demonstrated, "You see, we designed a 'read receipt' function. As soon as the recipient opens the email, we receive a notification immediately. Moreover, all sending and receiving records are permanently stored on the server, accurate to the second, so no one can deny it."

As he spoke, he sent a test email to his colleagues at the United States headquarters with the subject line. "Hello from Tokyo!"

In less than five seconds, a new email notification popped up on the screen. The sender was the head of the Logistics Department at Redwood City, and the email contained only one word. "Received!"

The staff in the meeting room burst into enthusiastic applause when they saw that the emails had been sent and received normally.

This was the first transoceanic email exchanged between Sega's two headquarters.

The trial operation has officially begun.

Initially, everyone habitually printed out the email content and then checked it against the faxed copy.

But they soon discovered the beauty of the new model.

Previously, a list of goods consisting of hundreds of lines required manual verification. Now, all that's needed is to open the attached table in EceI and use a few simple functions to complete the comparison and statistics in just a few minutes.

The improvement in work efficiency is visible to the naked eye.

What used to take half a day to organize documents and send and receive faxes can now be done in an hour.

The time saved allowed the logistics staff to even have time to make a cup of coffee and chat for a bit.

A week later, the first detailed internal test data report was neatly placed on Nakayama Takuya's desk.

Every number in the report is like a powerful bullet, precisely hitting the Achilles' heel of the traditional office model.

Nakayama Takuya closed the report with satisfaction, a smile spreading across his face.

He picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number directly.

The call connected, and Professor Jun Murai's calm voice came from the other end.

"Professor Murai, good afternoon. I am Nakayama Takuya from Sega."

"Mr. Nakayama," the voice on the other end of the phone was calm, as if it had been expected, "How are your tests going?"

"Our first data report from our internal testing is out." Nakayama Takuya's tone was full of confidence.

"Oh? Send it over so I can take a look." Jun Murai's tone remained that of a scholar—rigorous and calm.

"Of course. But Professor, I'm worried that some things can't be fully appreciated just by looking at words and numbers on paper." Nakayama Takuya paused, then slowly offered the bait, "For example, a 320% increase in workflow efficiency."

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

Even the air seemed to freeze.

320 percent?

Isn't this the kind of exaggerated figure you only see in commercial press releases?

"How much did you say?" Jun Murai's voice finally rang out again, his composure broken, revealing an undisguised astonishment. "Three hundred and twenty percent, Professor." Nakayama Takuya and deliberately. He could even picture the "Father of the Japan Internet" on the other end of the phone, adjusting his glasses, his brows furrowed.

"Furthermore, office costs such as paper and fax machine supplies have been reduced by more than 70%. In both Tokyo and Redwood City, communication and confirmation times have been shortened by an average of 60%."

With each number Nakayama Takuya uttered, the breathing on the other end of the phone grew heavier.

These data were incredibly impactful for Jun Murai and the WIDE Project Team, who had been dedicated to building network infrastructure. They had always been building roads, but they had never seen so clearly just how fast cars could actually travel on them.

"There's no need to send the report."

Finally, Jun Murai made his decision, his voice leaving no room for argument.

"We'll go there to observe your trial operation firsthand."

Nakayama Takuya's smile deepened, "We'll be waiting for you and the WIDE Project Team anytime."