Companies from Red Canary

Nokia to acquire OZ Communications

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:27:16 GMT

Espoo, Finland and Montreal, Canada - September 30, 2008 – Nokia and OZ Communications today announced that Nokia is to acquire OZ, a privately held company with approximately 220 employees and headquartered in Montreal, Canada. OZ, the leading consumer mobile messaging solution provider, delivers access to popular instant messaging and email services on consumer mobile devices.

"With OZ, Nokia is renewing its mission of Connecting People by enabling consumers to easily connect and communicate using their favorite Internet communities," said Niklas Savander, Head of Nokia Services & Software. "OZ's team and technology will help Nokia to address the fast growing consumer messaging market.”

By acquiring OZ, Nokia will enable easy-to-use, fast access to leading instant messaging and email services, including AOL®, Gmail, ICQ®, Windows Live™ Hotmail, Windows Live™ Messenger and Yahoo!®. With more than 5.5 million monthly paid users, OZ’s solutions have been deployed by leading mobile operators on a wide array of mobile device platforms.

“OZ has been working closely with Nokia since 2003 - joining forces at this point is a natural extension of our partnership,” said Jim Knapik, President and CEO of OZ. “We are excited about taking OZ’s solutions to consumers worldwide by leveraging Nokia’s devices and distribution scale.”

The expertise and technology Nokia acquires through OZ is complementary to Nokia’s existing portfolio of messaging solutions and will provide a complete portfolio of mobile messaging solutions for Series 40 and S60 devices. Nokia will continue to work closely with OZ’s existing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and mobile operator customers.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter 2008. After the closing, OZ will become part of Nokia’s Services & Software operative unit.

About Nokia

Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.

About OZ

OZ empowers consumers to stay connected with the most popular messaging and Internet services, including IM, email and online communities, through their mobile phones. Working with the leading mobile operators, handset manufacturers, portals and online communities, OZ delivers innovative and standards-based solutions that provide rich and fully integrated messaging experiences on millions of mobile devices.

Leading companies that are Powered by OZ™ include: 3 Scandinavia, Alltel, AOL®, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, AT&T, Dobson, ICQ, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Pantech & Curitel, Rogers Wireless, Samsung, SonyEricsson, Sprint, TCL & Alcatel Mobile Phones, Telefónica Móviles España, Telenor Group, TeliaSonera, Telus Mobility, T-Mobile USA®, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile USA and Yahoo!®.

OZ is a privately held company headquartered in Montreal, Canada, with regional offices in the United States, Europe and India. For more information, visit the OZ website at www.oz.com.

Deloitte Tech Fast 50 Interactive

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:04:24 GMT

The 2008 Fast 50 is available to you here in an interactive format.

Deloitte & Touche: Growth Rates of Canadian Technology Companies Falling After a Decade of Remarkable Gains

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:59:56 GMT

See the ranking and results here Or play with our interactive data. See which cities and sectors are growing fastest.

"The hyper-growth of Canadian technology companies may be a thing of the past"

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Sep 25, 2008 MARKET WIRE via COMTEX Today's announcement of the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) winners highlights a dramatic slowdown in growth rates after a decade of remarkable expansion. The Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM), the country's leading technology awards, ranks companies based on their five year revenue growth rates. Other categories include: Leadership; Companies-to-Watch and the Technology Green 15(TM). Markham, Ontario-based Nightingale Informatix Corporation, a healthcare service and software company, took the top spot with a 23,078% five year revenue growth. This is down sharply from last year's winner, Sandvine who topped the list with a blistering 42,120% five-year revenue growth rate. "The hyper-growth of Canadian technology companies may be a thing of the past," warns John Ruffolo, National Leader, Technology, Media & Telecommunications Industry Group, Deloitte.

Only a third (36%) of companies who made the list are VC financed and almost as many (32%) are backed by debt as by equity.

"In fact, our annual survey of Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) CEOs found that tech executives are predicting little growth in this sector, not only because of looming concerns about an economic downturn in Canada or the strong Canadian dollar, but also because of the weakness in Canada's venture capital industry and a tight credit market. This should be a rallying cry to find immediate solutions that will help this industry - often referred to as the industry critical to the success of Canada's economy into the future," explained Ruffolo.

Average growth rate down 1,276% compared to last year

Combined, this year's winning companies posted an average growth rate of 2,457%, down 1,276% from last year's average growth rate of 3,732%. "These are still great companies with an optimistic view of the future, but they have been hampered recently due to a lack of venture capital (VC) funding and a slowing worldwide economy," explains Duncan Stewart, Director of Deloitte Canada Research. "The private equity market has almost vanished and the IPO window is practically closed. Canada is home to the brightest minds in the business, but without financial assistance, we are going to lose out to more aggressive countries who know the true value of tech sector growth." Right behind top-ranked Nightingale Informatix Corporation, is Toronto-based PlateSpin (22,390%) a developer of data centre automation software, placing second two years in a row. Ottawa-based Level Platforms, which develops remote monitoring and management software ranked third (19,890%). Rounding out the top five are Toronto-based MyThum Interactive (see Red Canary profile) a mobile interactive media technology-provider (6,840% for fourth place two years running), and Vision Critical (5,298%), a Vancouver-based software company that develops interactive research.

U.S. and global economic weakness taking a toll

71% of CEOs surveyed said that tight credit markets are affecting their growth plans and 46% said they are changing or reviewing their strategies as a result of a downturn in the global economy. Interestingly, Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) CEOs remain optimistic and confident about their own companies but 57% of them see the broader industry slowing down.

Changing trends in financing

Only a third (36%) of companies who made the list are VC financed and almost as many (32%) are backed by debt as by equity. This is a surprising trend when compared to 10 years ago when technology entrepreneurs could only rely on VCs to fund them. Due to the lack of venture capital today, more companies are accessing the debt market and using their own cash to grow. Furthermore, even when they do receive VC funding, they are not getting it from Canada, but from the U.S. and Europe. This contrasts dramatically from 1998 when only 3% of VC funding originated from foreign sources.

Rise in commodity/energy prices providing new opportunities

Most Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) companies are not being negatively affected by a rise in commodity/energy prices, but 42% are taking advantage of the trend to develop and sell new technologies that are energy efficient. Over a third (38%) of CEOs surveyed said they had created new opportunities or growth markets for their businesses due to rising energy and commodity prices.

GreenTech and CleanTech on the rise

A continuing bright spot in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) program is the increased quality and size of Technology Green 15(TM) winners. They have been able to attract venture capital and IPO attention. It appears as if any company that allows you to do more with less - conserve energy, produce more oil and gas, use coal more responsibly - will be the winners in the years to come. However, while other industries are working on their environmental practices, technology companies themselves appear to be laggards in this area. Less than half (37%) are implementing energy conservation techniques and the use of environmentally friendly energy sources for their own companies, while 52% are implementing waste reduction measures. Despite these figures, a full 92% say going green "is the right thing to do."

The wireless sector continues to thrive

The market for wireless products, applications and services continues to move forward with great promise. 58% of tech executives see wireless applications, services and solutions becoming a larger part of their company's business in future. Of course, this is a sector where Canada is truly a leader through the efforts of companies like Research In Motion, which has made the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking every year for 11 years running - earning it the exclusive "Hall of Fame" honour.

Federal government getting too involved in the wrong ways

When asked if the current Canadian tax and regulatory environment is a barrier to their ability to remain competitive and grow, 54% said "yes". In addition, 17% said the federal government keeps getting involved in the industry, changing the rules of the game and restricting growth with too many regulations. The same number cited a lack of federal and provincial government harmonization. "Working together, government agencies could do more to help technology companies grow, raise capital, reduce their tax burden and help them expand into international markets," explained Ruffolo.

Regional representation of Canada's technology hotspots

While the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ottawa, and companies from Southwestern Ontario combine to produce more than half of Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) winning companies (27), other regions also show strength. The Greater Vancouver Area has seven, four hail from Alberta and Atlantic Canada has one winner. Quebec boasts 11 winners (up from 9 last year), likely due to a more favourable VC climate.

Ottawa has an almost even mix of both Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winners and Companies-to-Watch that could graduate to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking in years to come

In fact, Quebec's winners say they enjoyed more VC funding than those in any other province. It is also interesting to note that Ottawa has an almost even mix of both Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winners and Companies-to-Watch that could graduate to the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) ranking in years to come. While the Ottawa region has long been known for its established tech industry, it's encouraging to see that innovation continues to thrive there.

Leadership Awards

Leadership Awards single out companies that are the elite members of the Canadian technology industry, whose ability to create a distinct competitive advantage in a high-growth market allows them to dominate their sector and quickly join the ranks of other Canadian global leaders. This year's four Leadership Awards recipients are: PlateSpin (recently acquired by Novell), a developer of data center management solutions; RuggedCom Inc., which makes rugged communications equipment; Evertz Technologies Limited, a developer of HDTV and IPTV equipment; and Westport Innovations Inc., an engine developer and manufacturer.

Companies-to-Watch Awards

Based on the same criteria as the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM), the Companies-to-Watch (CTW) Awards honour early-stage Canadian technology companies in business less than five years, with the potential to be future Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) candidates. In this category, lack of financing is once again a critical factor. In the past, CTW have succeeded by developing solutions based on existing technologies but better, faster and more efficient. With the 2008 CTW Award-winners, the reverse is true. The majority are creating businesses in spaces that didn't even exist a year or two ago and are creating truly cutting-edge new markets. Ten companies are recognized as CTW this year: Blueprint, Embotics Corporation, Enablence Technologies Inc., Geminare Incorporated, In Motion Technology, OmniGlobe Networks, Paymentus Corporation, Planeteye, Sidense, and Storage Appliance. Impressively, one CTW winner from 2007, Brandimensions Inc., rose to the upper echelon of the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM), ranking ninth this year.

Deloitte Technology Green 15(TM) Awards

These awards recognize Canada's leading GreenTech companies that promote a more efficient use and re-use of the earth's resources in industrial production and consumption. In doing so, they use new, innovative technologies to create products and services that compete with existing products and services on price and performance while reducing our impact on the environment. The 15 winners are: 6N Silicon Inc., Alter NRG, Aqua-Pure Ventures Inc., ARISE, Distech Controls, EnviroTower, GEEP Inc., Ground Effects, Hemisphere GPS, ProSep Inc., Questair, Sempa Power Systems, Sustainable Energy Technologies, Timminco, and Westport Innovations Inc. Of these companies, 33% are involved in the energy industry, 20% in remediation and 20% in smart building technologies with almost half based in Western Canada. In addition, there are more public Technology Green 15(TM) companies than private as the investment community is more accepting of early stage GreenTech companies than other types of technology firms.

About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM)

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) program is Canada's pre-eminent technology awards program. Celebrating business growth, innovation and entrepreneurship, the program features four distinct categories including the Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) Ranking, Companies-to-Watch Awards (early-stage Canadian tech companies in business less than five years, with the potential to be a future Deloitte Technology Fast 50(TM) candidate,) Leadership Awards (companies that demonstrate technological leadership in four industry subcategories: hardware/semiconductor, software, telecommunications and emerging technologies) and the Deloitte Technology Green 15(TM) Awards (Canada's leading GreenTech companies that promote a more efficient use and re-use of the earth's resources in industrial production and consumption.) Program sponsors include Deloitte, Gowlings, GrowthWorks, RBC Capital Markets, Wellington Financial, Stonewood Group, CATAAlliance and IGLOO. For further information, visit www.fast50.ca.

(VIDEO) Devshop V2 Released!

Craig Fitzpatrick — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:57:44 GMT

Devshop is a hosted project management application specifically designed for planning software projects. Not planning weddings, or building roads - just software. And now it's even better.

Top 5 reasons to use Devshop: 1. It helps with time estimates by looking over past estimates and adjusts the schedule automatically to account for error (protecting you from unrealistic schedules!) 2. It can track distractions that take you and your team off the project, and automatically adjusts the schedule for individual "distraction rates" so deadlines are realistic, considering all the fires you have to fight. 3. It lets the whole team participate in the scheduling process, for better input, and better transparency. 4. Easier scheduling: eliminates "dependency hell" that some apps force you into. Just drag and drop to prioritize tasks and the schedule fixes itself. 5. Personal profiles: see what each team member is up to, any time!

INTERACTIVE Rank Canada's top 20 'Web 2.0' companies

Trevor Stafford — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:02:27 GMT

Backbone magazine recently selected the following 20 Canadian companies as their "Web 2.0 Winners" A panel selected these companies from an open nomination process. Red Canary is giving you the chance to rank them yourself. If you don't know enough about these companies to rank them, you can choose the top 5 option or simply view the ranking table.

PROFILE: AideRSS

Melanie Baker — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:53:30 GMT

Those who rely on neighbours and newspapers to keep up with what's going on in the world don't tend to have problems with information overload. Unless, perhaps, they forget to recycle.

High profile fans like Marshall Kirkpatrick and Read/WriteWeb have driven both understanding and adoption of AideRSS.

But as we turn to ever-proliferating online sources to stay informed, overload is unavoidable. In January 2007, the folks at AideRSS set their sights on improving a technology that was itself created to help manage information glut: Really Simple Syndication, or RSS. Their plan? To help people "Read What Matters".

Chapter 1: First Past the Post

While RSS was useful for streaming dozens (or even hundreds) of information sources into a digestibly at-a-glance format, it had no inherent ranking or filtering system. AideRSS stepped into that qualitative void with PostRank. PostRank assigns a numeric score from 1.0 to 10.0 (with an accompanying colour indicator) to every item in an RSS feed. Items can be news stories, blog posts, articles, or other media. PostRank's algorithms derive their numbers based on the 5Cs of social engagment: Creating, Critiquing, Chatting, Collecting, and Clicking. A PostRank score is an indication of each item's relevance to its audience. Different types of engagement receive different weighting. Launched in July 2007, the service was an instant hit. In its first day, 45,000 RSS feeds were submitted for analysis and today AideRSS tracks more than 200,000. To date, over 70 million posts have been evaluated. The company’s goal is to be a globally recognized brand for filtering, ranking, and overall management of RSS feeds. Meeting those goals requires a mature team, smart ideas, and great execution. AideRSS has been working hard to bring all three together.

"While the initial product is still the core of what we do, what we're building on top of it has definitely undergone tweaks and iterations and always will. We will be constantly adjusting based on market/user feedback. Our fans have, and absolutely will continue to, help us shape our strategic direction."

Writing Chapter 2 (without a Chapter 11)

Having demonstrated the value in helping people "Read What Matters", the team at AideRSS turned their attention to growth, closing their first round of financing in December 2007. A second round of financing is in the works for the latter half of 2008. Sold on the company's potential and interested in building on its strong strategic and tactical foundations, CEO Carol Leaman came on board in March 2008. "Since the launch of the service, the market has proven many times over that the idea was sound and the market need was absolutely there." Polishing PostRank™ With the introduction of the postrank.com website and Thematic PostRank, AideRSS has extended the customization and personal relevance of the PostRank technology. In addition to being able to filter and rank a group of feeds or news sources against their own individual historical levels of engagement, users can now group stories or posts from different sources based on topics or themes. Thematic PostRank then ranks those posts against each other based on based on the algorithm's social engagement metrics.

Chapter 3: An open approach to growth

AideRSS' API has also drawn significant attention from both third-party developers and major players in the RSS space. In April 2008, NewsGator enhanced their NewsGator Online RSS reader with AideRSS' PostRank functionality, and in early May announced that NetNewsWire 4.0 would include PostRank. The Google Reader extension has proven enormously popular as well.

Chapter 4: Character Development

AideRSS plans to grow their 10-person team into 2009 with the addition of three development/technical personnel. Like many Waterloo-area companies, AideRSS takes advantage of its relationship with the University of Waterloo (of which founder Grigorik is an alumnus) to find employees, and creates and nurtures co-op work placements. "In our experience the level of knowledge and talent in the co-op pool is outstanding. We want to get the best and brightest early and provide them with a great working environment. Our goal is to develop them into long-term, highly engaged employees who have serious domain expertise, and therefore give us strong competitive advantage."

Chapter 5: A Plot Twist

One recent strategic decision was to hire a Community Manager, a move more common at Silicon Valley start-ups than in Waterloo. When asked why they decided to invest in the largely non-technical role at this early stage, Leaman explained: "We consider the role critical to the product and space we're in. Investing in it will enable us to gain maximum benefit from our early adopters and growing base of users, as it's a key link between them and our development team. Our target market is totally online and engaged in all aspects of social media. NOT having someone on this full-time would impede our growth and success. We consider ourselves fortunate to have both realized this need early, and to have found an amazing Community Manager to fill the role."

The next chapter: the future of (Aide)RSS

While growing and nurturing its userbase is a priority, the company's long-term goal is to help RSS become a 'everyday' technology. According to Grigorik, changing how RSS is perceived is the first battle.

"Our core user base for the time being remains technically savvy people. Enhancements to the technology and applications that make RSS completely transparent to the common user are where things will go, and we're going to be a significant part of that." – Carol Leaman

"People look at RSS as a utility, rather than as a technology. What the catalyst for changing this perception will be remains unclear. More likely than not, it will be a combination of many applications." Leaman adds that the succcess of RSS technologies (and thus AideRSS' future) lies with the average online user. Though the goal of improving the value of RSS for every Internet user is no small feat, AideRSS is doing what it takes to win: listening to its users, expanding product functionality, finding partners, and growing their team. In a world where noise is increasingly called news, the company is working hard to help everyone "Read What Matters".

PROFILE: Impact Mobile

Scott Valentine — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Advertisers love the idea of mobile as a new marketing channel. "That's crap," says Impact Mobile founder Gary Schwartz. "Mobile is not a channel, it's something you add to make things better. We're focused on turning the phone into a mobile mouse."

By Scott Valentine Can you put success on speed dial? Toronto's Impact Mobile is trying to do just that with a platform that helps advertisers and retailers connect to mobile consumers. The private company was founded by Gary Schwartz in 2002. Schwartz, a self-confessed serial entrepreneur, has a long track record of successful mobile initiatives both domestically and abroad. "Five years ago, I was in a weak b2b market," he says. "It seemed at the time that the carriers were starting to get together and play nicely and I decided there was a good chance for a b2c mobile play in Canada."

Build once. Sell forever.

While SMS marketing has been around for a decade, Impact's approach is to offer a turn-key, end-to-end platform that focuses on technology that complements a business plan, rather than content creation.

As a brand manager, all that's demanded of you is numbers performance," says Schwartz. "Mobile guys love to talk about innovation but it's got to be more than cool. It has to be quantifiable and make the cash register go Ka-ching.

"There's no money in running campaigns," says Schwartz. "If you do that, you turn into an agency because you're focused on professional services rather than building a scalable business." Instead, Impact focused on building a suite of products that was scalable and 'self-serve', and selling their toolkit to a broad range of customers. "Like any company that wants to be successful, you have to build once and sell many times," says Schwartz. "With that idea as the holy grail, we've focused on becoming a tech that allows clients to use our platform and our pipe to run their own service."

Clickable, measurable and interactive

Most of Impact's competitors are focused on monetizing mobile media. "God bless'em," says Schwartz. "I make a lot of money creating revenue too, but it's a commodity business," he says. "What's not a commodity business is building out an interactive facility for these offline guys to make their media interactive." It's true that the Canadian mobile media scene is getting a little crowded these days, but Schwartz isn't trying to own the entire wireless landscape. Just the space between a client's brand and your mobile device. "We call it the lost mile," he says. "Taking people from Point A to Point B and turning that SMS message into a phone number . . . driving the interaction to point-of-sale." JumpTXT Live - Impact's core product offering - is an in event SMS toolkit for video screen integration. The JumpTXT solution provides a near real-time ability for delivering branded messaging and interaction opportunities; especially effective within closed environments. Let's say you're sitting in your seat at the Leafs (better make that Red Wings) next playoff game. On the Jumbotron is live video of a bunch of toothless players covered with scruffy whiskers. A moment later, you get hit on the hip with a sponsor-branded poll: Which player has the best playoff beard? By interacting, you're pushed a mobile coupon for a dollar off a slice of pizza at the stadium's concession stands. Entertainment, action, commercialization. "We've become the standard for the sports and music sectors," says Schwartz, rattling off an extensive list of clients, including 150 U.S. stadiums and arenas. "Raptors, Jays, The Staples Centre, The Galaxy . . . we have 93 per cent of the music market (through clients like House of Blues and Signatures Network)"

CPM: An old solution to a new problem

The fast-and-friendly nature of Impact's plug-and-play toolkit, no more complex to deploy than an API, provides solutions for a whole spectrum of interactive mobile methods. Previously, clients have used the JumpTXT platform for quick deployment of everything from fan polls to mobile coupons, in-event media, and pushes to point-of-sale systems. Much of Impact's BI and reach into the North American market is due to the company's push to develop standards for the mobile industry, including a lead role with the Internet Advertising Bureau's Mobile Advertising Committee, of which Schwartz is chair. "I was thrown in a room with Google and Yahoo and Microsoft and they said, 'It's not marketing Gary. Mobile is about buying inventory and getting clicks,'" says Schwartz. "That part of the world is fixated on buying inventory that way because it's easy to do."

We're taking the business-as-usual Cost Per Thousand model that companies are used to buying with and turning it into a mobile mouse," he says. "That drives value and bridges the gap to where the brand wants to be".

JumpTXT gets creative

Audience polling, interactive chat, content-pushing, live flirting with that cutie in Row 6 . . . if there's an idea Impact's clients have for how to use mobile in the context of their media, Shcwartz is happy to oblige. "As a brand manager, all that's demanded of you is numbers performance," says Schwartz. "Mobile guys love to talk about innovation but it's got to be more than cool. It has to be quantifiable and make the cash register go Ka-ching." Low-tech bling, high-end Ka-ching! Compared to other Canadian mobiles such as MyThum, which builds mobile media, Extend, which wants to commercialize it, or Tira, which wants to make applications work on a range of devices, Impact's solutions are decidedly low-tech. But that's the genius of the company. Impact sits at number five on the 2007 Deloitte and Touche Canadian Technology Fast 50 with 10,455 per cent revenue growth since 2002. Also, though Schwartz claims Impact has been "profitable since Day One," Impact just accepted two million in debt financing from Wellington Financial. "It's a ramp, a way to a business extension," says Schwartz. "If we're borrowing, that means we can pay it back."

Cashing in on mobile clicks

Impact seems well-situated to capitalize on its central position as both a front-of-mind mobile technology platform and as a key figure in establishing industry standards within the rich U.S. marketplace. Long term, Impact may end-up as a smaller piece of a much larger end-to-end mobile media commercialization solution. But for right now, Schwartz is in an excellent place to ride the wireless wave into the future on a very old-school board. "I know it sounds very boring but SMS is the mobile 'click. It's the first button and it's the best . . . the only ubiquitous wireless standard," he says. "If you don't get the click first, there's not going to be any ROI." And for those looking to incorporate mobile into their approach, Impact Mobile is all about making cash register and cellphones ring the same tune.

PROFILE: CiRBA -- The 9 year overnight success

Trevor Stafford — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:36:51 GMT

After a hard, 6-month evaluation of a little company in Richmond Hill, they came back and said: "Alright, we’re going to select you . . . and we’re nervous as hell".

Every startup has its watershed moments. Win, and you’re Napoleon after Austerlitz, basking in triumph. Lose, and the watershed may instead be your Waterloo. For CiRBA, a virtualization management vendor just north of Toronto, that decisive moment came in 2005 as the company vied for a significant piece of business. Like le petit caporal, the company was outmanned and outgunned by its international competition. As President and CEO Gerry Smith puts it, the "small-ass little company” found a way to win, and importantly, prove to itself and its investors that it had made the right choice in steering towards the burgeoning virtualization market. 35 customers and 20 million dollars in funding later, the company is fighting on new fronts. Each battle, Smith says, is still critical.

From professional services to product company . . . but which product?

Smith, who founded and sold Changepoint, has lead CiRBA since 2005. In that span, the company has gained international recognition, befriended the giants it once fought, and wrestled with the challenge of leading a young product in a nebulous market. As he is quick to point out, 9-year-old CiRBA had begun to productize its intellectual property long before Smith’s arrival. Under founders Riyaz Somani and Andrew Hiller, the bootstrapped company was looking to leverage its expertise in configuration management into a product. But by late 2004 the virtualization goldrush had begun, and CiRBA was extremely well positioned to take advantage of it.

Turning ‘well-positioned‘ into CIO Magazine’s #1 Vendor to Watch isn’t as simple as changing a business card. “[a] software product typically needs capital, and running a software business has higher risk, but higher reward. You need to buffer [that risk] with capital, with patience, and with [investors] who can say “you know what? It’s going to take longer before we can see money coming in the door.”

The company did a great job focusing on data centre hot spots -- virtualization and consolidation. As a result, IBM’s global services organization [were] standardized on the CiRBA product. -- Derek Smyth, Partner, Edgestone

Money and Patience

CiRBA recently completed its third round of funding, a $12 million investment from Sigma Partners. Smith’s arrival at CiRBA coincided with its first financing. Six months after that initial investment, the company changed direction and chose a strategy that would let them attack the virtualization space. “After 6 months (believe me it was a lot of hair pulling, discussion, and meetings) we re-focused our configuration tool to be an analytical and control engine for the emerging market of virtualization.” Gerry put his organizational savvy and rolodex to work, leaving the technical details to his capable executive team. “What I did was bring the discipline of saying, ‘lets continually meet, a couple, three times a week, [and have a] serious evaluation of where we’re going and [how to point] our product at the market.”

“[a] software product typically needs capital, and running a software business has higher risk, but higher reward. You need to buffer [that risk] with capital, with patience, and with people who can say “you know what? It’s going to take longer before we can see money coming in the door”

If you write it, they will come

Andrew Hillier, CTO

Detailing the arcane complexity and simple ROI of transitioning a data centre from physical to virtual was a challenge placed on CTO Hillier’s shoulders. The reaction to his whitepaper, backed up by CiRBA’s product suite, told Smith that they were going in the right direction. He invokes a classic TV ad to describe the scene: “I’m exaggerating – but just to make the point, it was like that IBM ad years ago where the guys create a web site and they’re all standing around looking at [it] saying, ‘well, wonder if we’re going to get any business now that its live?’ and then they see, 1, 2 wrrrrrrrrr (the numbers start spinning). CiRBA’s approach was compelling and interest was strong. Now they needed a customer or three.

CiRBA beats Goliaths

CiRBA’s first pitch saw its solution go up against powerful global systems integrators for a large piece of business. Smith sums up the result: “After a hard, 6-month evaluation of a small-ass little company in Richmond Hill, they came back and said ‘alright we’re going to select you . . and we’re nervous as hell’." The giants play nice… The systems integrators community that CiRBA beat out took notice. And many have since partnered with the company. (visit CiRBA's partner page for more) … and help CiRBA’s evolving strategy Partnering wasn’t an overnight coup, however. Smith refers again to his reliance on weekly sessions that help shape the organization’s longer-term goal, even 6 months into a plan of action. As the company gained momentum, CiRBA’s leadership focused on reaching out. “One of those strategic session [told us] lets put a lot of emphasis and support to winning over these systems integrators, let's create a business model that supports them, [and] doesn’t compete with them."

You find yourself in the perfect opportunity for any venture capitalist: large identifiable market with identifiable market need with proven IP and a team that coming together that’s done it before. -- Derek Smyth

CiRBA today. Pedal to the virtual metal.

When Smith joined CiRBA, the company had fewer than 15 people. Today, it numbers over 60 -- and plans to almost double in size this year alone. Growth in employees, customers and product development, fueled by its recent $12 million funding and industry recognition, signal the company’s shift from startup to mature software company. Smith knows it can be difficult transition. “I have watched companies move extremely fast -- and lets translate that into, ‘spend piss-pots full of money’ [when] they haven’t yet justified the spending of money on people, on space, on marketing, on websites, and everything else.” CiRBA’s challenge is to jump quickly but not blindly into the opportunity before it. “We’ve built an application that adds enormous value and meets a huge demand in the market, so our challenges now are shifting from creating an application and making sure that it hits the market, to refining that application to make sure it’s exactly in the cross hairs “

A . . . B . . . CiRBA

It's a helluva lot easier to hire great people when you show how successful you've been in raising capital from stellar VCs, when you’re winning awards in the market, when you have large customers, and you offer competitive compensation. – Gerry Smith

Smith calls CiRBA a ’9-year overnight success’. His immediate goals are adding personnel and refining both the product and the operational processes that will help them capture their market. When asked what the future holds for the company, Smith is honest and positive. "Is there an opportunity to be the Cognos of data centres? To have this intelligent framework that guides and helps virtualize data centres? Absolutely. The fact is, [we've] got a runway in front of us, and lots of air under the wings, and we'll go hard. I think we have a good opportunity to be that company." While CiRBA hasn’t quite crossed the chasm, its human and intellectual capital, girded by Smith's relentless strategic focusing, suggest that it has the grit and leadership it needs to fight its way through.

Looking back at Ironside Technologies - One of Canada's best exec incubators?

Scott Valentine — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:12:58 GMT

I had these two guys in my office while I was eating my lunch and they just went off. By the time I finished my banana, I knew there was something special

Canada, 1996. Donovan Bailey sprints to Olympic gold in the men's 100, Mr. Dressup puts away the tickle trunk for good, and Jim Balsillie's little wireless company starts causing traffic jams in Waterloo. Up the road in Toronto, Bill Lipsin is quite content as an executive with Bay Networks. "I had a great office with a view of Lake Ontario," he reminisces. Then he gets a call from Larry Wasser, a friend and chair of a Toronto investment company. "(Wasser) said, 'I bought a chunk of this startup called Ironside and I need a CEO,'" Lipsin remembers. "I told him I wasn't interested." "(Wasser) said to me, 'Bill, you're about as smart as I am and you work a lot harder. But you're not as rich as I am. Why do you think that is?'" As a former employee of IBM Canada and Crowntek, among others, Lipsin had a reputation as a top-notch tech executive. But because he'd worked for larger organizations, he hadn't taken the risk -- or reaped the reward -- that came with leading a young company. Wasser had pulled the startup card. Ironside armors up When he met with Ironside's founders, Lipsin was impressed with their vision for the company. But it was also pretty clear to him that it was going to take a crackerjack team to bring that vision to life. "I started thinking about who could help make Ironside successful," Lipsin says.

Dale deFreitas

Derek Smyth and Dale deFreitas, - known quantities from Bay Networks - were the first to sign on. A little while later, it was Rod Foster's turn. "Bill came to me and told me he was going to a startup with no money, no customers and no business plan," says Foster. "I joined about two months later." You would think that would about do it in terms of our line-up of characters. But like a lot of good startups, Ironside's story required an ensemble cast. There's Andrew Abouchar, an early financier: "I had these two guys in my office (Lipsin and Smyth) while I was eating my lunch and they just went off. By the time I finished my banana, I knew there was something special there."

Kang Lu

Kang Lu, then a senior product manager: "It all boils down to: Am I having fun? If so, then you're all jazzed up about it. Motivation comes for free." Lori Allan, Philip Padfield, David Dalton . . . and the list keeps going. Iron is a strong metal, but it's a heavy one, too Like any startup, the early days of Ironside were a little chaotic. For one, it might be fair to say there wasn't exactly a business plan, per se. "That would not be a presumption," laughs Foster, now CEO of Covarity. "I think the Ironside business plan was a vision on where Bill wanted the company to get to and how we were going to nimble enough to get there." For the record, Ironside was a b2b ecommerce company. The company's flagship product, Ironworks, provided an integrated go-to-market solution that let manufacturers and distributors give customers the ability to place orders online. Ironsides solutions could even be tied-in to a client's ERP systems; pretty funky stuff for the time. Goodyear, J.D. Edwards and Cambar Software all signed on the dotted line. But in late '96 the company was still a ways off from signing those kinds of deals. "I went out to California to start an office there," says Foster. "I was V.P of sales, but I was also a one man office. So, if a letter needed writing, I was V.P. of letter writing." On the opposite coast, Lipsin - busy rounding out his team and strategizing corporate direction - wasn't exactly living the exec dream either. "I remember my wife calling me one day and asking 'What the hell is all that noise?'" he says. "I told her about the little cube I was in with the great big industrial dumpster outside my window," he laughs. "She asked me If I remembered that view of Lake Ontario from my old office." The early days of a startup are always challenging. "I can vividly remember laying in bed at night and sweating it out on a couple of occasions because I didn't know if we had the money to make payroll," Lipsin recalls. Fortunately for the Ironsiders, adversity helped build strong, hard-working, focused teams. Looking back: What made it Work Ask any former Ironsider what they learned from working with Bill Lipsin and the first word out of their mouth is focus. "Pick your priorities, focus and make sure you get those done," says Foster. "Structure comes from aligning resources to those priorities. So, at the right point in time, your'e focused on building infrastructure, developing marketing expertise, getting into a new segment . . . whatever," he says. Abouchar concurs. "At a startup, there's always so much to do," he says. It's dangerous to always be running after the next thing. I think Bill really stressed that." "It's funny," Lipsin says. "I just finished a meeting this morning and it was all about focus and 'Let's go back to the top three priorities.' Once people understand that you knock off those three things and then move on, it really starts to resonate in an organization." Lipsin cultivated his style from studying under some of Canada's finest executives: Mike Burns, and John Thompson among them. "I took it from different mentors that I'd had. I watched their work ethic, how people like Bill (now chair of CIBC) Etherington treats people," says Lipsin. "I also watched others who were the opposite and realized that I never wanted to be like them. So when I got involved with Ironside that all became part of how I wanted to hire people and run my piece of the business." An Iron Commitment to Communication and Autonomy One of the first things Lipsin and his crew did was agree a on set of core principles by which the company would operate. "I said, 'Watch me compromise on a bunch of things, but I'll never compromise on one of those core principles,'" says Lipsin. Towards the top of the list was an organizational-wide commitment to open and honest communication. "It's the idea that you can have an open and active discussion but when you make a decision everyone is behind it," says Abouchar. "That sounds pretty simple but it's incredibly hard." The buzz on Bill Lipsin is that he let's you run your own show. "He'd say 'Here's where you need to get to. If you need help, call me,'" says Foster. "I couldn't let the others down because I knew they weren't going to let me down." Like a lot of companies, when Ironside started its growth spurt, competing energies were at risk of clashing. But the team always found a way to stay on track. "We would discuss things behind closed doors but when we left we had an agreement and very prioritized goals and we focused on them," says Foster. Wasser puts it in a nutshell. "The company was without a roadmap (but) it had a novel concept to utilize the Internet," he says "The culture was about innovation . . . and the success was due to great leadership." The logo that launched a thousand ships It's what the people who were a part of Ironside have done in the years since the company was sold that really speaks to the success of the organization's culture. Consider: Rod Foster is now CEO of Covarity; Andrew Abouchar is a founding partner of TechCapital ; Kang Lu and Dale deFreitas are executives with pVelocity; Larry Wasser is president of LW Capital Corp and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Rotman School of Management; Derek Smyth is a partner with Edgestone Capital's Venture fund.

Derek Smyth

And Bill Lipsin has gone on to become head of worldwide channels for Computer Associates. "Derek and I still talk regularly, David Dalton worked with me in two other companies and Lori Allan is with me in New York today," says Lipsin, adding that a new generation has begun to germinate from the old Ironside crew. "Rod Foster's daughter is interviewing with the company I'm with now," he says. To a person, the many former Ironsider's now heading up successful tech companies are doing so largely according to the mantras they learned under Bill Lipsin. "Respect your colleagues, especially your subordinates. They work with you, not for you," says Lu. "Focus," says Foster. "There's a time and a place for 'Let's get it done' survival, and there's a time to mature as an organization." "Parking lots never lie," says Abouchar. "Ironside's was never empty." Lipsin is quick to deflect credit for his former team's success and heap praise upon their own accomplishments as executives and entrepreneurs. "I think we've watched each other grow and helped each other out where we could over the years," he says. "I don't want to sound like I'm altruistic because there has to be a selfish motivation in order to be successful, but there are different ways to get there. So would it be worth it to go through the days of dumpster-dodging and payroll-sweating all over again to have one more go with the old team? "Let's just say if many of those people walked in to my office today the due diligence process would be pretty quick," says Abouchar. "I don't know," laughs Foster. "We'd all probably want to be in charge." Lipsin is a bit more sentimental on the prospect of a reunion. "If i had the ability to stop working full-time, I'd like to share the lessons I've learned - good and bad - and help others lay the foundation for their own success," he says. "If Rod or one of those folks called . . . I'd do it again tomorrow."

Red Canary's 'webpaper' 2008

Trevor Stafford — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:01:35 GMT

Canada is home to a thriving technology industry that doesn't celebrate or recognize itself as often as it should. How typically Canadian of us, eh? I hope this 'webpaper' continues to serve as a reminder of our industry's vitality and diversity, and of Red Canary's effort to shine a much-needed spotlight on great Canadian technology companies. -Trevor

If you'd your like your logo seen here, please link it in a comment below, or email it to me at editor@redcanary.ca

PROFILE:TakingItGlobal

Scott Valentine — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:30:07 GMT

By Scott Valentine

TakingITGlobal.org is an online community that encourages young people to get involved in their local and global community by connecting them to information, inspiration, and each other.

As teenagers, they built an organization that fused young people, social networking and humanitarian action on both a global and community level. At 20, the likes of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and TIME magazine had identified them as visionaries and world-changers. Today, Jennifer Corriero and Michael Furdyk have grown TakingItGlobal.org to more than 182,000 members across 261 countries, supported by 700 educational institutions and a stable of commercial partners. The Toronto-born co-founders sat down with Red Canary to talk about the power of technology and youth to drive global change.

Michael Furdyk and Jennifer Corriero, Co-Founders, TakingItGlobal

What's the idea behind TakingItGlobal? Corriero: "As teenagers we discovered that kids everywhere had a voice. Our expectation was to create a platform [that helped] kids cross borders and take their ideas global. At the time we didn't have many words to describe what we were doing, we just saw that there was a need for a space that was youth-led and about growth. It's important to start cultivating that global mindset at a young age and to develop those skills for using technology." So the question was: how can we complement what is taking place in formal learning institutions with an informal learning environment?

Everybody sees themselves as contributing. That's really what an online community or social network is about

Furdyk: "From [a] technology perspective, it was important to get up and running. No one [talked about] 'social networking' back then, to have any hope of getting funding we needed to develop a prototype community at a basic level so we could show people what we were talking about. I learned some of the technical stuff and built the first web site in early 2000 so we could show [a] compelling, socially bound community to get people interested." Compare what you thought would happen in 2000 to what's happening with TakingItGlobal today Corriero: "It's amazing to see the relevance of some of those basic philosophies that we were discussing in 2000 come to life with the emergence of social networking and the way that kids are communicating online and learning, and how that's driving social change." "I'd say there is common thread around how young people become engaged with technology based on having a sense of voice and a sense of choice. There's [an] expectation of participation now, and I think that crosses different sectors. How else did you see technology coming into play Furdyk: "One of the opportunities we originally saw was in growing the number of schools and educational systems [that invest] in technology - there was and still is a gap between what people thought technology was useful for and what its actual potential is. We wanted to help train teachers and provide them with tools to actually use technology to its capacity. We developed a mini community platform [where] teachers could develop a site and incorporate tools like blogging and podcasting into the classroom." Corriero: "We've run different pilots showing how learning and engaging with interactive technology can help students learn both subject matter as well as those abstract concepts of interaction and empowerment, so learning is real-world. Sometimes when we talk about the virtual world we can lose that perspective of real people around the world who are affected." What makes for good social networking? Furdyk: "There's a couple different things you could look at. For us - because we're trying to develop the quality of the network vs. the quantity of it - we [try] to foster really insightful, productive and interesting dialogue. We have a diverse group of community volunteers and moderators involved in facilitating that and ensuring that discussions are on topic and productive, so that people can learn and gain insight."

We currently have just as many members in Nigeria as we do here in Canada.

Corriero "And obviously it's important to take the pulse of what's happening. We have metrics around interest and growth and some aspect of why people are coming back. Also, people need to be able to be comfortable participating in different ranges. "Highly-involved members post and comment [frequently], but it's important to lower barriers-to-entry: reviews, rating(s), tagging - these are all ways to create and digest content. But everybody sees themselves as contributing to the experience that they're having. That's really what an online community or social network is about horizontal participation -- small cells within a broader network leverage the network to highlight an issue. "For example, on World AIDS Day we had a live chat that combined a top-down approach (setting the broader issue) with a bottom-up approach (fostering organic interaction). So its not just a social networking site but leveraging the power of social networking for creating positive change in the world." Is that ability to contribute what drives youth to social networking, and what's the role of technology in addressing that? Corriero: "I don't think this generation is any more disengaged than previous generations. I do think that there's an outlet this generation has that didn't exist before. That ability and expectation to contribute will carry across generations; it won't just be a youth thing, it will be an expectation that changes systems over time. "As young people transition from being dependent to being independent, they develop identity and an understanding of their course in the world. Those courses may or may not affect the types of careers they choose. Regardless, there's a lot of pressure at that stage and being able to find others that are similar to you, or even being exposed to people different from you, can be very comforting and empowering.

...instead of starting out with a whole club or project cleaning up all the parks in their city, they can just personally commit to using fewer plastic bags or recycling.

"TakingITGlobal plays an important role in that. It is very intentionally a space that is about promoting empowerment and that ability to contribute. It's not just about having the ability to post something . . . the feedback of positive reenforcement and building bridges in the real world - by getting validation from another member or a teacher, or an employer or a parent - is also incredibly important." TakingITGlobal is in a position to gather a lot of very unique data about how young people interact with technology and how they apply it to social causes. What are you learning from that? Furdyk: "One of the key insights we've gained is the fact that that the number of new users getting online day-after-day no longer speak English as a primary language - it's now Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish and others. We completely redesigned our technology back in '05/'06 so that it would support an infinite number of front end languages. We're now launched in 12 different languages and that's entirely supported by student volunteers around the world. TakingITGlobal is the only social networking site that is so multi-lingually accessible. "We also have a real focus on creating actual content . . . we facilitate a community behind that, but the real opportunity is the information and resources for young people. We also want it to be easier for any person to say that they're committed to an issue that they've decided to care about. We [added] a section that lets people make smaller commitments. So, instead of starting out with a whole club or project cleaning up all the parks in their city, they can just personally commit to using fewer plastic bags or recycling or something like that. That appears on their profile as a badge of commitment so they can talk about that with their friends. Very shortly, we'll be launching that as an application on Facebook, too." Talk about the challenges of reaching youth around the globe from here in Canada. Furdyk: "It's not that we employ out-of-the-ordinary tactics for reaching people. What we did is take the 100 or 200 people that originally signed-up on the site back in 2000 and really treated them like leaders. The way we saw it, those people were the ones in their community that had connections or were more influential because they found out about us really fast. We sent those people promotional materials and packages with a T-shirt and all kinds of information. What ended up happening was they kind of became champions for us and helped to develop and promote a hugely viral growth. An interesting fact to illustrate that is that we currently have just as many members in Nigeria as we do here in Canada." Corriero: "As we've grown and cultivated a community, we've learned that when you frame issues it needs to be done in a way that provides relevant points of reference and make sure that there's a lot of regional diversity . . . if someone is on the site making a comment in an AIDS discussion group and they are from the United States, that context would be very different than if they are from Zimbabwe. "One of the techniques we use is highlighting feature members from all around the world to showcase and frame issues. It's also important to allow and respond to feedback that's made in different ways - in some places maybe a video works, in others maybe it's a text message. The question is: how to incorporate that feedback and amplify voices that may come across as small at the start, but still want and deserve to be catered to." How can for-profit entities place themselves at the intersection of technology and humanitarian causes? Furdyk: "It's funny, a lot of people complain that their kids spend all day in World of Warcraft or Facebook, but if you don't support and nurture positive places for people to be with each other and interact online, how can you complain? Give youth something to look up to and aspire to. That's what an investment in TakingITGLobal is for a lot of the people we work with: trying to support positive places for young people to hang out online and give them inspiration, and provide them with information. That leads young people to get more involved with the world around them."

Profile: Tira Wireless

Scott Valentine — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:46:00 GMT

By Scott Valentine Today’s mobile applications are built on a variety of platforms, for a plethora of wireless devices, to satisfy an infinite number of business and consumer requirements. Platforms x Devices x Requirements = mobile application quagmire. Toronto’s Tira Wireless simplifies that equation by offering a coding, planning and device-agnostic deployment platform.

Matt Golden, SVP, Corporate Development

"By the time you launch a single application worldwide across five languages, you’re looking at thousands of versions. If you’re a content publisher that wants to put out nine games a year, that’s about 100,000 versions of software," says Matt Golden, Tira’s co-founder and SVP, Corporate Development’

Tira Wireless gets a ‘Jump’ on consistent user experience

For a mobile application to approach the quality level of a wired user experience, it first needs to be available to the user consistently regardless of network, device or communication protocol. "If an application doesn’t work on sister phones – like two different Motorola handsets – then making it work on Samsung, or LG or whatever is going to be a huge problem," says Golden.

Jump, Tira’s signature product, takes mobile deployment from cradle-to-grave by developing, distributing and supporting mobile Java apps. It’s available in both enterprise and freebie versions.

Jump provides mobile developers from neophyte to multinational with a single tool for programming mobile.

That creates both an innovator’s entry point and the opportunity for creativity: two things developers love.

"What that means is that anyone looking to create a rich mobile app and get it to market can do so," says Golden. "Either you contract with us to help you do the work, or you license or download our platform. Tira’s value proposition is to reduce complexity".

Phone a friend

To keep mobile apps in the fast-lane of interactive experience, Tira uses "Jumplets"a living repository and organic ‘rulebook’ that manages application delivery across common mobile device characteristics.
In plain English: You can put a Java application on pretty much any mobile device, anywhere. Which means that a lot of developers (and the people that pay for their Red Bull) can spend less time on porting software, keeping up on requirements and managing the process. That means more time and resources are spent on profitable applications.
"It’s only a matter of time before people start populating their mobile devices with stuff that increases productivity or improves lifestyle," says Golden "(Then) you can extend brands, Web 2.0 apps, whatever."
As a result, mobile networks are going to get busier. Their owners aren’t sure how all those new applications are going to affect the security of their network, and who will feast on what piece of the rich mobile pie.
"Give the carriers credit. They are starting to understand that there needs to be a path for launching mobile apps," says Golden. "There is money to go around, and the carriers need to control it is being reduced. As that’s happening we’re heading towards a more innovative environment in Canada," he says, adding "As the world’s community of developers goes mobile, Tira is probably their best solution to work in a code environment they like.

Tira finds Success in Failure

In September 2000, while the dust of dot-bomb was still settling over Canadian venture capital markets, Matt Golden and some partners decided to make a cash investment in an Ottawa-area mobile tech called Zucotto Wireless and its key product, Xpresso.
"Everyone stopped investing so we started." says Golden. "It was small investment, but it came with a seat on the board. That gave us some visibility into mobile."
Zucatto didn’t make it. But the time spent playing in the mobile applications space provided Golden and his co-founders one crystal-clear challenge:
Build a ‘one-code-fits-all’ platform. And so Tira Wireless was born.
Golden has helped lead Tira through three rounds of venture financing totaling $31.5 million from the likes of Lehman Brothers, EDC and Golden’s former employer and current investor Brightspark. Tira is partnered with mobile operators, content publishers and device manufacturers around the globe.

Tira puts Profit on Speed Dial

Mobile operators are maturing in their understanding of mobile apps and are (slowly) adopting more flexible revenue sharing models in the complex ecosystem of the mobile jungle.
Driving that change has helped Tira Wireless find success, with 5-year sales growth of more than 16,000 per cent, happy investors, and analyst acclaim.
"We’re almost into a higher market of consultative types of services," says Golden "These days, it’s more ‘How do I do this?’"
Assuming major players in the worlds of mobile technology and content publishing continue asking for a little help, Tira seems well-positioned to be both central to the next generation of mobile solutions, and front-of-mind to the market.
"The world is changing very quickly," says Golden. "We’ve gone from not knowing how to put content on sister devices, to where [one customer] can accomplish everything from development to deployment of mobile apps.
"That’s a huge change in the value chain."
And a huge kick for the future of mobile technology.

The best of Red Canary: Editor's Picks, 2007

Trevor Stafford — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:03:58 GMT

2007 has been a great year for Red Canary. The site received a new look and vastly improved user experience in July, and over 9000 software professionals now hear from us monthly. Bells and whistles aside, a magazine is only as good as its content. In a world that's fit to burst with information (and the carnival barking that passes for marketing) I hope that Red Canary delivers on its mandate: to provide a friendly window on Canada's software industry. Here are my favourite articles from the past year. Please add yours in the comments area below. 1. Soccer, startups and fire-in-the-belly Mario Laudi makes a strong point about the kind of people who help startups succeed. 2. The Sandvine way Born in the ashes of the dot-com crash, Waterloo-based Sandvine has a unique beginning and perspective on talent. Scott Valentine tells their story well. 3. Ashok Kalle: Benevolence and good business on the 'Pathway' to success Jessica Lam crafts a fine piece about a fine human being who led Pathway communications through ups and downs and continues to give new Canadians opportunities in technology. 4. Teching the plunge: Going from a large company to a small one Three professionals talk about why they love the startup life. This article should be required reading for anyone who's considering joining a young company. 5. 290,307 reasons why this is the best marketing I've ever seen from a Canadian technology company The writer is clearly a hack, but it's hard to cloud the fact that when it comes to web-savvy marketing, Bluecat is in a class by itself. Enjoy the videos. 6. Hiring Software Testers in an Information Age Paul Carvalho presents a well-written and comprehensive document here. Even if you aren't a testing professional, this piece will give you insight into the discipline's complexity. I'm honoured that Paul shared it with Red Canary.