By Leo Valiquette
I’ve commented before on the impending death of print and how this funeral dirge has evolved to include all traditional media since the rise of social media in all its various incarnations. Many enthusiastic proponents would have us believe that social media will soon emerge triumphant as the medium of choice for people to keep abreast of the latest news and information.
Who needs such staid institutions as daily newspapers and national television networks when citizen journalism can deliver in real-time a street-level perspective of what’s going on in the world through such avenues as Twitter, YouTube and the blogosphere?
Well, perhaps we’re turning in that direction, but there’s a long way to go yet, at least according to a report carried this week on Bulldog Reporter. According to a survey of more than 1,000 adults across the U.S., television, newspapers and radio (in that order) are still considered the most reliable sources of information ahead of online sources.
Now, we are left to assume that “online sources” refers to sources on the web other than the websites of those same television networks, newspapers and radio stations.
I contend that there will always be a distinction between in-depth coverage and analysis of the day’s news and events and the quick blurb or sound bite, from whatever source, that can be easily digested while on the go. They compliment each other, rather than cannibalize. And when it comes to seeing social media displace traditional media, I wholeheartedly agree with the viewpoint that there will always be a need for trusted sources of information with a track record of accuracy and impartiality.
As we increasingly turn to online sources of news and information that we can readily access while mobile, non-traditional sources of information will compete for our attention with the traditional. And print, radio and television will increasingly have to offer competitive online services to grab and hold readers. But it’s the commercial printing industry, in the business of killing trees, that will feel the most profound pain from this shift in our habits as consumers of news and information.
By Leo Valiquette
Kudos to Ian Graham and TheCodeFactory for renting out the entire fourth floor of the premises at 246 Queen St. in downtown Ottawa.
I had the honour of being among a select group of friends, family and supporters that celebrated the milestone last night over wine and cheese.
With the fourth floor fully rented, the facility now has a firm foundation on which to proceed as it works to drive up the volume of users for its informal co-working space on the second floor. With the start of the school year, Ian says the amount of foot traffic is rising steadily, as word gets out that this is the place to come for collaborative work, complete with full Internet access and a coffee bar as well as a Wii and a foosball table to let the steam off.
Ian launched TheCodeFactory in May to serve as a private business accelerator and incubator intended to help fill the gap between a great idea and a commercial product gaining traction in the marketplace.
TheCodeFactory’s fourth floor is the incubator space, offering office space for startups looking for a desk without all the administrative and costly aggravation of setting up their own offices. The co-working space on the second floor is intended to serve as a proving ground for entrepreneurship and innovation, for entrepreneurs at every stage and code warriors from local schools to network, collaborate, troubleshoot and refine their ideas, even connect for potential employment opportunities.
It’s a great addition to the local tech scene and Ian should be commended for his dogged persistance to get TheCodeFactory off of the ground. To say it’s been a labour of love is a gross understatement.
Congrats, Ian.
By Leo Valiquette
When it comes to the next generation of technology companies taking root in Ottawa, Enablence is definitely at the top of the heap. At OCRI’s Technology Executive Breakfast this morning, CEO Arvind Chhatbar revealed that the company’s meteoric rise over the past 18 months has been driven by the often elusive ability to recognize true opportunity when it arises.
As Arvind described it, Enablence is in the business of making the optical part of optical networks work more like electronics. With more than a dozen different product lines already in its pipe, the company develops and manufactures optical components, subsystems and systems to meet our ever-growing appetite for high-bandwidth services. A key focus is FTTH, or, fibre to the home. Enablence is eager to sing the death knell of copper-based networks that suffer from extreme bandwidth limitations that only get worse with distance.
Arvind offered the telling example of trying to download a movie over a standard “high-speed” Internet connection over copper wire, vs. fibre. What would take a couple of hours on the one is reduced to a mere minute or so on the other.
Over the past four years, Enablence has positioned itself as a key player in this space through innovative product development and timely acquisitions, driven by about $95.5 million in financing to date from angel investment, private placement and a public offering. It has grown from a handful to more than 200 staff. The hockey stick on the revenue projection slide in Arvind’s PowerPoint presentation has to be seen to be believed.
What I found noteworthy is how the company has arrived at this point, which Arvind is quick to say is still an early stage. When Enablence was founded in 2004, the label “optical company” was considered fatal. Ottawa itself was still reeling from the loss of a host of startups in the optical space that had wizened away despite tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in venture backing. Was this a challenge for Enablence? Certainly. But it also provided significant opportunity.
How?
1. Early on Enablence raised $5.5 million in angel financing, a sum that is that much more impressive considering the sour climate at the time. But the money wasn’t raised from local friends and family familiar with the industry. They were still licking their optical-investment wounds. Instead, Enablence looked further afield to contacts who had made their money in other sectors, such as oil and gas, and were looking for fresh investment opportunities.
2. The meltdown that had cut so deeply into the employment ranks at home and abroad had put a lot of top talent into play at a good price. Enablence was able to snap up some of these great people.
3. By the same token, there was a lot of equipment to be had at bargain prices, as well as facility space.
4. Despite the ongoing need for cash, the company wasn’t afraid to say no to the sure thing if the terms were not palatable and instead explored other options, such as listing on the TSX Venture Exchange. In fact, the company turned away a fat cheque that had one key string attached — Arvind had to resign in favour of a new CEO hand-picked by the investor.
5. The company has so far avoided the need to look at outsourcing manufacturing to China by investing in state-of-the-art manufacturing that is highly automated, thereby reducing labour costs from the outset.
It’s by being able to recognize and capitalize on such opportunities that has allowed Enablence to put itself firmly on track to become, as Arvind said, “a force to be reckoned with in the optical world.”
By Leo Valiquette
Google’s new Chrome Internet browser is the largest open-source application release there has ever been, and the fact that it was an open-source project has been greatly underplayed.
Why did Google do it? There’s no immediate financial benefit. All the search engine titan has done is striven to make the Internet better and fired a shot across Internet Explorer’s bow in the process. It’s like Wal-Mart going to the effort to upgrade town centres. There’s no obvious or immediate benefit to the company’s bottom line.
I’ve taken liberties to summarize, but this wise insight came from Tobias Lutke of Jaded Pixel and Shopify last week at The Ottawa Network’s (TON) first Startup Drop-in of the season in the boardroom at Labarge Weinstein.
(And before I continue, while the above examples may not have immediate financial benefit for the companies in question, they’re still great marketing and PR moves, but that’s a subject for another time.)
The evening was a great kickoff for TON’s fall schedule. The theme was Open source Business Models and Opportunities and featured additional words of wisdom from the irrepressible Prof. Tony Bailetti of Carleton University. He expounded on the profound distinctions between open-source ecosystems and conventional business models and how understanding those differences is key to building a profitable business around open source.
What I took away from the evening, beyond a better understanding of the subject matter, was the value of such community engagement in Ottawa’s tech sector. Over the past couple of weeks, inmedia volunteered some time to drum up local media coverage of the good work that TON does. Some brainstorming with TON president Tim Hember and event organizer and sponsor James Smith of Labarge about what kind of message the organization wanted to take to the media emphasized the value of community engagement. There was no shortage of opinions going back and forth about the state of the technology sector in Ottawa, what challenges it faces and how they should be addressed. Such active and frank discussion is vital to building a vibrant and dynamic tech economy in this city.
TON has taken great strides this fall to present an interesting slate of weekly events built around specific and relevant themes to drive up attendance numbers. It’s all about sharing ideas and picking the brains of Ottawa innovative and adaptive thinkers, people who are building great businesses in a host of disciplines, such as open source, and thumbing their noses at the stale perception that Ottawa’s tech sector died with telecom.
We need to escape the “oh, woe is Ottawa” rut and take notice of the next generation of entrepreneurs who accept no direction but up regardless of the state of the venture capital industry, or whatever other complaint we typically hear in Ottawa. Even more importantly, we need more events that bring people together to network, share ideas, partner up and find innovative ways to overcome common challenges.
And if you’re wondering how to do that, checking out TON is a great way to start.
By Leo Valiquette
We have often talked about the merits, methods and tools for media monitoring on inmedialog, but it’s the amusing and bizarre aspects of the exercise that I want to illustrate today.
Media monitoring is, of course, the process of scanning media coverage for specific keywords and issues and presenting them to clients in the format that will best meet their needs. There are a number of free online tools and subscription-based services available for this. Some allow for extreme fine-tuning to narrow down search results with surgical precision. Others less so.
It’s the tools that fall into the latter category that often yield the most bizarre, and off base, search results. For one of our clients, upper limb prosthetics maker Touch Bionics, for example, I’ve learned far more than I wanted to about the new Bionic Commando video game, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and several other companies with bionic in their name that offer everything from energy drinks to home and office furnishings.
But it’s the news headlines picked up by search terms such as prosthetic, prostheses and amputee that are the most quirky, shocking or sad, as the case may be. The examples below all date from the past month or so and picked up a fair amount of press (I should know, I was deleting the hits from my inbox for days):
Horse gets prosthetic leg
Skydiver’s prosthetic leg falls off – and then vanishes into thin air – during jump
Police hunting for man who carries weapons in fake leg. Wife ‘could be in very serious danger’
Neb. man sues prosecutor to get his leg back
James Franco isn’t all natural down there
One-legged hooker slain
Cross-dressing mugger leaves breast behind
Wheelchair-bound thief steals condoms from Dallas 7-Eleven
