Billion

A billion is a number with two distinct definitions:

American English always uses the short scale definition but British English has employed both versions. Historically, the United Kingdom used the long scale billion but since 1974 official UK statistics have used the short scale. Since the 1950s the short scale has been increasingly used in technical writing and journalism, although the long scale definition still enjoys common usage.

Other countries use the word billion (or words cognate to it) to denote either the long scale or short scale billion. For details, see Long and short scales – Current usage.

Long and short scales

The long and short scales are two of several large-number naming systems for integer powers of ten, that use the same words with different meanings:

For integers less than a thousand million (< 10⁹) the two scales are identical. From a thousand million up (≥ 10⁹) the two scales diverge, using the same words for different numbers; this can cause misunderstanding.

Countries where the long scale is currently used include most countries in continental Europe and most French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and Portuguese-speaking countries except Brazil. The short scale is now used in most English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries, in Brazil, and several other countries. Number names are rendered in the language of the country, but are similar everywhere due to shared etymology (e.g., billion is billón in Spanish). Some languages, particularly in East Asia and South Asia, have large number naming systems that are different from both the long and short scales, for example the Indian numbering system.

Billion (company)

Billion Electric Co. Ltd. (Taiex: #3027), based in Taiwan, was founded in 1973. Billion is a provider of network equipment and power supply products in the Asia Pacific rim. Since its Communication Division was established in 1992, Billion has reinforced its investment in developing next generation network equipment and Internet access devices for home, telecommuters, and SME users.

The BILLION brand was officially launched in 2004.

In the past few years Billion has been developing and offering ADSL/ADSL2+, SHDSL, and VPN Router products to meet the growing demands of varying broadband market segments. The product lines include following series:

Their range of ADSL modem/routers were introduced into Australia in 2002. Since then, features have been added including 4 port switches, wireless, VoIP, and VPN termination.