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CAREER STORY
Overcoming differences in business practices and navigating stormy seas to connect the lives of people around the world with submarine cables
Ayari Murakami
Profile
Ayari Murakami
Systems Engineer
Global Business Unit
Submarine Network Division
Corresponded with a Chinese friend during junior high school. Studied abroad in Denmark while at university. Has been interested in the wider world since her days as a student. A desire to find solutions to the inconveniences she experienced outside Japan while studying abroad and to bring Japan’s technology to the world led her to apply to work at NEC. Joined NEC in 2015 after being encouraged to pursue her dream of working overseas. Currently in charge of submarine cable system design.
*The departments, titles, etc. of the people introduced in this report are as of the interview.
CAREER STORY
A desire to better the lives of people across the globe with Japanese technology
The junior high school I attended had an excellent international exchange program, including welcoming students from a sister city in China on school excursions. My interest in the wider world began when I started corresponding in English with a Chinese friend I grew close to on such an excursion.
During my university days, I spent a year in Denmark on an international exchange program. While there, I had the opportunity to travel across Europe but found that there were few high-speed trains like those in Japan and that it can take more than four hours to travel by train between cities frequented by large numbers of travelers that are about the same distance apart as Osaka and Nagoya. I also often felt inconvenienced by things like trains that would never come on time, which simply does not happen in Japan. It wasn’t until I left Japan that I realized just how amazing Japanese technology is. These experiences created in me a desire to improve the lives of people around the world by spreading the word about Japanese technology. And when it came time to start my job search, I decided that I wanted to work for a Japanese manufacturer focused on global expansion.
As I began to look into various companies, NEC stood out as having the potential to take its global expansion even further. I was impressed by NEC’s business operations and the employees I met during my job search. The employees were proud of NEC’s proprietary technologies and had a powerful desire to share them with the rest of the world. Ultimately, the fact that they respected my wish to engage in work overseas was a crucial factor in my decision to join the company.
Connecting continents with cables:
The dynamism of being in charge of projects worth tens of billions of yen
I am currently involved in the submarine cable business, which is unique because there are only three major suppliers worldwide, with NEC being one of them. The division I belong to is precisely what I was looking for because I can work directly with customers in various countries without going through local agents. Submarine cables, which are capable of high-speed transmission of massive amounts of data, are now the main artery for approximately 99% of international communications. And it is the Submarine Network Division that manufactures and lays these submarine cables on the ocean floor. In the past, it was common for a multinational consortium comprised of around ten telecommunications carriers from different countries to own a single cable. However, the market has undergone some dramatic changes since around 2016. The market is also experiencing significant growth, with an increasing number of over-the-top (OTT) content providers now possessing private submarine cables.
The budget for a submarine cable project is typically upwards of tens of billions of yen, and it usually takes three to five years from order-receiving activities to delivery. For a large project like this, a team of five or six engineers and sales representatives takes charge, liaising to coordinate order-receiving activities and explain proposals to customers. Once an order has been received, my mission is to provide project management support by working with all parties involved in each project phase, including technical design, manufacturing, installation, and testing. While there is pressure involved, I am aware that the project is my own, and I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment once I have seen it through to completion. Since companies from several countries are involved in laying a single cable, we must build relationships of trust in alignment with the business practices of each country. And from a technical standpoint, we are expected to develop proposals based on an understanding of the weather, topography, and other characteristics of each ocean region. This is an interesting aspect unique to submarine cables.
My most memorable experience was the project we won in 2020. It was the first time for me to serve as the main sales representative, and the customer was a giant American-based OTT company looking to lay a new submarine cable in the Asia-Pacific region. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all meetings were held remotely. Despite the time difference and distance, we communicated via chat and worked closely with the persons in charge of the other party to draw up the contract. The difficulty of all this was something I had never experienced, and even though we were physically far apart, our communication drew us closer. In fact, the distance between us has diminished to the point that we have been able to build a relationship of trust where they even come to us to ask us for advice on other projects.
Making the shift from sales representative to systems engineer on the same project
In 2021, I was reassigned to the System Design Group as part of a job rotation. This involved making a career change, and I am now working as a systems engineer on the submarine cable project for which I helped win the order as a sales representative. The customer was thrilled when I introduced myself as the engineer in charge at the project kick-off event. This has been a very rewarding and incredibly valuable experience.
NEC is a company that provides its employees with numerous growth opportunities. The Corporate Volunteering Program I utilized in 2019 is one example of this. In this program, participants are temporarily transferred to a social enterprise in an emerging country to see what it’s like to work on the frontlines of social issues. I spent three months working in Malaysia at a fashion brand where I was placed in charge of marketing. The company was addressing garbage-related issues by making bags from seat belt scraps and other materials as well as engaging in activities such as a collaboration with a major coffee chain to create goods to raise awareness of garbage-related issues. The employees were all in their 20s and incredibly passionate about their work. At the time, I was struggling with various issues of my own, but seeing their passion took away my doubts and made me want to create social value through my work.
In 2021, NEC announced the signing of a contract for the Palau Cable 2 (PC2) submarine cable project to connect Palau with Southeast Asia and the U.S. mainland. This is the second submarine cable NEC has supplied to Palau following the first order it received from the country in 2017. The first submarine cable supplied to Palau through the 2017 project dramatically improved the communication environment for its residents and tourists. This second submarine cable will ensure network redundancy, realize highly reliable communications, and satisfy the rising demand for communications. I am confident it will contribute to Palau’s further economic development.
By connecting submarine cables, we can bring prosperity to and change the lives of people all around the world. I am contributing to society through my work, which is what makes working for NEC so appealing. The work you do can truly change the world. Why not take on the challenge of undertaking a job of this scale with the Submarine Network Division?
My Favorite CoV
Ever since I can remember, I have always made an effort to take on whatever opportunity comes my way as long as I find it interesting. I have learned so much and met so many different people through the challenges I have undertaken over the years that I identify most with the value of “Move Fast. Never Miss an Opportunity.” NEC is a company that provides its young employees with countless opportunities, and I am determined to continue seeking challenges and ensuring that I don’t miss out on any opportunities in my work.
CoV: Code of Values. This code of conduct indicates the values and behavior that all members of the NEC Group must demonstrate.
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