What's in a name? The meaning of Surizon

Surizon CEO Michael Stocks resolves the debate on how to say 'Surizon'.

As CEO of Surizon Technologies, Michael Stocks expected to be asked a lot of questions. Mainly he expected to be asked about the company’s business intelligence and network management solutions. But what he hadn't expected was the level of interest generated by the name 'Surizon'. Or the number of times he would be asked 'what does it mean?', or 'how do you pronounce it?'.

'Anyway you like,' is often Michael's answer to the second question. He's heard all possible variations and is convinced that if you ask for a 'Surizon NMS solution please' he'll recognise immediately what you mean, however you say it. But, of course, there is the way, and if you were wondering what it is, then here is the answer.

Surizon is actually a combination of the prefix 'sur', meaning 'above', 'over' or 'beyond', and 'horizon'. According to Michael, 'It’s about knowing what's over the horizon, but without losing focus on the present. The best technology is both visionary and practical. It provides a reliable future path but never loses site of the purpose for its existence – in our case, to meet the current needs of the customer.'

That's great, but how do you pronounce it? Well, if you can say 'horizon' you’re getting close. If you then say it substituting the 'h' for an 's' you'll be almost there. The rest will come with practice.

So, is that the final, definitive answer? 'Yes,' says Michael, 'or at least that's the final answer on how to pronounce it in English. It sounds great in French too.'

But that's another story.