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

Jim Skippen, CEO of WiLAN.
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 Continue reading →

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

Greg Ashley of MHPM Project Managers.
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 Continue reading →

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 Continue reading →

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

The farmer’s market near Bayshore Shopping Centre.
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 Continue reading →

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

Nuvyyo chief executive Grant Hall.
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 Continue reading →

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published on the Ottawa Business Journal website.
July 27, 2011

Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.

Zarlink Semiconductor’s Gary Tanner.
(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 Continue reading →

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
July 25, 2011 (July 26 on OBJ.ca)

Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.

VC portfolio featuring local assets attracts bids from Covington, GrowthWorks
As venture capital firm VenGrowth prepares to be acquired, the fate of several Ottawa firms in its portfolio hangs in the balance.

While VenGrowth is headquartered in Toronto, Silicon Valley North has factored heavily into the labour-sponsored fund’s past and present investments – former investees include Meriton Networks and Galazar Networks, and BelAir Networks, Espial and BTI Systems are among its current holdings.

As well, Bridgewater Systems and SiGe Semiconductor are two of its locally headquartered portfolio assets in the midst of an exit.

VenGrowth’s investments through its five funds, which have a combined value of more than $200 million, have attracted both a friendly shares-for-shares offer from Covington Capital, and a hostile bid from GrowthWorks.

It’s indicative of Continue reading →

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
July 21, 2011 on OBJ.ca (July 25 in the paper edition)

Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.

Offer too low, says Ottawa-based company’s board

A Microsemi (NASDAQ:MSCC) executive says his company’s US$548.7-million offer for Ottawa-based Zarlink Semiconductor (TSX:ZL) is not a hostile takeover bid, but simply an attempt to get the local firm’s attention.

“We’ve put a very substantial offer on the table and it’s an opportunity to join forces and take things to another level, but it’s not a takeover … we’re not at that stage yet,” said Steve Litchfield, Microsemi’s chief strategy officer, in an interview with OBJ. “We’re just asking for a meeting and we’re anxious to sit down with management.”
Continue reading →

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
July 11, 2011 (July 18 on OBJ.ca)

Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.

New technology accelerates product development timeline

Design 1st’s Kevin Bailey.
Photo by MARK HOLLERON for the
Ottawa Business Journal.

Even during a phone interview, the team at industrial design and engineering firm Design 1st doesn’t have any problems illustrating exactly what it does.

With a quick e-mail link to an online meeting service, Kevin Bailey and Ian Kayser are able to share a three-dimensional, interactive model of a device they’re working on, as well as a virtual thermostat interface complete with clickable buttons.

“It took us about six hours to render that 3D (computer-aided design) interface,” said Mr. Bailey, who’s the founder and president of the firm.

Mr. Kayser, Design 1st’s director of operations, added the team can build a quick prototype “literally overnight,” and then virtually share it with even faraway customers.

The key to Design 1st’s efficiency, and consequently, its success – it’s worked on a wide variety of products, from the notorious We-Vibe sex toy, to water heater tanks, cinema projectors and infant hospital tags – is its judicious use of advanced industry software, as well as of Web 2.0 and social media tools available to the general public.

Design 1st illustrates Continue reading →

By KRYSTLE CHOW
Published in the Ottawa Business Journal newspaper and website.
July 11, 2011 (July 12 on OBJ.ca)

Click here to view this article on OBJ.ca.

New chief Rich McBee touts consistency, focus as hallmarks of the new Mitel

Rich McBee, CEO of Mitel.
(Photo supplied)

Mitel’s new chief executive, Rich McBee, doesn’t mince words when it comes to talking about his company’s performance lately.

“We missed our earnings and guidance, and that’s the kiss of death – it shakes the confidence of the market and they start asking, ‘Do you know what’s going on with your business?’ After all, it’s our guidance; no one was forcing us to put out that guidance,” he says.

Mr. McBee says it became evident something was wrong as he studied the telephony technology company’s strengths, weaknesses and opportunities during his first few months on the job. While the firm had great products and services and a good management team, he says it needed reorganizing and a tighter focus.

That led to a restructuring in early May that saw Mitel shuffle its executive ranks, as well as reducing its geographic sales operations to two parts, and its business to just three core divisions: the DataNet/CommSource reseller business and the NetSolutions network and hosted services, which each represent about $80 million of Mitel’s total business, and its main communications solutions unit, which makes up about $500 million.

Mitel’s stock did enjoy a slight boost following the move, but there’s no doubt its current value at around $4 is a far cry from the $13.08 high on its first day of public trading.

Analysts have commented that it may be a matter of public perception and poor timing; the earnings stumbles, combined with Mr. McBee’s move into the CEO role following former chief Don Smith’s retirement, so soon after the IPO may have given the impression of Continue reading →