Portfolio
Photo by
Garrett Elliott
To read some of her news articles and reviews, please click on one of the following links:
Photo by
Garrett Elliott
September 13, 2011
Photo by
Garrett Elliott
September 12, 2011
HONG KONG: Waking the ’sleeping giant’ for Silicon Valley North
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Sept. 5, 2011 (Sept. 12 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
China’s five-year focus on ICT, clean tech gets Ottawa firms fired up
Photo by MARK HOLLERON for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
For many of Ottawa’s technology companies, the Hong Kong market is but a starting point for an enormous opportunity.
As a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong is uniquely positioned as the economic gateway for the massive Asian country, says OCRI’s Mike Darch. And that’s especially important given the four trillion renminbi, or roughly C$800 million, China has pledged towards IT and low-carbon technologies as part of its five-year strategic plan.
“There’s a joke that (with Chinese projects) you take the largest project you’ve ever seen and add six zeros at the end,” says Mr. Darch.
Among the strategic emerging areas on which it wishes to focus, China has identified three clean energy-related areas - namely new energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear, energy conservation, environmental protection initiatives, and clean-energy vehicles - and next-generation information technology surrounding the convergence of conventional communications, broadcast and Internet, Mr. Darch explains.
Undoubtedly, opportunities abound for the residents of Silicon Valley North. But for (more…)
September 8, 2011
Xceedium buys Cloakware technology, sets up shop in Ottawa
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published on the Ottawa Business Journal website.
Sept. 8, 2011
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
A Virginia security technology company is in the process of opening its very first Canadian office in Ottawa following its purchase of Cloakware’s password management business from Irdeto.
Herndon, Va.-based Xceedium Inc. announced Thursday that it’s bought the Cloakware Password Authority product, along with a perpetual licence to Irdeto’s patented white-box cryptographic libraries, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition includes the transfer of 14 local employees to Xceedium’s staff roster, with no layoffs.
As a result of the deal, the company is also opening a new research and development facility in Ottawa, which will work closely with Xceedium’s 28-person R&D team in Jersey City, N.J.
Xceedium CEO Glenn Hazard told OBJ in an interview that the acquisition would allow his company to (more…)
September 7, 2011
Local firms tune in to changing viewer habits
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Sept. 5, 2011 (Sept. 7 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
Internet television market projected to grow to US$49 billion globally by 2015
Photo by JOËL CÔTÉ-CRIGHT for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
The entertainment industry is going over-the-top - and that’s not necessarily a reference to how there’s too much violence in the movies.
Rather, it’s a term used to describe a new breed of content providers that are making a dent in the business of traditional cable companies, telecommunications providers and bricks-and-mortar video stores, and creating opportunities for Ottawa firms in the process.
Over-the-top, or OTT, refers to services that ride over existing networks, without having any affiliation with those network operators. In the video space, it’s a niche that’s being shaped by U.S.-based Netflix, which began streaming movies and older television programming in Canada last year.
And it’s just one aspect of a changing entertainment delivery landscape, as service providers rush to find new ways to compete for eyeballs for their content.
That suits Jaison Dolvane, and his Ottawa-headquartered company Espial, just fine. The firm, which provides software and services to support on-demand television, in 2010 recorded its first positive operating earnings since going public in 2007, a development it attributed to the “Netflix factor.”
Espial also saw revenues rise 22 per cent in its second quarter, and it now counts (more…)
August 29, 2011
SMEs call for clarity on Shared Services Canada strategy
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Aug. 22, 2011 (Aug. 29 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
Photo by ETIENNE RANGER for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
Several local tech firms are cautiously optimistic the federal government’s new Shared Services Canada initiative will bring fresh business opportunities, but questions remain about how it will all play out.
After years of discussion and some early work with the centralized provision and management of IT services through Public Works’s Information Technology Services Branch, the federal government announced the establishment of a broader-based department that will begin consolidating the bureaucracy’s disparate tech systems.
While the new Shared Services Department said it’s contemplating public-private partnerships to aid the process “where it makes sense to do so,” the role of the private sector is still unclear at this point, observers say.
“There’s a need to really define the strategy … about how they want to move forward. Release what they know, get the speculation out of the air, let people understand what they’re working with,” said Jeff Lynt, president of inRound Innovations and spokesperson for the Canadian Business Information Technology Network, or CABiNET, industry association.
“We often see when things are announced that everybody’s wondering what’s going to happen, and the quicker they can get past that, the faster people can get to work on solving the problems.”
Louis-Martin Parent, policy analyst for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, noted it would be helpful to have a clear list of timelines and goals, as well as an idea of what platforms the government plans to move to.
“Public-private partnerships could mean a lot of different things; in the past, one problem our members have had is if they bring an innovative solution that doesn’t fit the checkmark list of requirements, the solution gets dismissed,” he said. “We support the concept, but it’s a devil-in-the-details kind of situation.”
Indeed, when asked about how the private sector would be involved in the process, an e-mail to OBJ from Shared Services Canada president Liseanne Forand said only that (more…)
August 23, 2011
WiLAN: Zombie, troll or champion for inventors’ rights?
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Aug. 22, 2011 (Aug. 23 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
Tech sector debates whether Ottawa’s most valuable company is killing innovation – or just doing good business
Photo by MARK HOLLERON for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
There was a time not so long ago when Wi-LAN Inc. was a bruised and battered technology company with no revenues and only a few hundred thousand dollars in the bank.
“WiLAN was beaten down because people took the intellectual property we developed and didn’t pay for it, which is what often happens with many companies,” says CEO Jim Skippen.
The tables have turned as WiLAN now fights, quite successfully, to defend the technology its founders created. But some say that, in the process, WiLAN’s become much like the parasites at whose hands it once suffered.
The firm is Ottawa’s most valuable technology company, with a market capitalization of roughly $850 million. Just last week, it announced plans for a $480-million, all-cash hostile takeover bid for fellow local patent licensing firm MOSAID Technologies Inc.
The move indicates things have (more…)
August 15, 2011
Public Works streamlines real property project management services procurement
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Aug. 8, 2011 (Aug. 15 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
TSPS refresh to expedite proposal review process, observers say
Photo by LOIS SIEGEL for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
An update to the way Public Works procures services from the private sector through its task and solutions professional services, or TSPS, methods of supply will likely save real estate developers the hassle of writing complicated proposals only to be rejected for not having the required technical merit, according to industry watchers.
As part of the refresh, announced in late July, Public Works is adding a fourth class of services that separates real property project management services from the management of IT projects and so on.
The new class will deal with most aspects of the real estate development life cycle, from portfolio planning to project inception, approvals and project delivery, according to an e-mail from Public Works spokesperson Sébastien Bois.
Specifically, interested companies will be required to provide information about the total value of the real property project - meaning the actual or anticipated amount to be spent on land and buildings upon completion of the work - as well as the value of just the professional services component of the project.
The change will include a new (more…)
August 10, 2011
MOSAID launches new patent suit, fields complaint
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published on the Ottawa Business Journal website.
Aug. 10, 2011
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
MOSAID Technologies Inc. (TSX:MSD) is preparing for a busy time of legal dealings amid three separate announcements on Tuesday, including a fresh patent infringement suit against seven companies and news of a complaint against the Ottawa-based firm.
The patent licensing company said it has initiated patent infringement litigation against Adobe Systems Inc., Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc., IBM Corp., Jupiter Networks Inc., NetApp Inc., Red Hat Inc. and VMWare Inc.
MOSAID is accusing the seven firms of (more…)
Market an expected boon for Bayshore Shopping Centre
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
Aug. 8, 2011 (Aug. 10 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
Local produce vendors offer alternative to unsuccessful grocery store model
Photo by JOËL CÔTÉ-CRIGHT for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
The second satellite location for the Ottawa Farmers’ Market is now up and running at the Bayshore Shopping Centre, and the hope is that the pilot project will solve the surrounding community’s long-standing lack of fresh produce shops, says the mall’s general manager Denis Pelletier – while giving shoppers one more reason to come to the shopping centre.
“(The farmers’ market) represents a tremendous opportunity as an added service we can offer to patrons, general customers and mall employees,” says Mr. Pelletier.
The market – which last year branched out from its main Lansdowne Park location on Sundays with a satellite at the Orleans Town Centre on Fridays – opened near the Bayshore transit station earlier this month, and the mid-week affair is scheduled to run until the end of the growing season. Mr. Pelletier says it’s the first event ever to use the mall’s exterior grounds, to the best of his knowledge.
It’s something of an experiment for Bayshore, which has (more…)
July 28, 2011
Coming to an iPad near you
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
July 25, 2011 (July 28 on OBJ.ca)
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
Nuvyyo technology taps into growing media streaming market
Photo by JOËL CÔTÉ-CRIGHT for the
Ottawa Business Journal.
Grant Hall says his company Nuvyyo and its flagship product, JetStreamHD, could grab a slice of a market worth as much as $200 million by 2014, given rising consumer appetite for remote access of their home media.
Mr. Hall, who’s Nuvyyo’s chief executive, estimates that 10 per cent of the roughly 6.8 million iPad users in North America have media collections at home that they want to tap into on their tablet computers, regardless of wherever they are in the world.
Of that figure, about 10 per cent will use hardware-based products like JetStreamHD, with the proportion growing further within the next three years as the number of iPads climbs to about 95 million, he says.
Already, Ottawa-based Nuvyyo has received 300 preorders for JetStreamHD since its February launch at the DEMO Spring 2011 Conference in California and subsequent presentation at Ottawa’s DemoCamp in June, with only a “reasonably small marketing effort.”
The bootstrapped company has only received $150,000 from the National Research Council’s IRAP program, and $25,000 in seed funding from the Ontario Centres of Excellence, Mr. Hall says, adding that other investors are waiting to see how the product does.
Still, it’s come a long way from its roots in Nortel’s mobile video solutions group, for which Mr. Hall led marketing efforts for two years.
JetStreamHD plugs into a user’s home router, searches for media on devices in the user’s home network such as computers and media servers, then instantly streams that content onto an iPad through a downloaded app.
Mr. Hall says the system is unique in its ability to (more…)
July 27, 2011
Zarlink suitor Microsemi invited to participate in strategic review
By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published on the Ottawa Business Journal website.
July 27, 2011
Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.
(Photo supplied)
After publicly complaining it was unable to secure a meeting with Zarlink management, Microsemi officials have been invited to participate in the Ottawa-based company’s strategic review process, according to Zarlink executives.
The announcement was made at Zarlink’s annual general meeting on July 25, which emphasized a focus on future opportunities in mobile Internet, broadband deployment and wireless health-care products.
Chairman Adam Chowaniec told attendees at the meeting that the company is currently “active” in responding to calls and talking to its investment banks about potential buyers’ interest, including Irvine, Calif.-based Microsemi.
Microsemi last week publicly announced a US$3.35-per-share, non-binding offer for Zarlink, a deal that would value the latter at $548.7 million. However, a Microsemi executive told OBJ the company had not yet launched a formal takeover bid for Zarlink, and that the announcement was merely an attempt to restart stalled friendly discussions amid Zarlink’s continuous refusal to meet with Microsemi.
Nonetheless, Microsemi CEO James Peterson has said his company is “steadfast in its pursuit of a transaction with Zarlink” and that it’s ready to “take all necessary actions” to push a deal through.
Mr. Chowaniec noted in an interview after the AGM that Microsemi has been in touch with Zarlink’s bankers but has not yet signed a non-disclosure agreement, which would be the next step in the process.
Zarlink’s strategic review process has so far produced (more…)
