Published: January 25th, 2017

Bayview Yards to Open Research Facility in the Next Few Months!

During the CENGN Summit, our president, Ritch Dusome made a very special announcement on CENGN’s latest expansion. CENGN has partnered with Invest Ottawa to create a new research facility at the Innovation Centre in Bayview Yards. This facility is scheduled to open early in the new year and will feature the latest in next generation network communication technologies.

The new facility’s main purpose will be to support Ottawa startup tech companies as well as small and medium enterprises as they attempt to push their innovative ideas to market. A huge road block to commercial success for these young companies is the lack of ability to test their products and ideas within current networking infrastructure technology.  The Bayview Yards facility, like the one found at CENGN, will allow for the evaluation testing of innovative technology in fast-growing network sectors like IoT, SDN, and NFV.

The proven track record of CENGN’s own research lab led to this expansion.  Many Canadian small businesses have seen their companies take off due to the projects they have brought to CENGN. Take Inocybe Technologies for example, which was able to partner with networking giant Juniper Networks to test its Smart City underlay technology. Or inBay Technologies’s proof-of-concept that was able to demonstrate a multi-level, multi-factor authentication system that provides enhanced security that goes beyond password protection. In fact, the list of successful product testing at CENGN headquarters continues to grow as more and more small companies learn its value in accelerating their push to market.

Due to the strong performance seen at CENGN, the Government of Canada and Invest Ottawa are collaboratively fund the new research centre. The facility will launch with upwards of a million dollars in the latest and most advanced communications equipment to help Canadian companies break into some of the industry’s most cutting edge technology.

Highlighted in the Ottawa Business Journal, the new facility is moving forward with the backing of CENGN members, who will be contributing their support and equipment for testing purposes. This will work to maintain the synergy between Ottawa’s world-leading telecommunication and software companies and those companies seeking entrance into the ICT market. Not to mention the ability for these small enterprises to consolidate partnerships with long established businesses.

According to Ritch Dusome, CENGN has a clear goal in mind when it comes to working with small and medium organization: “What we’re really trying to do is get something on the résumé of these small Canadian companies so that they can go sell globally.” And what could be better to help these companies move forward than their own private multi-vendor research facility to test their product and prove its viability in the marketplace?

Bayview Yards is also the perfect location to open a new research lab. Not only will it be hosted in the new Innovation Centre built last year, but as Mayor Jim Watson stated, “90% of Canada’s industrial R&D in telecommunications takes place in the National Capital Region.” This means the facility will be on ground zero for Canada’s innovation in the ICT sector.

With this expansion, CENGN will be closer to fulfilling its major goal of providing readily accessible equipment and technology for Canadian companies looking to conduct, test and certify their cutting-edge technology in crucial proof-of-concepts.

CENGN is excited to see what the creation of the new facility will bring to the industry and is looking forward to continuing its partnerships with Canada’s innovative and growing businesses in order to solidify the country’s leadership in the ICT sector!

About the Author

CENGN, Canada’s Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, drives technology innovation and industry growth through our testbed, technical expertise, talent development, and partner ecosystem. Through our projects, CENGN enables small and medium Canadian Enterprises to test and validate promising technologies, removing barriers to product commercialization and accelerating market growth.

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