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Tech Bytes: Fall 2012's Major ICT Industry News

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:03:00 GMT

The ICT Industry is one of the fastest growing and most rapidly changing industries in Canada. The following provides a snapshot of the happenings within the Canadian ICT Industry for September and October 2012:

October 31, 2012 – OpenText reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
October 31, 2012 – Rutter acquires German Technology Firm OceanWaveS
October 30, 2012 – C-COM announces purchase of stock CEO
October 30, 2012 – TransGaming reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
October 29, 2012 – Celestica offered a substantial issuer bid of USD $175M to purchase for cancellation up to 25M of its subordinate voting shares
October 29, 2012 – Telesat Canada announces closing of its private placement of 6.0% senior notes due 2017
October 29, 2012 – PMC-Sierra reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 29, 2012 – Enablence reports full fiscal 2012 results
October 30, 2012 – IDC announces transition plan for board and management
October 26, 2012 – Ergoresearch reports full fiscal 2012 results
October 25, 2012 – Shaw reports full fiscal 2012 results
October 25, 2012 – CA Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
October 25, 2012 – Glentel reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 25, 2012 – QHR Technologies completes acquisition of Open EC
October 25, 2012 – Serenic reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
October 25, 2012 – DEQ Systems reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 24, 2012 – Rogers reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 24, 2012 – SAP reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 24, 2012 – Symantec reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
October 24, 2012 – IDC President and CFO resigns
October 24, 2012 – Angoss Software reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 23, 2012 – Celestica reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 23, 2012 – Xerox reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 23, 2012 – Sierra Wireless reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 23, 2012 – Redknee announces closing of Bought Deal Offering
October 22, 2012 – Versatile appoints new Chairman of the Board of Directors
October 22, 2012 – C-COM reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 22, 2012 – RigManager Systems completes $1.71M common share private placement
October 19, 2012 – Honeywell reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 19, 2012 – SMTC appoints two new members to the board of directors
October 18, 2012 – Aastra reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 18, 2012 – Wanted Technologies reports full fiscal 2012 results
October 17, 2012 – TELUS 81.1 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of share exchange proposal
October 17, 2012 – Axia announces change in financial year end
October 17, 2012 – Sylogist shares purchased by Mawer Investment Management
October 16, 2012 – IBM reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 15, 2012 – GuestLogix reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 15, 2012 – QHR Technologies appoints new VP of Marketing and Communications
October 11, 2012 – OpenText appoints new Sr. VP of Corporate Development
October 10, 2012 – DragonWave reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
October 10, 2012 – Avigilon announces resignation of CEO
October 10, 2012 – Firan Technology Group reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 10, 2012 – Sangoma reports full fiscal 2012 results
October 9, 2012 – SMART Technologies appoints new President and CEO
October 9, 2012 – EXFO reports full fiscal 2012 results
October 9, 2012 – Redline Communications secures $10 Million credit facility
October 9, 2012 – GuestLogix appoints new CEO
October 5, 2012 – Constellation Software completes acquisition of Tucasi Limited
October 4, 2012 – Sandvine reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 2, 2012 – Redknee secures $20 Million credit facility
October 1, 2012 – SAP completes acquisition of Ariba
October 1, 2012 – VendTek reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
October 1, 2012 – AMAYA to acquire Ongame Network
September 28, 2012 – Pason Systems announces retirement of Chief Revenue Officer
September 28, 2012 – SMTC to acquire the assets of Seksun Array Electronics
September 28, 2012 – Vecima reports full fiscal 2012 results
September 28, 2012 – CANTRONIC Systems reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 27, 2012 – RIM reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 25, 2012 – Glentel acquire 83% shareholding in AMT Group Pty Ltd.
September 25, 2012 – AMAYA to acquire Cadillac Jack
September 24, 2012 – QHR Technologies appoints new Chairman of the Board of Directors
September 24, 2012 – Sylogist announces purchase of shares from President and CEO
September 20, 2012 – Oracle reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 20, 2012 – PMC-Sierra announces redemption of 2.25% Senior Convertible Notes
September 20, 2012 – Automated Benefits announces name change to Symbility Solutions
September 18, 2012 – Axia reports full fiscal 2012 results
September 13, 2012 – Evertz Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 13, 2012 – 20-20 Technologies successfully acquired by Vector Capital Corp.
September 13, 2012 – CounterPath reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 13, 2012 - ODESIA completes acquisition of Gestion Passerelle Inc.
September 11, 2012 – International Datacasting reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 11, 2012 – PNI announces new Interim CFO
September 10, 2012 – Celestica completes acquisition of D&H Manufacturing
September 10, 2012 – Firan Technology Group announces Hiring VP & GM of Aerospace
September 7, 2012 – IMRIS appoints new President and COO
September 6, 2012 – COM DEV reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
September 6, 2012 – Enghouse reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
September 6, 2012 – Descartes reports second quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 6, 2012 – Avigilon announces closing of C$23 million Bought Deal Financing
September 6, 2012 – TECSYS reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
September 5, 2012 – Hemisphere GPS appoints new President and CEO
September 4, 2012 – GuestLogix acquires U.K.-based Initium Onboard

Tech Bytes: July & August 2012's Major ICT Industry News

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:18:00 GMT

August 30, 2012 – Mitel reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 28, 2012 – VersaPay reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 28, 2012 – ODESIA reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 27, 2012 – Sylogist reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 27, 2012 – Frontline reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 23, 2012 – QHR Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 23, 2012 – Fireswirl reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 22, 2012 – VIQ Solutions reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 21, 2012 – Quorum reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 20, 2012 – CGI Group completes acquisition of Logica
August 20, 2012 – BSM Technologies reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 16, 2012 – Zedi reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 16, 2012 – CounterPath common shares to trade on TSX
August 15, 2012 – Pason Systems appoints new member to the board of directors
August 15, 2012 – Nightingale Informatix reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 14, 2012 – Avigilon announces equity financing of C$23 Million
August 14, 2012 – Redline Communications reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 14, 2012 – DDS Wireless International reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 14, 2012 – AutomatedBenefits reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 14, 2012 – VoodooVox announces completion of C$1.8 Million financing
August 13, 2012 – Absolute Software reports full fiscal 2012 results
August 10, 2012 – WebTech Wireless reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 10, 2012 – D-BOX reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 9, 2012 – CAE reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 9, 2012 – OpenText reports full fiscal 2012 results
August 9, 2012 – Softchoice files notice of Normal Course Issuer Bid
August 9, 2012 – SMTC reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 9, 2012 – Cyberplex reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 9, 2012 – IMRIS reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 9, 2012 – Norsat International reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 9, 2012 – Nortel Networks reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results; announces discontinuance of future periodic financial reporting
August 9, 2012 – PNI Digital Media reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 9. 2012 – Espial Group reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 9, 2012 – Intrinsyc Software reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – BCE reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Softchoice reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Hartco reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Calian Technologies reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Points.com reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Redknee reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Avigilon reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Computer Modelling Group reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 8, 2012 – Solium Capital reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 8, 2012 – Glentel to sell its tower business assets to SBA Communications Corp.
August 7, 2012 – Mediagrif reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 6, 2012 – Enablence Technologies appoints new member to the board of directors; announces departure of CFO
August 4, 2012 – Logibec Groupe Informatique successfully acquired by OMERS Private Equity
August 3, 2012 – Telus reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 3, 2012 – Pason Systems reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – MTS Allstream reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – Telesat reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – SMART Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
August 2, 2012 – Sierra Wireless reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – WiLAN reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – CriticalControl reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – NexJ Systems reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 2, 2012 – NexJ Systems appoints new member to the board of directors
August 2, 2012 – Novadaq Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 1, 2012 – Constellation Software reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 1, 2012 – Sierra Wireless completes acquisition of Sagemcom M2M
August 1, 2012 – Hemisphere GPS reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 1, 2012 – TeraGo Networks reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
August 1, 2012 – GuestLogix appoints new member to the board of directors
August 1, 2012 – Atlantis Systems appoints new VP, Sales & Marketing
August 1, 2012 – Platinum Communications announces expiration of its Normal Course Issuer Bid
July 31, 2012 – SelectCore appoints interim CFO
July 31, 2012 – Mitec Telecom reports full fiscal 2012 results
July 31, 2012 – IDC appoints new members to the board of directors
July 30, 2012 – 20-20 Technologies to be acquired by Vector Capital
July 30, 2012 – Atlantis Systems appoints new member to the board of directors
July 27, 2012 – Celestica reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 27, 2012 – Celestica announces agreement to acquire D&H Manufacturing Company
July 27, 2012 – Glentel reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 26, 2012 – OnX Enterprise appoints new Exec. VP of Canada & COO of Cloud & Managed Services division
July 26, 2012 – MDA reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 26, 2012 – RDM reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 26, 2012 – Serenic reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
July 26, 2012 – Angoss reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 25, 2012 – CGI Group reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 24, 2012 – Rogers reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 24, 2012 – Miranda Technologies successfully acquired by Belden
July 24, 2012 – PNI Digital Media announces departure of VP, Technology
July 24, 2012 – C-COM Satellite Systems reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 24, 2012 – Tranzeo Wireless Technologies announces revocation of cease trade order
July 24, 2012 – Frontline announces close of sale of US broker/dealer to Dash Financial Holdings, LLC
July 23, 2012 – Navantis announces new CEO and VP, Client Experience
July 19, 2012 – TECSYS receives approval of its intention to renew its Normal Course Issuer Bid
July 19, 2012 – CounterPath reports full fiscal 2012 results
July 19, 2012 – SAND announces management changes
July 18, 2012 – COGECO Cable acquires Atlantic Broadband
July 18, 2012 – Nightingale Informatix reports full fiscal 2012 results
July 17, 2012 – Aastra Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 17, 2012 – WiLAN acquires patent portfolio from Siemens AG
July 17, 2012 – PNI Digital Media appoints new COO
July 16, 2012 – GuestLogix reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 16, 2012 – Platinum Communications reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 13, 2012 – Redline Communications completes share consolidation
July 13, 2012 – OSI Geospatial successfully goes private
July 12, 2012 – COGECO Cable reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 12, 2012 – Rutter reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 11, 2012 – Evertz Microsystems receives approval of its Normal Course Issuer Bid
July 11, 2012 – DragonWave reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
July 11, 2012 – VoodooVox announces TSX listing review
July 9, 2011 – Firan Technology Group reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 6, 2012 – Sandvine reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 6, 2012 – TECSYS reports full fiscal 2012 results
July 5, 2012 – TeraGo Networks proceeds with Class A share conversion
July 4, 2012 – Enablence Technologies receives US$3 Million loan, announces plans to sell portion of business
July 4, 2012 – Tranzeo Wireless Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
July 3, 2012 – PEER 1 Hosting completes acquisition of NetBenefit

Tech Bytes: June 2012's Major ICT Industry News

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 19:12:00 GMT

The ICT Industry is one of the fastest growing and most rapidly changing industries in Canada. The following provides a snapshot of the happenings within the Canadian ICT Industry for June 2012:

June 29, 2012 – VendTek Systems reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 29, 2012 – CounterPath to list on NASDAQ
June 28, 2012 – Research In Motion reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
June 28, 2012 – Shaw reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 28, 2012 – EXFO reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 28, 2012 – CANTRONICS Systems reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
June 28, 2012 – OnX Enterprise appoints new CFO
June 27, 2012 – Mitel starts trading on the TSX
June 26, 2012 - MDA to acquire Space Systems/Loral, Inc.
June 26, 2012 – Espial Group appoints new VP of Smart TV
June 25, 2012 – International Datacasting appoints two new directors
June 22, 2012 – Tio Networks reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 22, 2012 – Serenic reports full fiscal 2012 results
June 21, 2012 – D-BOX Technologies reports full fiscal 2012 results
June 19, 2012 – Mitel reports full fiscal 2012 results
June 18, 2012 – Celestica announces wind-down of manufacturing for Research In Motion
June 18, 2012 – Videotron appoints new VP IT
June 18, 2012 – Sierra Wireless to acquire Sagemcom M2M
June 18, 2012 – OnX Enterprise appoints of new Senior VP of the U.S. Western Region
June 15, 2012 – Descartes Systems Groups completes acquisition of Integrated Export Systems Ltd.
June 13, 2012 – BCE announces public offering of $1 billion of medium term note debentures
June 13, 2012 – 20-20 Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 13, 2012 – PNI Digital Media announces departure of CFO
June 12, 2012 – Mediagrif Interactive Technologies reports full fiscal 2012 results
June 11, 2012 – QHR Technologies to acquire Open EC Technologies Inc
June 7, 2012 – COM DEV International reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 6, 2012 – Enghouse Systems Limited reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
June 6, 2012 – PEER 1 Hosting to acquire NetBenefit (UK) Limited
June 6, 2012 – QHR Technologies appoints new Director
June 6, 2012 – CANTRONICS Systems appoints new Director
June 5, 2012 – International Datacasting reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
June 5, 2012 – QHR Technologies appoints new CFO
June 4, 2012 – Descartes Systems Groups acquires Infodis
June 2, 2012 – BCE acquires 30 per cent of Q9 Networks Inc.
June 1, 2012 – DragonWave completes acquisition of Nokia Siemens Networks' microwave transport business

Tech Bytes: May 2012's Major ICT Industry News

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 04:00:00 GMT

The ICT Industry is one of the fastest growing and most rapidly changing industries in Canada. The following provides a snapshot of the happenings within the Canadian ICT Industry for May 2012:

May 31, 2012 – CGI to acquire Logica
May 31, 2012 – Enghouse Systems Limited acquires Zeacom Group Limited
May 31, 2012 – Descartes Systems Group reports first quarter fiscal 2013 results
May 30, 2012 – Radiant Communications reports full fiscal 2012 results
May 30, 2012 – Atlantis Systems reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 30, 2012 – In-Touch Insight Systems reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 30, 2012 – Automated Benefits reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 30, 2012 – Ergoresearch reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 30, 2012 – Frontline Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 29, 2012 – Vision Critical appoints new VP, North American Market Panel Sales
May 29, 2012 – Amaya Gaming Group reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 29, 2012 – VersaPay reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 29, 2012 – OSI Geospatial reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 29, 2012 – ODESIA Group reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 28, 2012 – CANTRONIC Systems reports full fiscal 2012 results
May 28, 2012 – VersaPay appoints new Director
May 25, 2012 – Fireswirl Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 24, 2012 – Computer Modelling Group reports full fiscal 2012 results
May 24, 2012 – VIQ Solutions reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 23, 2012 – CAE reports full fiscal 2012 results
May 23, 2012 – iWeb.com appoints new COO
May 23, 2012 – BSM Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 22, 2012 – Quorum Information Technologies reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 21, 2012 – Pandell acquires Prizm Surface Group
May 17, 2012 – SMART Technologies reports full fiscal 2012 results
May 17, 2012 – Zedi reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 16, 2012 – CAE acquires Oxford Aviation Academy
May 16, 2012 – Redline Communications reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 16, 2012 – Nightingale Informatix appoints new Executive VP of Operations
May 16, 2012 – Uniserve Communications reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 15, 2012 – Vecima Networks reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 15, 2012 – Solium Capital completes acquisition of CapMx
May 15, 2012 – VoodooVox reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 14, 2012 – Softchoice reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 14, 2012 – Axia NetMedia reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 14, 2012 – IMRIS reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 14, 2012 – GuestLogix reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 14, 2012 – IDC reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 11, 2012 – Miranda reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 11, 2012 – Cyberplex reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 11, 2012 – WebTech Wireless reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 11, 2012 – International Datacasting appoints new CFO and Managing Director
May 11, 2012 – Sangoma Technologies reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 11, 2012 – ODESIA Group acquires Interfacing Technologies
May 11, 2012 – Angoss Software reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 10, 2012 – MTS Allstream reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 10, 2012 – Hartco reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 10, 2012 – Avigilon reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 10, 2012 – DDS Wireless International reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 10, 2012 – PNI Digital Media reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 10, 2012 – Intrinsyc Software International reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – Telus reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – Calian reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – SMTC reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – PEER 1 Hosting reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – WiLAN reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – Redknee reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 9, 2012 – Norsat International reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 8, 2012 – NexJ Systems reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 7, 2012 – Absolute Software reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 7, 2012 – Solium Capital reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 7, 2012 – Versatile Systems reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 4, 2012 – Novodaq Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 3, 2012 – Sierra Wireless reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 3, 2012 – Points.com reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 3, 2012 – DragonWave reports full fiscal 2012 results
May 2, 2012 – Constellation Software Inc. reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 2, 2012 – Pason Systems reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 2, 2012 – Hemisphere GPS reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 2, 2012 – CriticalControl Solutions reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 2, 2012 – Espial Group reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 1, 2012 – OpenText reports third quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 1, 2012 – MDA reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
May 1, 2012 – OpenText to acquire EasyLink Services International Corporation
May 1, 2012 – Glentel reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results

Branham300 Executive Interview - Jim Skippen, President & CEO, WiLAN

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:14:00 GMT

For the past 20 years, Branham has tracked the Canadian ICT Industry and the leading companies that comprise it. As part of Branham’s ongoing efforts, we speak with leading executives from across Canada to gather first-hand insight on current trends and recent developments within the Canadian Technology space. Recently, Branham sat down with Jim Skippen, President & CEO of WiLAN to talk about his career, the company he leads and what the future has in store. The following statements summarize some of the key points that Mr. Skippen would like to pass along to the Branham300 community. Alternatively, listen in on the conversation between Branham and Mr. Skippen in its entirety here.

Combining Law with a Passion for Technology…

My career really started in university. I was a computer science and business student and I decided to combine that with something that was quite unrelated: law. I went into law, and when I graduated from law school, I decided I wanted to combine the law part with computer science.

I joined a firm called Borden Elliott, which is now called Borden Ladner Gervais, in the computer and technology law group. I was doing patent transfers and technology transfers and some general corporate work for technology-based companies. I started as an associate and became a partner there.

I then joined MOSAID as General Counsel. Very soon after I joined MOSAID in 1996, I became interested in patents and in their patent portfolio and worked on developing a patent licensing program. Ten years later, with a short stint at McCarthy Tetrault in between, I began working at WiLAN.

Making the Shift from Law Firms to Corporations…

I think what made me shift from law firms to corporations was that I saw clients that were doing very well financially. They were working smart as opposed to more hours. I wanted the opportunity to have the type of benefits that are only available through stock or stock options – that was a big motivator. I think a second big motivator was that I wanted to be more directly involved in business. As a legal advisor working at a law firm, you are advising but you are not really making the business decisions. As in-house counsel or as CEO, my current position at WiLAN, I am able to impact directly on business decisions.

WiLAN’s Shift from Products to Patent Licensing…

I think the reason WiLAN changed its focus in 2006 was that it adapted to the market conditions it was faced with. It had tried to sell products, and in all fairness, I think it was largely unsuccessful in making a profitable business that way.

What WiLAN did have was the fundamental inventions – in the form of patents – that related to its products. It made the business decision to try to focus instead on licensing its intellectual property and its patents and that’s where I came in.

If you look at what has happened since 2006, there has been dramatic growth in our financial strength and the size of the company and the success of the company. I think it turned out to be a very good decision to focus on intellectual property.

WiLAN’s Recent Achievements…

Over the past five-plus years, there are several key accomplishments that come to mind. One is building our intellectual property business and signing over 250 licenses to our intellectual property. The stock price, when I was first asked to consider joining, was 65 cents. It is well over $5 now. That is almost a ten-fold increase in the stock price.

Our financial strength is another great accomplishment – we went from about $300 thousand in the bank and now we have over $200 million. We are in a different league in terms of financial strength. Revenue growth is another measure of our success. We have grown from zero to over $100 million in revenues in just 5 years.

In addition, we have implemented a dividend for our shareholders and I think we have established a reputation for honesty, fairness and integrity in both the market that we are in but also generally in the community.

The Key Drivers to the Company’s Success in Fiscal 2011…

One of the key drivers to our success has been our financial strength. It has enabled us to grow our patent portfolio; it has enabled us to withstand court challenges that were very expensive, and it has ultimately led us to prevail.

I think another key to our success is that we stuck to our plan. We made sure that when we signed deals or licenses that they were the right deals or licenses at the time.

Another key driver is the continuing strength of our team. We are committed to training and strengthening the capabilities of our existing employees, while at the same time, bringing new strong employees on board as we need to.

Coining Fiscal 2011 as a “Defining Year for WiLAN”…

I think 2011 was a defining year for WiLAN because, after three years of litigation and negotiation, most of the Wi-Fi industry and much of the cell phone industry took licenses to our patent portfolio. This helped us because it reduced our expenses while at the same time increasing our revenues significantly.

This specific year, we were able to achieve revenues in excess of $100 million with very high profitability. We doubled our dividend and then in the beginning of 2012, we increased it by another 20 percent. In addition, the size of our patent portfolio basically tripled.

Milestones on the Horizon…

Some of the milestones that we would like to achieve in the next 24 months are to sign more licenses and to apply some of our significant cash reserves to buy patents and companies, especially companies that will add revenue streams to what we are already doing. I think that the Gladios initiative, which is designed to help other companies license their intellectual property, will gain more traction in the next 24 months and eventually will become a more significant contributor to our revenue.

The Attempted Acquisition of MOSAID Technologies…

I think the MOSAID acquisition proceeded much as we expected. We were somewhat surprised that a private equity player made an offer but that is the name of the game with this type of process: you don’t know who might enter the fray and bid more than you.

In hindsight I believe it was the right thing, for us to launch a bid to acquire MOSAID. The fact that it ultimately sold for a price that was much higher than the market price before we launched our bid indicates that we were offering good value. I think one lesson we took from the whole exercise is that we took the high road. We did not engage or respond to personal attacks. That served us well and I am glad we took that approach.

Increased Awareness Around the IP and Patent Market…

I think that the Nortel transaction and transactions like the recent Microsoft purchase of the AOL patents has made the general public and certainly the financial markets much more aware of the value of intellectual property in patents. Larger operating companies like AOL, Microsoft and Nokia are now much more interested in finding ways to monetize their patents and deploy them. That is a big change from what things were like 10 or 15 years ago.

So I think you are likely to see more of these larger companies staking out their intellectual property to third companies like WiLAN to try to license the intellectual property and generate revenue both for WiLAN but also for the operating company. Increasingly, organizations want to make sure there IP is not an asset that is stagnant on the shelf.

What to Look for From WiLAN in the Near-Term…

In the near term I would expect that we will continue to sign licenses and bolster our core licensing areas, which are wireless access, digital display and cloud computing. We will also continue to engage with new Gladios partners, and sign licenses with some or all of them. At the same time we are going to look for opportunities to work with larger, strategic partners who could benefit from our licensing expertise. We could take on one or two of those types of partners and will be working on that in relative near-term.

Parting Advice…

I would say that entrepreneurs need to be bold and forge ahead. I think for leaders of small public companies I would caution them that there is nothing like a strong balance sheet and there are a lot of factors that can mitigate against you strengthening the balance sheet or doing financing if the opportunity presents itself.

I would caution that you should still consider trying to raise money when it is available. The irony is that usually the very best time to raise money is when you least need it and when no one will understand why you are doing it. If you try to raise money when you need it, it is probably already too late.

WiLAN has completed many successful financings and I think it has served us very well in being able to execute on all of our strategic goals and initiatives.

Another thing I would say to smaller entrepreneurs is keep your eye on your patents. Many times, patents are a secondary thought because they are expensive to maintain and file. At the end of it all your patents may be the most significant part of the company’s value. Consider the Nortel patents that were sold for more than all of Nortel’s businesses combined. Patents are really where the value is, and that value that is not being protected by many small companies.

Branham300 Executive Interview - John Kvasnic, CEO, Chief Architect and Co-Founder, Navantis

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:14:00 GMT

For the past 20 years, Branham has tracked the Canadian ICT Industry and the leading companies that comprise it. As part of Branham’s ongoing efforts, we speak with leading executives from across Canada to gather first-hand insight on current trends and recent developments within the Canadian Technology space. Recently, Branham sat down with John Kvasnic, CEO, Chief Architect and Co-Founder at Navantis to talk about his career, his company and what the future has in store. The following statements summarize some of the key points that Mr. Kvasnic would like to pass along to the Branham300 community. Alternatively, listen in on the conversation between Branham and Mr. Kvasnic in its entirety here.

Lessons Learned at a Young Age…

Some of the key values that I like to apply here at Navantis, I learned from my dad when I was growing up. He was one of those guys that came from Eastern Europe, with no money in his pocket, the real salt of the earth types. Throughout his life, he made this living as a carpenter. After about 15 years of working around Toronto, he landed a job on a very prestigious city street to renovate an entire house. He did such a good job on that project that word travelled fast, and another neighbour hired him to do a reno at his place, and then another neighbour hired him, and then another. He ended up staying on that street for 11 years without leaving, and he didn’t even have a business card. People would come up to him and he would tear-off a chunk of drywall and write down his name and number on it. That was it.

Seeing this as a young guy growing-up had a huge impact on my career, because I learned very early on, the power and the purity of referenceable business. After my dad spent all that time on that street, the neighbours got together and gave him a t-shirt that said, ‘John K, Carpenter Extraordinaire’. In order to convey the type of values and work ethic I want from the team here at Navantis, I’ve told them all that story, as well as had that t-shirt framed and hung in the boardroom at our headquarters.

While I’m not in the carpentry business, a lot of the lessons I learned growing up can be applied to the technology services business, which Navantis is a part of. It’s all about building relationships, delivering and making sure the customer is happy. You always have to earn that next job.

Seizing the Opportunity that Others Missed…

If I look back, it was actually a very specific incident that caused me to venture off and start Navantis. Back in the early-1990s, I was working for a company that developed solutions for the banking industry. I was kind of a young up and comer and they afforded me the opportunity to lead a small team working with some new Microsoft technology. After about a year of working with these new tools, I realized that this technology was way more user friendly than current technologies, and easier for non-technical people to learn and use as well.

After about a year, I went to the exec team and told them that I think this technology is the way of the future; it really simplifies things. I really thought that we could mop the floor with our competitors because their solutions would require an army to support, while these new Microsoft technologies would require far fewer people and less expenditures. As opposed to seizing this opportunity, they actually saw it as a threat to their cash-cow support business. It was at that point that we decided to part ways. From there, I ventured off and founded Navantis in 1998 to leverage the opportunity of this new technology and it’s kind of taken-off from there.

The Technology Services Business is all About the Client…

Honestly, I think our vision has sometimes taken little detours, but since day one it’s really been all about the client. I like to think that any client engagement we get involved in starts with the customer, and then works its way back to us and what we have to do to deliver.

I guess one shift that has taken place in the past 15 or so years is that back then, it was more about the technology, and how that technology was going to fill a need. Today it’s really more about providing solutions to business problems. The technology is more like tools on your belt that you can use to meet a clients need or business problem.

Bringing in Legend to Meet Changing Client Needs…

The reason we acquired Legend was because we were running into some projects where the customer had to manage a lot of the complexity. Let’s say for example that a customer had a development project of some sorts. Often times they had to manage one vendor for project management, another for development, and then another for infrastructure. What we were seeing is that the client was having a lot of accountability challenges, because each of the vendor's were pointing at each other. So our thought was, why not offer the customer one throat to choke, and make it easier for them to get their project done with only one vendor.

When we started looking at companies to acquire, we wanted a really solid infrastructure company that was nimble, customer centric and had a great reputation in our key markets. Legend really fit the bill in all three areas, so we brought them in and it has really complemented our offerings well.

Lessons Learned from Integrating Two Companies…

I knew the owner of Legend really well, and we had a huge amount of respect for one another. I think the teams from both companies saw that we had that level of trust and that really helped with the integration of the two companies. We also spent a lot of time communicating with the teams, getting them to work together and establishing a common vision that everyone could really rally around. But the key lesson that I really learned was that even with as much as we communicated, and it was way more then I usually do, it still wasn’t enough.

When you bring two companies together, even if they are like minded, you really need to show your people why it makes sense for the company, why it’s better for them, and why it benefits the customer. Even though I think we really did a great job integrating everything, I still think we could have done more to make it happen faster and more effectively.

Major Milestones at Navantis To-Date…

When I look at the company, one of the biggest milestones for me is the number of companies that we have been working with for more than 10 years. We’ve have decade long relationships with about 25 clients; companies like Honda, Microsoft and a number of municipalities. I’m really proud of that and to me that says a lot about the level of trust we have built-up with some of our clients.

Another big one for me is that our attrition rate is really low. We’ve been around for 14 or so years now, and we have a lot of employees that have been here for 10 years or longer – a lot of the original crew. Even though we have a team of approximately 300 in various cities around the world, it still feels like a family and I think that’s a big part of why people stay with the Navantis team.

Positioning the Company for Success in the Future…

We recently took a good look at ourselves as a business and decided that we were going to focus on three core areas moving forward. One was client excellence in everything that we do. Whether its project delivery, how we sell, or how we support our customers, we have to be at least a 9 out of 10.

The second part is a focus on our people, and what I mean here is making the right kind of hires, coaching employees, making them feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves, as well as celebrating success and learning from failure. While we are very proud of the culture here, which has led to our low level of attrition, we still have areas where we can improve and we’re focused on that.

The third pillar we decided to focus on was IP and differentiation – what’s our secret sauce and what makes us different than the other service providers out there. We can’t just tell our existing and potential customers that we have better and smarter people. Instead, we are focused on providing our clients with examples of the tools and technological knowledge we have on hand and showing them the project experience where we have done it before. This third pillar is a real challenge for us, because in order for it to be effective here, everyone from the front-lines to the guy in the CEO chair needs to be on the same page, with the same message.

If we can nail these three things, I think we’re in good shape going forward.

Advice to Entrepreneurs Looking to Land a Blue Chip Client…

The biggest lesson I have learned is to think: big client, not big deals. Sometimes a journey can begin in the most humble of ways, like a small $5k or $10k consulting engagement. That’s how Navantis started working with Microsoft and now we’ve been working with them for 13 or 14 years.

You also have to take a long-term view and understand that you are only as good as your last project. You have to keep earning that business and building that trust with the customer. Even as exciting and appealing as it is to win those five or ten million dollar deals, it’s more about getting in the door with a customer and establishing that trust. If you can do that, the sales will always follow.

Tech Trends on the Horizon…

I think the mobile enterprise is going to be huge. It already is, but it still has a long way to go before it’s the mainstream. How are we going to make it so people can work anytime, from anywhere and on any device, while still maintaining the level of security and privacy that’s currently in place? That’s a huge opportunity and I think it’s not just going to disrupt the system integrator market; it’s going to disrupt the way business takes place.

I also see some huge trends in the social space, in terms of how people are able to collaborate. In today’s world, people with similar interests are able to connect and find each other easier and faster than ever imagined. Apply this trend to the enterprise space, and think about the possibilities. If a large company with 50 thousand people in offices around the world can pull together the right 10 people to collaborate on a project, that’s a huge strength. So I think the social enterprise movement is going to be massive.

Two other areas that are talked about a lot are cloud and virtualization. We’re just at the beginning of these waves, and I think it’s already clear that there are significant opportunities in these areas.

We really are living in very exciting times.

Parting Advice…

I’ve always been in the services business, so I will offer advice in this area. Two things and they are both very simple:

Listen to your clients.
Listen your team.

Between your clients and your team, they literally have all of the answers.

Branham300 Executive Interview - Donovan Jones, President, CEO and Director, CounterPath

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:13:00 GMT

For the past 20 years, Branham has tracked the Canadian ICT Industry and the leading companies that comprise it. As part of Branham’s ongoing efforts, we speak with leading executives from across Canada to gather first-hand insight on current trends and recent developments within the Canadian Technology space. Recently, Branham sat down with Donovan Jones, President, CEO and Director at CounterPath to talk about his career, the company and what the future has in store. The following statements summarize some of the key points that Mr. Jones would like to pass along to the Branham300 community.

From an MBA to Big Business to Innovative Up and Comer…

The current phase of my career began with an MBA at the University of Calgary. Interestingly enough, the MBA program that I took was focused on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial approaches to business. In addition to the typical finance, marketing and strategy curriculum of an MBA program, there was a specific focus on helping start-ups and small businesses achieve their objectives, whether it was a need for venture financing, improving operations or strategy or a variety of other elements.

After completing my masters I took a bit of a vector and joined TELUS in their corporate strategy group. Up to that point I had been very focused on entrepreneurship and was looking to either start my own business or help grow an existing business, but based on the opportunity and the team at TELUS I thought it might be a good idea to get some experience in a large organization, and TELUS is just that, being one of the largest employers in Western Canada.

What really intrigued me about TELUS at the time was that the telecommunications industry was going through a period of change and the strategy development group was looking at doing some really interesting projects including a number of transactions in addition to the merger with BC Tel. They were also very focused on growing their business, especially in the areas of data, IP and wireless.

I spent a few years in the strategy development group, and then moved within the overall corporate development group to become more focused on mergers and acquisitions. This was a great time in my career because I was involved in a number of key transactions for TELUS which directly leveraged many of the technical elements of my business degree.

From there, I moved over to a marketing and operations role involved with the selling, deployment and management of data and IP systems for enterprises. I then left TELUS and joined a small investment banking group focused on mid-market private transactions. I wasn’t with this investment firm for too long before a person I worked with very closely at TELUS introduced me to the CounterPath team, which at that time was called Xten Networks.

After meeting the team at Xten and learning more about their business, I really thought that I could combine my eight-year background at TELUS with my MBA focused on entrepreneurship and help this young company. So I made the shift and joined the CounterPath team and I haven’t looked back since.

Broadening CounterPath’s Vision to Address New Markets…

At the time I joined the company, it was almost exclusively focused on building SIP softphones for PCs and the vision was to be the leader in this field. Back then, people weren’t thinking about using their mobile devices to make phone calls over Wi-Fi or carrier networks using data, like we do today. By focusing on delivering these solutions to customers and identifying their needs and requirements, we began to see that an opportunity existed for a company that could build a software application that did voice, video and text that could work seamlessly on any device on any network. So over the past seven years or so, we have taken that original vision and expanded it beyond the PC. We’ve moved beyond those early days when our desktop applications were only Windows-based to now be operational on Linux and the Mac’s OS; with the growth in Apple this has been a very strong element of our proposition. We’ve also been one of the leaders in the shift to mobile, and our applications are currently available on the iPhone, iPad as well as Android powered smart phones. We’re launching an application for Android-powered tablets soon too, so that’s definitely something to look out for. I would expect to see other mobile OS’s added to the portfolio as Windows 8 and RIM open up to third party developers.

We’ve also changed our customer focus. A few years back, we were largely selling our solutions over the Internet. Now we’re really focused on big tier carriers, enterprises and OEMs. This pivot was a significant one for us, because we are now dealing with the Ericsson’s, the Avaya’s, the Rogers Communications’, and the AT&T’s of the world, and not just individual end users.

Key Drivers to CounterPath’s Current and Future Success…

From the outside looking in, it looks like CounterPath really turned things around starting in 2011, but the keys to our current success really go back a bit further than that. It really goes back to when we made the shift to focusing on customers like Mitel and Cisco on the OEM side, and British Telecom and AT&T on the carrier side. Once we aligned the team to sell and deliver to these companies, and build a business around them, the momentum really picked up because we took what we learned in one geographic market and applied it to another market. There were similarities in what we were doing with the large operators, enterprises and OEMs, so we’ve really began to scale our business in the past couple years.

Another big part of our growth, at least in the tail-end of our fiscal 2011 year and into 2012, is our expanded focus on mobile devices. People are finally truly understanding the benefits of using a mobile device to extend their office number to their mobile or using their mobile device on Wi-Fi or 3G networks as opposed to wireless voice networks, because there are real cost savings associated with this. Research has shown that 40% of all mobile phone calls take place within an office, which has a Wi-Fi or at least a 3G data connection. By switching to our technology, users can avoid needless charges and make those calls using low cost connections like Wi-Fi or 3G networks as opposed to more traditional means.

Another area for us moving forward where I think you will see some growth is in the enterprise space. Companies are really seeing the advantages of shifting away from the traditional desktop phone, to using our softphone technology on some other device, whether that device is a computer, a smart phone, or an iPad. CounterPath has a staff of over 100 people, and we don’t have any hard phones. When I am at my desk, I am talking on my Mac Book Pro. When I am in the boardroom, I am talking on my iPad. When I am on vacation, I am talking on my iPhone. With the Bria softphone application, which is one of CounterPath’s core offerings, I think a lot of other companies will see the value in this technology and make the shift so the enterprise market is going to be big for us too.

The Challenges of Growing the Business…

It’s definitely challenging for any company to go from a small company to a medium-sized organization, or a medium-sized organization to a large enterprise. We are experiencing these challenges as we make the shift ourselves here at CounterPath. For us, the core areas we are focused on are broad communication and strong processes.

When we first started out, I knew everybody’s name and was involved in most of the hiring. As you start to grow and expand, the same people that helped establish the company can’t be as involved in day-to-day decisions because there are other priorities. The management team here at CounterPath is definitely adjusting to this challenge right now, and I think we’re doing a great job.

We’ve been working really hard as a team to make sure that the control processes are in place so that as we grow, we don’t lose control of the elements that are critical to our company. Things like maintaining our culture, hiring the right people, and making sure that everyone in the company has a voice. Each of these elements and many others are essential to maintaining the passion that is evident within this company. We want to make sure that our team does the right work, the right kind of way, and that’s a focus we’re going to maintain going forward.

Positioning CounterPath for the Next Wave…

We’ve been in this business since 2003, so we definitely have the technical ability in-house that’s needed to excel in this space. We have over 70 developers internally right now all building SIP applications that work on any device, and on any network, and we have one of the largest SIP software development teams in our space.

We’re also really well positioned from a technical standpoint, including having more than 20 patents either granted or in progress. All of our solutions are highly interoperable meaning they work on so many different networks and servers. We’ve had more than 10 million downloads of our applications. That’s a really big number and we’re really proud of that because we have been able to make these applications work in all corners of the world.

We’ve also taken these technical abilities and applied them to the mobile space, which is exploding right now, especially with all of the pressure that carriers are feeling from over-the-top providers like Skype and Google, and even Apple itself with its Facetime offering. Because of the pressure from these over-the-top providers, we’re now seeing carriers look to companies that can build and deliver applications that can compete with these over-the-top applications.

The beauty of all this is we’ve already delivered our desktop applications to a number of major carriers – Verizon, Rogers Communications, AT&T, British Telecom and many others – so we’re really well positioned and ready for this shift to mobile applications and taking advantage of the number of mobile devices we use every day. Actually, this market evolution has already begun, and we have already made a major announcement in this area with our partnership with Rogers Communications and its new Rogers One Number offering.

I think you’ll see a lot more deals like this one with other carriers in the near future as carriers continue to look for ways to fight back against the Skype’s and the Google’s of the world. Users have so many options available to them now, so carriers need to remain relevant to their user base and introducing offerings like these are definitely in-line with current consumer demands.

We’re really at a tipping point in this market, and I am confident that CounterPath is really well positioned to capitalize on this next wave.

Key Advice from a Seasoned Tech Executive…

Have a plan.

I know it sounds simple, but a lot of people don’t put the little things in place to make the big things happen. Whether it’s your career, your company or even your life, think about what the best outcome looks like for you or your business, and then work backwards to where things are today. If you don’t have a plan, you will never end up where you want to go.

Branham300 Executive Interview - Tommy Petrogiannis, President, Silanis

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:13:00 GMT

For the past 20 years, Branham has tracked the Canadian ICT Industry and the leading companies that comprise it. As part of Branham’s ongoing efforts, we speak with leading executives from across Canada to gather first-hand insight on current trends and recent developments within the Canadian Technology space. Recently, Branham sat down with Tommy Petrogiannis, President at Silanis to talk about his career, his company and what the future has in store. The following statements summarize some of the key points that Mr. Petrogiannis would like to pass along to the Branham300 community. Alternatively, listen in on the conversation between Branham and Mr. Petrogiannis in its entirety here.

A Life-Long Interest in Technology Leads to Entrepreneurship…

Technology has always fascinated me. I have always been the type who enjoys the application of technology and how it impacts the way people live and work. Early on in my career, I was lucky enough to work at some large organizations like Compaq and Matrox Electronics. This was a very interesting time, in terms of the lifecycle of technology, when people were shifting from mainframes to local area networks and the power of PCs was really being unleashed in the business world. Technological breakthroughs were happening continuously, and people and companies were reshaping the world we lived in. This was very appealing to me, as I have always been someone who has wanted to make a difference and impact the people around me. It was this appeal that really drove me to take the entrepreneurial leap and start a business.

The Idea that Spurred Silanis…

Before I co-founded Silanis, I spent a lot of time thinking about the next big break that was going to change how people worked. Back in the late-1980’s, early-1990’s, I saw the potential of pen-based computing – the technology that was the pre-cursor to today’s web tablet. I really thought that this innovation would change the paradigm of how people interact with computers and the role that paper was going to play in the business world of the future. While I didn’t have a clear vision of how everything was going to shake out, I knew I was on to something, so I co-founded Silanis in 1992 and got to work on the initial business plan for an e-signature solutions provider.

Why People and Businesses Fall to Paper…

If you think about it, there are only two reasons you fall to paper: either to read something or to sign it. Everything else stays electronic. Web-tablets and improved digital displays have solved the reading issue, and we are striving to solve the second issue with our electronic signature solutions.

Silanis’ Original Vision Remains the Same 20 Years Later…

Our original vision has remained fairly static over the past 20 years: be the largest e-signature provider in the world. While it’s been a long and challenging road to achieve this vision, I am happy to say that currently Silanis is recognized as just that. This is something that I am very proud of, and I share this achievement with each member of the Silanis team. However, even though we have reached this goal, we remain focused on staying at the top of our market and innovating the solution-set that is in-demand with our customers.

The E-Signature Solution that Leads the Industry…

I’m pretty proud of the fact that we were first to market with the concept of embedding a signature in the document. The traditional approach before this was to secure a document by putting it in the equivalent of a fed-ex box with password protection, and then the intended recipient would open it and move forward with the approval process. Unlike the traditional approach, our technology actually allows the user to sign the document electronically and have the e-signature embedded so that it becomes part of the native document, independent of the mode of transportation that is used to deliver it.

What’s also unique about our solution is that consumers can electronically sign documents over the Internet without needing any special software, besides a web browser. This was actually very complicated for the Silanis team to achieve, because we’re not just dealing with simple forms. We are dealing with sophisticated documents and contracts that sometimes require the highest levels of security and confidentiality. This was a real fundamental breakthrough, and as a result we have changed the way paper is used in organizations today and how the approval process should be done.

The Main Drivers that Led to the Growth of the Company…

There have been a couple of things that have driven things for us, in terms of growth.

The first is an increase in the regulatory scrutiny that companies face in today’s world. The magnifying glass, if you will, that companies are under today is pretty significant, and as a result companies need to implement technologies that not only allow them to adhere to the regulatory scrutiny of their business, but in a lot of cases also exceed it. As more and more markets face these kinds of pressures, they often come to us to fill a very unique and specific need.

Another big driver for us is a fairly straightforward one – the application of Silanis’ e-signature technology results in significant cost reductions. Companies are really beginning to see that not only will they be more productive because the e-signature and approval process will take less time, but they will also reduce a lot of the costs that go along with tracking and processing a document. If you think about it, when you fall to paper, all of the automation benefits of remaining digital disappear. Our technology enables you to stay electronic from the start of the process to the end, and to track the process entirely.

The Tipping Point of the E-Signature Market…

Adoption rates of e-signature solutions have increased significantly recently, and I think we will see this trend continue into the foreseeable future, as more and more companies see the value of this technology. As a result of this, I think we have already reached a tipping point in this market. The reality for a lot of organizations over the past few years was that they were pretty hamstrung in terms of investing and adopting new technologies, because they were dealing with significant downturns in their own business. They saw the value of Silanis’ technology, but they didn’t have the resources to buy at the time. This kind of created pent-up demand, and over the past year we have seen a big uptake in the demand for our solutions and services. As markets continue to improve, we expect that this level of demand will continue, which is a big plus for Silanis and its stakeholders.

Key Markets on the Horizon…

One of the earliest adopters of e-signature and approval solutions market was actually the government. They really liked the internal process improvements that came along with our electronic signature offerings. If you think about it, within the government it isn’t that rare that upwards of 20 or 30 people have to sign-off on something to get it approved. It’s pretty obvious when you think about it – if you can complete this process at the speed of email, you are moving way faster than through inter-office mail. While this segment was the first adopters of our technologies, they remain critical to our business as we move into other verticals.

The secondary wave was the financial services space, meaning insurance and banking organizations. These organizations also liked the speed-element that Silanis’ technologies bring to the table, but there were other drivers like document tracking, green initiatives and an overall reduction in the level of complexity that caused them to come on board with us.

I think wave three for us is going to be around pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, where privacy controls and civic elements are quite substantial in terms of what you can and can’t share between different agencies and groups. In parallel to that, I think we will also see increased demand in the manufacturing and quality control space, as more and more companies want the added benefit of making sure that you can document and recreate how something gets done. That’s a huge plus that our technology brings to the table for clients in this area.

Key Lessons Learned through the Years…

As a company, we’ve lived through some very challenging times. We’ve survived 9/11, when 50% of our customer-base was government and we literally watched this side of our business disappear overnight. We lived through the dot.com crash and all the challenges that came along with that period. More recently, we have lived through one of the most turbulent times in terms of an economic recession, period. Even through all of this, Silanis has persevered and I think that really validates the solutions that we have brought to market. If the demand wasn’t there, neither would this business.

At the end of the day, I’ve learned that running a business is actually relatively straightforward: revenues minus expenses, equals profit. It’s not more complicated than that. If you try to make it more complicated, it leads to unnecessary challenges. Even though running a business can get complex, I always find that the best approach is trying to simplify things and focus on the major business issues and the little issues will likely take care of themselves.

Another key to my success throughout my career has been surrounding myself with smart and talented people. It may sound a little bit funny but one of the rules I have tried to follow throughout my career is to always be the dumbest guy at the table. Things change very rapidly, especially in the technology space, and if you consistently surround yourself with smart people that complement any areas that aren’t your strengths, it will help to set your company on the right path. Not only will these people bolster any deficient skill-sets, they also think differently leading to new opportunities and ideas that could have a huge impact on the business.

Parting Advice…

I’ll pass on something that was passed on to me:

The windshield is twenty times bigger than the rear-view mirror.

A lot of stuff happens behind you, but you have to be focused on looking forward and addressing the problems of tomorrow based on the information you have today.

Branham300 Executive Interview - David Suydam, President, Architech

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:13:00 GMT

For the past 20 years, Branham has tracked the Canadian ICT Industry and the leading companies that comprise it. As part of Branham’s ongoing efforts, we speak with leading executives from across Canada to gather first-hand insight on current trends and recent developments within the Canadian Technology space. Recently, Branham sat down with David Suydam, President at Architech to talk about his career, his company and what the future has in store. The following statements summarize some of the key points that Mr. Suydam would like to pass along to the Branham300 community. Alternatively, listen in on the conversation between Branham and Mr. Suydam in its entirety here.

Getting Started in Tech…

Like a lot of executives in my space, I started my career by getting a degree in software engineering at the University of Toronto. I spent the first couple of years out of school as a consultant in the financial services industry. From there, I shifted into the telco space when I joined ClearNET as a consultant, which later became TELUS. I was really fortunate to be in the thick of all the telco consolidations at the time, because there were a lot of new technologies being implemented and new products being deployed. It was a great time in my career. I was able to work at some great companies with a lot of smart and talented people.

Starting a Business to make a Difference…

I left a great job at TELUS in 2004 to start Architech. This was when the markets were pretty hot and I felt confident that I would land okay, even if this venture didn’t work out. The core belief at the time was that I could make more of a difference with a high-powered team; with people that I have worked well with in the past, and will work well with again and again on different projects in the future.

The original vision back then was pretty simple: try to make a difference. After three months, the team grew to five people. After another three months, we brought on five more people to handle the workload. We just kept growing and fortunately that has continued for most of the past decade.

We had a single client back then, with a string of successful projects centred mostly on building web apps and deep system integration solutions. We learned a lot of lessons about how to deliver in a really competitive, fast paced client industry that also demands secure, scalable and high-performance applications.

The Evolution of the Company and its Vision…

Since those early days, we’ve branched out significantly because we realized that we really needed to diversify. First we expanded beyond our first big blue-chip client, and then we began to target other industries like the financial services space and the broader public sector, including non-profits.

Our vision has really evolved, too. We now focus on building great software, and Creating Software Joy™.

We’ve extended beyond what we started with to include things like Agile BI, big data, search and information discovery, mobile web and cloud applications. Partnerships have been pretty vital in all of this, and I’m proud to say that we have key relationships with companies like Oracle, Red Hat, and Salesforce.com. These partnerships have really helped, especially from a business development perspective.

As we’re a professional services company, our people are very important to our success. We’ve had some key hires, including amazing people in project delivery, project management, and our Executive Team.

Major Growth Milestones…

Our growth has really been a result of a combination of things. If I look at it simply though, the bottom line is that we have always delivered. We’ve built a reputation with a lot of our clients over a long period of time, and now when they have some big projects, they’re coming to us to lead them.

We’ve established some strong expertise and experience in key industries, which is helping to drive the business. Telco, financial services, and the public sector are great growth areas for us, and we’re excited about these markets going forward.

We’re fortunate enough that we’ve been able to reinvest much of this success into the business, positioning us to be even stronger going forward, so we’re looking at some great years ahead.

Positioning Architech for Diversified and Sustainable Growth…

Despite the economic downturn several years ago, we still managed positive growth, so it was more of a slowing of our growth plans than anything else. We were really fortunate because we saw a lot of companies struggle. For us, one of the lessons we learned was the value of diversification. I’ve seen a lot of companies with one or only a few big clients get wiped out when the tides change. Because of this, we’re always looking to further diversify the company to position it for sustainable growth going forward. We’re not necessarily looking for double or triple digit growth rates every year like we have been getting recently, but more of a measured and sustainable pace.

What’s Next for Architech…

We’re building some serious capabilities in the area of search and information discovery - which includes interactive dashboards and Agile BI tools - as well as mobile web and cloud application technologies. So we’re focusing on where we have strength and where there’s a growing need.

We’re also really focused on our people. We’re a services business and you need the right talent to lead in this space. In line with this strategy, we’re committed to becoming one of Canada’s top employers in the next few years.

Creating Software Joy™ …

It’s too infrequent, but we’ve all experienced software joy at some point. This feeling happens when a solution or piece of software surprises you with how intuitive it is, how easy it is to use and how much value you get from it. We talk a lot about how we’re a software design and engineering company, and software joy is ultimately the synthesis of great design, solid engineering and a business model that really works.

The Shifting Software Development Market…

People and companies are coming to appreciate that traditional waterfall development methodologies struggle and often fall flat. There are a lot of companies, like Google, Salesforce.com, and Intuit, to name a few, that have learned that Agile development offers a really good basis for building software that users enjoy. It’s based on principals like test driven development, frequent demos and a focus on user interface and experience design. We use this approach every day in our business.

We are taking the guess work out of the process by staying really close to our clients. We help them work through the typical hurdles of IT release schedules, budget cycles, and waterfall deliverables. We also get our clients involved early on in the process, and not just near deadlines. We’ve found that because of this approach, and our talented staff that really get it, we have a great track record of successful project implementations and loads of happy users. We take a different approach than the traditional software development model and we’ve been very successful with it. I think you’ll see a lot of other players trying to adopt these methodologies because of the success that comes along with it.

How to Land a Big Blue Chip Company…

It’s a bit of art and science. When trying to land a big blue-chip company, I would say that relationships are probably the most important factor. Having those relationships can help provide insight into what the real needs of the company are, and it helps to get you introduced to the right people. It’s not about talking to one person; it’s about having relationships at multiple levels and ultimately trying to really forget about selling for a while. If you can demonstrate that your business can solve their problem or their need, the sale will follow. Just remember to be patient.

Advice to Those Looking to Start a Business…

I get a lot of people coming to me with ideas for new products and services on a regular basis. The advice I usually offer them is sort of two-fold. First, expect a bit of a ride if you start a business, and get ready to learn every step of the way. Second, make sure you’re passionate about what you want to do. Sometimes people talk about trying to flip something really quickly, but in general you’re in it for the long haul and you have to love it in order for the venture to be a success.

I’d also say that every business has several key pillars and you can’t be successful if you ignore any one of them. So if you are a tech start-up, you can’t just focus on tech. You have to look at all the pillars, including leadership, sales and marketing, product development, human resources, operations or finance. Figure out what you can be great at, and outsource the other stuff where you can.

Parting Advice…

Culture eats strategy for lunch.

What I mean by this is everyone has their own past experiences, their own styles, their own views, so establishing a culture that represents what you want the company to feel and act and strive towards is really, really critical. Even the best strategies mean nothing if your culture resists them. The way to excel is to get the best people on board and get them all working towards the same vision. Getting the culture right is one of most critical keys to success.

Branham300 Company Spotlight: Architech

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:31:00 GMT

Since its inception, the fundamental goal of the Branham300 has been to raise the profile of the Canadian ICT industry, identify its leaders, as well as illustrate the depth and breadth of innovative technology that is offered by Canadian ICT organizations on a national and international stage. Each month, the Branham300 NOW newsletter profiles industry leaders in an effort to bring well deserved exposure to organizations that are catalysts of growth within the Canadian ICT industry.

Architech is a custom software design and engineering company. In its first year on the Branham300, the company took off with more than a 170% increase in annual revenues, leading it to be recognized on the 2012 Edition of the Branham300 as one of the fastest growing technology companies in Canada. The following profile highlights Architech's past and present accomplishments and its plans for the future.

Architech in Brief…

Using an Agile approach, Architech creates great-looking web, mobile and business applications integrated with back-end systems that drive organizations forward. We offer our clients the end-to-end services required to make applications successful including strategy, interface design, prototyping, software engineering, systems integration, product rollout and coaching.

We help clients understand how technology can best solve their business needs — and then create the right solution. Whether it’s Agile software delivery of custom web apps and integration, open source code, system optimization, off-the-shelf software, all of the above or none of the above, we listen to our clients and make their success our priority.

We excel at Creating Software Joy™ by focusing on understanding the needs of our clients and their business. And we hire the best people possible – often with direct experience in the industries we service – allowing us to be as Agile as we can be for our clients. The result is applications that meet the true needs of the business and for the people that use them.

Where Architech Came From…

Architech began with a small group of contractors selected for depth of expertise who were initially assigned to state-of-the-art assignments in the telecommunications sector. This valuable experience led to an expanded client base as well as additional requests from existing clients. Exceptional skill levels and performance history were the drivers for this initial growth, and have remained the impetus for consultant base expansion.

Our Executive Team’s hands-on approach permeates Architech’s culture resulting in the commitment to provide outstanding performance and delivery, an unwavering policy of hiring consultants with exceptional skills and attitude, and an environment dedicated to ongoing optimization of our team’s skills and values.

Since inception in 2004, Architech’s 100+ projects have been successful through small team deployments that follow a development process emphasizing collaboration, software engineering best practices, and incremental software delivery.

Where Architech is Today…

When it comes to custom application development, we’ve got the smartest, most passionate, never-fail team around. We know without a doubt that it’s people — not just technology or process — that builds great solutions. And it’s our people that really do make the difference. We encourage our team members to share their ideas and learn from each other because we believe that their performance, commitment and skills are far more important than hierarchy.

Our 80+ talented staff are organized into six Practices:

Application Strategy: product definition, architecture and information design.
Design: graphics, user experience, usability testing.
Web applications: social, collaboration, cloud, content management, mobile, portals, eCommerce, and web technologies.
Services & integration: service oriented architecture, payment, identity management, cloud platforms, database, system integration, and web services.
Salesforce: Salesforce.com, marketing automation.
Search & information discovery: business intelligence, analytics, reporting, visualization, data mining, search, and open data.

Our small Agile teams achieve rapid results in developing interactive, scalable, incrementally expandable business solutions. We focus on coaching, executing and leading in best practices for software engineering like iterative development, continuous integration, and test driven development.

We provide full transparency to our clients through online project tools, daily touch points, and frequent demos of working software, and we collaborate closely with clients and real users to develop the right solution for businesses. Simply put, we’re as Agile as we can be for each client project because we believe it’s the best way to build great software.

We like to think of our client base as relationships, rather than just a network. After all, more than 75 percent of our work is generated through repeat business or client referrals.

Our clients represent a wide variety of industries including financial services, telecommunications, public sector, non-profit, information and technology, and retail. We focus primarily in the Toronto area, however we’ve also built relationships throughout the USA and UK.

Where Architech Plans to Go Tomorrow…

These are exciting times at Architech. We’ve set aggressive yet realistic goals for the company over the next few years, and we’re serious about achieving them. There’s no question we’re in the midst of significant growth and change, and we plan to continue this growth in a conscientious way – meeting the needs of our team and our clients.

For more information on Architech, visit www.architech.ca.

Branham300 Company Spotlight: Silanis

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:31:00 GMT

Silanis is a leading provider of e-signature solutions. The Montreal-based company experienced tremendous growth in fiscal 2011, increasing revenues by more than 100%, leading it to be recognized on the 2012 Edition of the Branham300 as one of the fastest growing technology companies in Canada. The following profile highlights Silanis' past and present accomplishments and its plans for the future.

Where Silanis Came From…

Incorporated in 1992 before any electronic signature software was commercially available, entrepreneurs Tommy Petrogiannis, Michael Laurie and Joseph Silvester launched their company with a focus on the pen-based computing trend of the late 80’s and early 90’s, the precursor to today’s web tablets. While working with their first customer Ontario Hydro, the trio stumbled across a business problem that would change their direction and launch a new market segment -- e-signatures. The public utility company needed to find an alternative to routing regulated engineering drawings across the country by courier for approvals, since this was a time-consuming and costly process that would take up to three months for even a minor change.

What started as a plug-in for e-signing Autodesk AutoCAD®, Adobe® PDF® and Microsoft® Word™ files developed into a platform designed to completely manage electronic signing processes from start to finish so that they remain paperless. Over the years, Silanis’ trailblazing customers, a few of whom are highlighted here, were the real-world drivers behind at least half of all product development.

The US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), arguably one of the most security conscious organizations in North America, deployed Silanis e-signatures to the entire Joint Staff in 1997. Fifteen years later, JCS documents are still e-signed using Silanis’ solutions, making the company part of the longest running implementation of e-signatures within any US government organization.
GMAC Commercial Mortgage became a paperless office in 2001 when it enabled its global operations with Silanis e-signatures.
The US Army enterprise awarded Silanis an enterprise e-signature contract in 2004. Since then the company continues to support over 1.6 million personnel, making this the single largest deployment of e-signatures on the planet.
Stewart Title leveraged Silanis e-signatures to launch SureClose in 2004, and made the convenience and efficiency of eMortgages a reality for homebuyers.
Country Financial equipped both their customers and their 2,200 sales agents to e-sign term, universal and whole life insurance applications in 2010, 80% of which are now completed electronically.
A top 10 US bank rolled out Silanis e-signatures to 3,000+ retail branches in 2011. This represents the largest deployment of e-signatures for consumer and small business lending.

Where Silanis is Today…

Having just marked the company’s 20th anniversary in March 2012, Silanis is the world’s leading enterprise electronic signature and e-vaulting software provider. Adopted by the top banks, insurance companies and government agencies, Silanis’ solutions enable 100% electronic processing of high-value business transactions that require secure, compliant and enforceable e-signatures. Silanis proudly counts four of North America’s largest 10 banks as customers, along with five of the top 10 North American insurers. The company is profitable and has a strong balance sheet – providing our customers with the reassurance that with Silanis, they are investing in a stable, long-term partner.

As software consumption models have evolved, so has Silanis. Today the company offers enterprise e-signature solutions that can be delivered both on premises and as SaaS, be it on a public or private cloud.

At Silanis, innovation, quality and responsibility are part of the company’s core values. Measured by intellectual property and expertise, as well as marquee customers and their world-class deployments, Silanis’ innovation and quality stand alone as best in class. In a recent customer survey, an outstanding 94% of respondents rated Silanis products as “Excellent”.

Where Silanis Plans to Go Tomorrow…

The Silanis e-signature platform currently processes an impressive 600 million documents annually – more than any other e-signature vendor worldwide. As Silanis’ customers continue to deploy across the enterprise, one the company’s goals is to enable massive scalability of e-signatures, – supporting hundreds of millions e-signed documents per customer while maintaining the highest levels of performance and reliability.

Silanis is also forging new ground with e-transaction analytics and e-signature mobility. Analysts expect that by 2020 the majority of e-signature transactions will be launched from mobile devices. As Silanis looks to the future, inbound-driven signing transactions (e.g. where an invitation to the e-signing session is sent by email) will become so commonplace that people will use their mobile phones to e-sign electronic contracts from anywhere. As an example, people will complete everyday processes such as damage claims for car accidents on-site where the event happens. They will take photos and video of the damage, upload a photo of their driver’s license or even record their voice, and complete the signing process immediately, so that downstream processes like approval of repair expenses by the insurance company can be finalized by the time the driver arrives home.

This is an exciting time for Silanis, with a number of new product innovations to be announced in the near future.

For more on Silanis, visit www.silanis.com.

Branham300 Company Spotlight: CounterPath

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:30:00 GMT

CounterPath is an innovative player in the desktop and mobile VoIP software products and solutions space. In the past year, the Vancouver-based company increased annual revenues by nearly 40%, leading it to be recognized on the 2012 Edition of the Branham300 as one of the Top Movers and Shakers. The company’s growth has continued in its 2012 fiscal year, as it continues to gain traction in North American, as well as International markets. The following profile highlights CounterPath's past and present accomplishments and its plans for the future.

CounterPath in Brief…

CounterPath’s product suite includes SIP-based softphones, server applications and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solutions that enable service providers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and enterprises to cost-effectively integrate voice, video, presence and Instant Messaging (IM) applications into their VoIP offerings and extend functionality across both fixed and mobile networks.

In the ten years since its inception the company has grown in size and impact, having made three strategic acquisitions, grown its intellectual property portfolio to 7 granted and 17+ pending patents, expanded into the growing mobile market, and, in early 2012, announced profitability.

Where CounterPath Came From…

CounterPath was incorporated in 2002 in Vancouver, BC as a result of the collaboration among three individuals passionate about creating open standards-based VoIP technology. The company’s mission was to become the leading provider of VoIP softphones (software based telephones).

From the launch of its first softphone to its latest suite of Bria desktop and mobile softphones, CounterPath’s reputation quickly grew as a provider of softphone technology which was thoughtfully designed, robust and interoperable with the telephony platforms of some of the world’s largest service providers and equipment manufacturers.

The popularity of CounterPath’s free X-Lite softphone is a testament to CounterPath’s high reputation in the industry. Since its release in 2003, service providers, Original Equipment Manufacturers and enterprises have embraced the X-Lite client to test numerous end-to-end VoIP, messaging, presence and video configurations with success, and it is often the softphone of choice for these purposes. To date, X-Lite has been downloaded by millions of consumers and business users worldwide, and currently over one million unique call transactions are made per month using the softphone.

Between August 2007 and February 2008, CounterPath made three strategic acquisitions—NewHeights Software, FirstHand Technologies and BridgePort Networks—which expanded the company’s focus beyond the softphone and into the Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) market. This was a turning point for the company as it signaled not only an entrance into the burgeoning mobile app market, but marked the company’s evolution from desktop software provider to influencer in the way people communicate today.

Where CounterPath is Today…

Now that the Bria softphone is available as a mobile application for the two largest and most popular platforms, iOS and Android, people are able to take their enterprise and VoIP communications with them wherever they go. For business users, mobile phones and tablets have become an extension to their corporate PBX, giving them access to enterprise telephony features away from the office (i.e. extension dialing, call swaps and transfers). Consumers benefit from the convenience, flexibility and cost effectiveness of VoIP calling from their mobile devices. Together, CounterPath’s desktop and mobile phones offer a unique end-to-end communications experience that is truly unified.

Today CounterPath has become the leading global market leader of desktop and mobile softphones. The company’s award-winning solutions power the voice and video calling, messaging, and presence offerings of many of the world’s largest and most influential Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), service providers and enterprises including Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Avaya, Verizon, Bosch, BroadSoft, BT, Cisco Systems, GENBAND, Metaswitch Networks, Mitel, mobilkom austria, NEC, and Rogers.

CounterPath employs over 100 team members across the globe with the majority in Vancouver. The company holds a significant patent portfolio covering VoIP, FMC and UC technologies and is publicly traded on the TSX-V and OTCBB. CounterPath’s market cap of $100M is the highest for any tech company listed on the TSX-V.

Where CounterPath Plans to Go Tomorrow…

End-to-end communications technology, the kind which connects users across both desktop and mobile devices in a seamless, unified way, is experiencing rapid market uptake.

In the consumer realm, this means that in a world dominated by Skype and other over-the-top services, service providers are experiencing significant pressure to develop new business models to retain and attract new customers. Innovative solutions from CounterPath - like Rogers One Number™ which allows Canadians to extend their Rogers wireless number to their computer using a web-based softphone portal – are a call to action for other operators who are recognizing that to stay in the game, they have to adapt to new rules. CounterPath foresees a continuation of dedicated efforts to meet the needs and foster the growing demand of these competing service providers.

For enterprises, one of the growing challenges is the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement and consumerization of IT which are gaining traction, much to the consternation of IT managers. CounterPath also expects to continue focused efforts on its solutions which allow IT managers to not only manage and control the communications applications deployed within the workforce, but which enrich the enterprise communications experience, allowing business users to benefit from enterprise functions like voice mail and conferencing on their mobile device of choice.

It is undeniable that the face of telecommunications is changing, and the team at CounterPath is a driving force.

For more information, visit www.counterpath.com.

Branham300 Company Spotlight: Navantis

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:30:00 GMT

Navantis is a leading end-to-end systems integrator and solution provider, that has been recognized as a leading Canadian technology player on the Branham300 for the past decade. More recently, in its 2011 fiscal year Navantis experienced strong growth, increasing revenues by more than 50%, leading it to be recognized on the 2012 Edition of the Branham300 as one of the Top Movers and Shakers. The following profile highlights Navantis' past and present accomplishments and its plans for the future.

Where Navantis Came From…

Navantis CEO John Kvasnic best personifies what Navantis is all about. In 1998, he saw an opportunity to build end-to-end solutions leveraging the new emerging enterprise technologies from Microsoft. He bet his reputation that Microsoft’s latest technologies would simplify the way enterprises did business, and became one of Microsoft’s first 25 partners worldwide.

Right from the beginning, John wanted to shape Navantis with one focus in mind “establish trusted relationship with clients, the rest will follow…”. As a result of that philosophy and very hard work, Navantis landed some impressive clients right from the beginning who 10+ years later are still clients of Navantis, including Microsoft, Honda Canada, Ontario Power Generation to name a few.

Where Navantis is Today…

Over the last 14 years, Navantis has experienced rapid growth becoming Canada’s largest Microsoft System Integrations firm, with over 30 Microsoft & Industry Awards. In 2011, Microsoft Canada awarded Navantis the prestigious “Microsoft Choice Partner of the Year” award for delivering innovative technology solutions in the Canadian marketplace.

Navantis builds solutions leveraging the Microsoft stack of technologies for communication and collaboration, business process management, relationship management, transactions, and business intelligence. Navantis provides an enhanced value proposition for clients by combining strategic and technical expertise a number of industry markets, matching clients’ needs with technology solutions.

Navantis’ mission is to deliver the strongest client focus and technical excellence through one organization servicing the entire IT continuum – architecture, infrastructure, application development, solutions and support.

Today, Navantis has locations in Toronto, Calgary, Houston, and Sri Lanka. With over 350 employees, Navantis achieves client intimacy through its industry approach and strong local presence

Where Navantis Plans to Go Tomorrow…

Moving forward, Navantis will continue to earn the trust of clients by building solutions that drive results. At the forefront of emerging technologies & trends like cloud and virtualizations solutions, Navantis is poised for continued growth in 2012. Further expansion across Canada and into the US markets will also continue for the company.

To learn more about Navantis, visit www.navantis.com.

Branham300 Company Spotlight: WiLAN

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:27:00 GMT

WiLAN has been recognized as a leading Canadian technology player on the Branham300 for the past five years. More recently, in its 2011 fiscal year WiLAN signed several key licensing agreements, contributing significantly to its 100+% increase in annual revenues. As a result of its growth, WiLAN was recognized on the 2012 Edition of the Branham300 as one of the fastest growing technology companies in Canada. The following profile highlights WiLAN's past and present accomplishments and its plans for the future.

WiLAN in Brief...

WiLAN is a leading intellectual property (IP) licensing and technology development company. Many of the world’s largest technology firms license portions of WiLAN’s growing portfolio of more than 3,000 issued and pending patents. The portfolio covers wireless and related telecommunications technologies, digital television and displays, and cloud computing. Through its Gladios IP division, patent owners can leverage WiLAN’s proven business, engineering, legal and licensing expertise to develop tailored licensing programs that can monetize their IP. WiLAN is publicly traded and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:WIN) and the NASDAQ (NASD:WILN).

Where WiLAN Came From…

WiLAN was established in 1992 to develop and commercialize technology that made low-cost, high-speed wireless networking a reality. In its early years, WiLAN manufactured several generations of products that utilized WiLAN’s ground-breaking inventions. By 2005 WiLAN’s patented inventions were being used in millions of unlicensed wireless products worth many billions of dollars.

Realizing the value that its intellectual property brought to industry, in 2006 WiLAN focused its business on protecting and monetizing its patented inventions. Today, some of the world’s largest technology companies license WiLAN’s patented technologies.

Where WiLAN is Today…

Since shifting its business focus to IP licensing in 2006, WiLAN has grown its patent portfolio from 20 patents to over 3,000 patents. It has signed license agreements with more than 250 technology companies including industry leaders Broadcom, Cisco, Fujitsu, Infineon, Intel, Motorola, LG, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba. WiLAN’s engineering team also continues to innovate and generate more patented inventions. WiLAN has increased revenues from CDN $2 million in 2006 to US $105.8 million in 2011, making WiLAN one of the fastest growing companies in North America. Based on market capitalization, WiLAN is one of Canada’s most valuable public technology companies.

Where WiLAN Plans to Go Tomorrow…

WiLAN plans to continue building its technology portfolio through its internal development programs and through acquisition. The company expects to secure more license agreements to its core technology portfolios, which cover wireless access, digital display and cloud computing. In addition, through its Gladios IP division, the company expects to increase partnerships with patent owners to help them monetize their IP.

For more information on WiLAN, visit www.wilan.com.

Tech Bytes: April 2012's Major ICT Industry News

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:21:00 GMT

The ICT Industry is one of the fastest growing and most rapidly changing industries in Canada. The following provides a snapshot of the happenings within the Canadian ICT Industry for April 2012:

April 20, 2012 – Route1 reports full fiscal 2011 results
April 18, 2012 – Aastra Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 17, 2012 – QHR Technologies reports full fiscal 2011 results
April 16, 2012 – Tranzeo Wireless appoints new CEO
April 16, 2012 – Destiny Media reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 13, 2012 – Shaw Communications reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 12, 2012 – Cogeco Cable reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 12, 2012 – COM DEV reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 12, 2012 – Firan Technology Group reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 12, 2012 – VIQ Solutions reports full fiscal 2012 results
April 11, 2012 – Rutter reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 5, 2012 – Sandvine reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 5, 2012 – Constellation Software acquires Cognera
April 5, 2012 – International Datacasting reports full fiscal 2012 results
April 4, 2012 – Constellation Software completes acquisition of Kestral Computing
April 4, 2012 – 20-20 Technologies reports first quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 4, 2012 – Platinum Communications reports second quarter fiscal 2012 results
April 3, 2012 – SMART Technologies announces new Vice President, Marketing
April 3, 2012 – Vecima Networks completes sale of spectrum to Xplornet for $7.3 million
April 3, 2012 – Vision Critical announces new President & COO, International Business
April 2, 2012 – Aastra Technologies acquires Comdasys
April 2, 2012 – Doxim acquires Arius Software