Waterloo Tech Digest - May 6, 2008
Compiled and written by
Gary Will
gary@garywill.com
In this issue:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
IT SEARCH AND PLACEMENT SERVICES
Procom is currently ranked as the 4th largest IT professional services firm in Canada. (Branham 300, Financial Post, April 2007). Recently awarded one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies, Procom is a proud, Canadian-owned, privately-held company. Our local KW office provides IT, development and technology personnel on either a contract or permanent basis. We are the largest provider of IT staffing and recruiting services in Canada. Phone: 519.885.4331
RISK FREE LEAD GENERATION
From sales opportunity development to increasing attendance for events, Virtual Causeway accelerates your sales process! With a focus on selling and marketing complex services and technology, we guarantee a consistent and reliable flow of quality leads - assuring that your pipeline is constantly full. Contact us today to learn how we can help connect you with your next customer. Call 519-886-1600 ext. 405 or email marketing@v-causeway.com for details.
BERESKIN & PARR - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Bereskin & Parr is a leading Canadian intellectual property law firm on your doorstep. Our Waterloo region office brings a wealth of experience to serve the growing high technology and manufacturing communities in Canada's Technology Triangle and surrounding areas. Bereskin & Parr's practice encompasses all areas of intellectual property from patents to trade marks and related litigation. Please contact us at 519-783-3210, Tim Sinnott (tsinnott@bereskinparr.com) for more information.
ENHANCE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
INO can deliver competitive advantage to fuel company growth. As described in this video, INO's optical recognition technology helped Optosecurity raise $20 million in financing and create a world-class team. You'll find further information on INO's optical recognition technology here. Please contact Glenn Smith in Waterloo at 519-502-1305 to explore how INO might deliver competitive advantage to your organization.
ARE YOU CONSISTENTLY MAKING YOUR NUMBERS?
The painful truth: Research proves that 50% of salespeople will always be underachievers. The costs inflicted by sub-par sales performers are huge and vastly underestimated by most companies. For information you can use to build winning sales teams, download our free whitepaper. Peak Sales Recruiting focuses on finding top performing salespeople for technology companies.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Well.ca receives funding
April 17, 2008
Well.ca, already Canada's largest online retailer for non-prescription drug store products, has received funding from Jim Estill and Toronto's Maple Leaf Angels. The size of the round was not disclosed.
The deal was several months in the making and is the first external funding for Well. Joining the company's board of directors is Colin Webster, CFO of Toronto's First Coverage and the founder 10 years ago of an online marketplace for used computers that evolved into the e-commerce firm Truition.
[2]---------------------------------------------------------------
Sandvine sales cut in half
April 9, 2008
Sandvine announced the full results for its quarter ended February 29 (Q1 08), following its warning a month earlier that the numbers would be well below expectations (see previous digest). The company lost $7.0 million on sales of $8.3 million, with revenue plummeting 52% from the previous quarter and 46% from last year.
"Customer A" -- historically Sandvine's largest customer and the one commonly believed to be Comcast, although Sandvine has never said so -- was only good for $2.0 million in revenue in the quarter, down from $9.7 million last year and an average of $9.1 million per quarter over the previous four quarters. Sales to Comcast pushed Sandvine to a market value close to a billion dollars last year, but Comcast really hasn't done the company any favours over the last few months. It could have come out and said "Yes, we use Sandvine technology, here's why, and here's the service improvements we provide with Sandvine that we couldn't do otherwise." But, instead, it went into denials and then decided to play word games instead of being forthright, while avoiding any acknowledgment of Sandvine as a supplier.
And if Sandvine's financial results weren't disappointing enough, there was Kevin Martin -- not the curler, but the chairman of the FCC -- telling the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee in April that "Comcast appears to have utilized Internet equipment from Sandvine or something similar that is widely known to be a relatively inexpensive, blunt means to reduce peer-to-peer traffic by blocking certain traffic completely. In contrast, more modern equipment can be finely tuned to slow traffic to certain speeds based on various levels of congestion." Ouch. Comcast let Sandvine take the hit and just said that it would be switching to a new technology by the end of the year.
In Q1, sales to North America accounted for 86.5% of Sandvine revenue. Sales to Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), which has been growing quickly in recent quarters, fell to $570,000 or 6.9% of revenue. Sandvine also disclosed that it has been approved for up to $625,000 in non-repayable Canadian government assistance, with $126,000 received in Q1. The company ended the quarter with $106.6 million in cash and securities, with operations using $5.1 million in cash in the quarter.
Sandvine's information circular for its AGM showed that sales SVP Angelo Compagnoni was again the company's highest paid officer in fiscal 2007, with salary and bonuses of $715,635, more than double the amount paid to any other executive.
Sandvine also announced that Atria CEO Steve McCartney has joined its board of directors.
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
Arise to raise $45M through share offering
May 5, 2008
Arise is raising $45.1 million through a bought-deal share offering of 20.5 million shares at $2.20 each. As part of the offering, company founder Ian MacLellan is selling an additional 500,000 shares from his own holdings and will receive gross proceeds of $1.1 million. MacLellan currently holds 5.6 million Arise shares. Underwriters are led by Canaccord Adams and Clarus Securities.
The final amounts will almost certainly be higher, as the underwriters have a 15% overallotment option, which would bump the total amount raised to over $50 million. The offering is expected to close around May 20.
Arise announced that it will supply Germany's Aleo Solar with 90 megawatts of PV cells over a five year period. Arise's new German facility began manufacturing PV cells in April.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
Virtek ends the year in the black
April 15, 2008
A profitable end to a rough year for Virtek, which reported earnings of $1.3 million on sales of $13.2 million in the quarter ended January 31 (Q4 08). Sales were down 12% from the previous quarter and 15% from last year, but income from operations of $1.0 million was a $2 million improvement from Q3 and just slightly below the number a year ago.
Imaging and templating sales were up sharply from the previous quarter, while sales fell in Virtek's other business segment, marking and engraving. Operations generated $1.3 million in cash and Virtek ended the year with $7.3 million in cash.
For the year, the company reported earnings of $2.2 million (all coming from discontinued operations) on sales of $53.3 million. Sales were down 10% from fiscal 2007.
Under new CEO Stephen Sirocky, the company is again emphasizing margin improvements and profitability growth over sales growth ... which is exactly the message former CEO Bob Sandness gave when he took the reins. According to Virtek's AGM circular, Sandness was entitled to 18 months' salary ($390,000) following termination without cause. He was replaced as CEO in December. Sandness was also paid $30,000 for consulting services through the transition period.
Virtek also announced that Randy Fowlie will be added to its board of directors at the AGM in June. Fowlie spent eight years with Inscriber and its successors and is also a director of Open Text. He succeeds company co-founder Mohamed Kamel, who is leaving Virtek's board and becoming chair of the company's new technology advisory group. Brian Harrison will take over as chairman from Bob Nally, who will remain on the board. Harrison has been a Virtek director since 2006.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
RDM still forecasting big end to 2008 after weak Q2
May 2, 2008
It was another disappointing quarter for RDM in the period ended March 31 (Q2 08), but once again the company is forecasting huge year-over-year sales gains through the rest of the year.
Three months ago, the company forecast 10-15% annual sales growth and said it was a conservative estimate. But, following Q2, RDM now expects annual sales to be flat compared to 2007 -- cutting $3.5-5 million from its sales forecast for 2008. Still, just to achieve flat sales, RDM will need to record 40% year-over-year growth over the final two quarters of the fiscal year.
In Q2, RDM lost $269,000 on sales of $6.8 million. Sales were down 4% from the previous quarter and 13% from last year. At the halfway mark of the fiscal year, sales are running nearly 30% below last year, so even a flat year would be an achievement at this point.
RDM still has lots of cash -- $17.8 million -- with operations providing $460,000 in cash in the quarter.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Dalsa sets sales record, looks for digital cinema partner
April 30, 2008
Dalsa got its new fiscal year off to a good start, with earnings of $3.8 million on sales of $54.6 million. It was the biggest top line in company history, with sales up 15% from the previous quarter and 21% from last year.
Dalsa's digital imaging and semiconductor businesses both showed strong quarter-over-quarter growth, and together they contributed $5.7 million of profits. The drag on earnings, again, was the digital cinema business, which reported a loss of $1.9 million, up slightly from both the previous quarter and last year. Digital cinema revenue was just $399,000, with most of that coming from sources other than Dalsa's digital movie camera.
After the end of the quarter, the company decided to look for "strategic partnership opportunities" for its digital cinema business. Dalsa is looking for a company with strong ties to the film industry that is prepared to make a significant financial investment. It has hired an investment bank to assist with identifying potential partners.
Operations generated $6.7 million in cash and Dalsa spent $2.0 million on property and equipment. It ended the quarter with $13.5 million in cash and securities.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
Open Text piles up the cash
April 29, 2008
Another big cash-generating quarter for Open Text, which reported earnings of US$7.3 million on sales of US$178.8 million in the period ended March 31 (Q3 08). Sales were down 2% from Q2 but up 15% from last year.
Revenue continued to be split almost evenly between Europe and North America. There were three licensing deals of $1 million or more and another four in the $500,000 to $1 million range.
Operations provided US$49.8 million in cash to the company, and -- because it reports in U.S. dollars -- its holding in non-U.S. cash provided added another US$9.9 million in exchange gains, leaving Open Text with US$215.8 million in cash at the end of the quarter, up US$56.1 million from the end of Q2.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Another rough month for Sandvine shares
April 2008
Even after issuing a warning about its quarterly results a month in advance, Sandvine shares still took another beating in April, finishing at the bottom of our list for the third straight month and the fourth time in the last five months. It still has a market capitalization of just under $200 million -- slightly less than Descartes, which overtook Sandvine in the market cap rankings in April. Sandvine shares are down 64% over the first four months of 2008 and 79% over the last seven months.
Virtek shares only went up seven cents in April, but that was good enough for a 19% gain, making them the top performer for the month.
For the month of April:
Virtek [TSX: VRK] +19%
Arise [TSX: APV] +17%
ATS [TSX: ATA] +15%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] +15%
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] +13%
RDM [TSX: RC] +9%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +7%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +6%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +4%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +3%
===============================
MKS [TSX: MKX] -2%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX -2%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] -3%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] -5%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] -21%
Open Text ended the month with a $2 billion value. RIM's market cap jumped to $76 billion.
Companies with core operations outside the area:
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] +32%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] +30%
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] +17%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] +12%
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +8%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] +7%
Adobe [Nasdaq: ADBE] +5%
===================================
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] -4%
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] -5%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] -7%
[9]---------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Gary Will
gary@garywill.com
In this issue:
- Well.ca receives funding
- Sandvine sales cut in half
- Arise to raise $45M through share offering
- Virtek ends the year in the black
- RDM still forecasting big end to 2008 after weak Q2
- Dalsa sets sales record, looks for digital cinema partner
- Open Text piles up the cash
- STOCK REPORT: Another rough month for Sandvine shares
- Miscellaneous tidbits from RapidMind, Tungle, AideRSS, ParkVu, LiveHive, MKS, CTT, eSolutions, RIM, Maplesoft
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
IT SEARCH AND PLACEMENT SERVICES
Procom is currently ranked as the 4th largest IT professional services firm in Canada. (Branham 300, Financial Post, April 2007). Recently awarded one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies, Procom is a proud, Canadian-owned, privately-held company. Our local KW office provides IT, development and technology personnel on either a contract or permanent basis. We are the largest provider of IT staffing and recruiting services in Canada. Phone: 519.885.4331
RISK FREE LEAD GENERATION
From sales opportunity development to increasing attendance for events, Virtual Causeway accelerates your sales process! With a focus on selling and marketing complex services and technology, we guarantee a consistent and reliable flow of quality leads - assuring that your pipeline is constantly full. Contact us today to learn how we can help connect you with your next customer. Call 519-886-1600 ext. 405 or email marketing@v-causeway.com for details.
BERESKIN & PARR - INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
Bereskin & Parr is a leading Canadian intellectual property law firm on your doorstep. Our Waterloo region office brings a wealth of experience to serve the growing high technology and manufacturing communities in Canada's Technology Triangle and surrounding areas. Bereskin & Parr's practice encompasses all areas of intellectual property from patents to trade marks and related litigation. Please contact us at 519-783-3210, Tim Sinnott (tsinnott@bereskinparr.com) for more information.
ENHANCE YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
INO can deliver competitive advantage to fuel company growth. As described in this video, INO's optical recognition technology helped Optosecurity raise $20 million in financing and create a world-class team. You'll find further information on INO's optical recognition technology here. Please contact Glenn Smith in Waterloo at 519-502-1305 to explore how INO might deliver competitive advantage to your organization.
ARE YOU CONSISTENTLY MAKING YOUR NUMBERS?
The painful truth: Research proves that 50% of salespeople will always be underachievers. The costs inflicted by sub-par sales performers are huge and vastly underestimated by most companies. For information you can use to build winning sales teams, download our free whitepaper. Peak Sales Recruiting focuses on finding top performing salespeople for technology companies.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[1]---------------------------------------------------------------
Well.ca receives funding
April 17, 2008
Well.ca, already Canada's largest online retailer for non-prescription drug store products, has received funding from Jim Estill and Toronto's Maple Leaf Angels. The size of the round was not disclosed.
The deal was several months in the making and is the first external funding for Well. Joining the company's board of directors is Colin Webster, CFO of Toronto's First Coverage and the founder 10 years ago of an online marketplace for used computers that evolved into the e-commerce firm Truition.
[2]---------------------------------------------------------------
Sandvine sales cut in half
April 9, 2008
Sandvine announced the full results for its quarter ended February 29 (Q1 08), following its warning a month earlier that the numbers would be well below expectations (see previous digest). The company lost $7.0 million on sales of $8.3 million, with revenue plummeting 52% from the previous quarter and 46% from last year.
"Customer A" -- historically Sandvine's largest customer and the one commonly believed to be Comcast, although Sandvine has never said so -- was only good for $2.0 million in revenue in the quarter, down from $9.7 million last year and an average of $9.1 million per quarter over the previous four quarters. Sales to Comcast pushed Sandvine to a market value close to a billion dollars last year, but Comcast really hasn't done the company any favours over the last few months. It could have come out and said "Yes, we use Sandvine technology, here's why, and here's the service improvements we provide with Sandvine that we couldn't do otherwise." But, instead, it went into denials and then decided to play word games instead of being forthright, while avoiding any acknowledgment of Sandvine as a supplier.
And if Sandvine's financial results weren't disappointing enough, there was Kevin Martin -- not the curler, but the chairman of the FCC -- telling the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee in April that "Comcast appears to have utilized Internet equipment from Sandvine or something similar that is widely known to be a relatively inexpensive, blunt means to reduce peer-to-peer traffic by blocking certain traffic completely. In contrast, more modern equipment can be finely tuned to slow traffic to certain speeds based on various levels of congestion." Ouch. Comcast let Sandvine take the hit and just said that it would be switching to a new technology by the end of the year.
In Q1, sales to North America accounted for 86.5% of Sandvine revenue. Sales to Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA), which has been growing quickly in recent quarters, fell to $570,000 or 6.9% of revenue. Sandvine also disclosed that it has been approved for up to $625,000 in non-repayable Canadian government assistance, with $126,000 received in Q1. The company ended the quarter with $106.6 million in cash and securities, with operations using $5.1 million in cash in the quarter.
Sandvine's information circular for its AGM showed that sales SVP Angelo Compagnoni was again the company's highest paid officer in fiscal 2007, with salary and bonuses of $715,635, more than double the amount paid to any other executive.
Sandvine also announced that Atria CEO Steve McCartney has joined its board of directors.
[3]---------------------------------------------------------------
Arise to raise $45M through share offering
May 5, 2008
Arise is raising $45.1 million through a bought-deal share offering of 20.5 million shares at $2.20 each. As part of the offering, company founder Ian MacLellan is selling an additional 500,000 shares from his own holdings and will receive gross proceeds of $1.1 million. MacLellan currently holds 5.6 million Arise shares. Underwriters are led by Canaccord Adams and Clarus Securities.
The final amounts will almost certainly be higher, as the underwriters have a 15% overallotment option, which would bump the total amount raised to over $50 million. The offering is expected to close around May 20.
Arise announced that it will supply Germany's Aleo Solar with 90 megawatts of PV cells over a five year period. Arise's new German facility began manufacturing PV cells in April.
[4]---------------------------------------------------------------
Virtek ends the year in the black
April 15, 2008
A profitable end to a rough year for Virtek, which reported earnings of $1.3 million on sales of $13.2 million in the quarter ended January 31 (Q4 08). Sales were down 12% from the previous quarter and 15% from last year, but income from operations of $1.0 million was a $2 million improvement from Q3 and just slightly below the number a year ago.
Imaging and templating sales were up sharply from the previous quarter, while sales fell in Virtek's other business segment, marking and engraving. Operations generated $1.3 million in cash and Virtek ended the year with $7.3 million in cash.
For the year, the company reported earnings of $2.2 million (all coming from discontinued operations) on sales of $53.3 million. Sales were down 10% from fiscal 2007.
Under new CEO Stephen Sirocky, the company is again emphasizing margin improvements and profitability growth over sales growth ... which is exactly the message former CEO Bob Sandness gave when he took the reins. According to Virtek's AGM circular, Sandness was entitled to 18 months' salary ($390,000) following termination without cause. He was replaced as CEO in December. Sandness was also paid $30,000 for consulting services through the transition period.
Virtek also announced that Randy Fowlie will be added to its board of directors at the AGM in June. Fowlie spent eight years with Inscriber and its successors and is also a director of Open Text. He succeeds company co-founder Mohamed Kamel, who is leaving Virtek's board and becoming chair of the company's new technology advisory group. Brian Harrison will take over as chairman from Bob Nally, who will remain on the board. Harrison has been a Virtek director since 2006.
[5]---------------------------------------------------------------
RDM still forecasting big end to 2008 after weak Q2
May 2, 2008
It was another disappointing quarter for RDM in the period ended March 31 (Q2 08), but once again the company is forecasting huge year-over-year sales gains through the rest of the year.
Three months ago, the company forecast 10-15% annual sales growth and said it was a conservative estimate. But, following Q2, RDM now expects annual sales to be flat compared to 2007 -- cutting $3.5-5 million from its sales forecast for 2008. Still, just to achieve flat sales, RDM will need to record 40% year-over-year growth over the final two quarters of the fiscal year.
In Q2, RDM lost $269,000 on sales of $6.8 million. Sales were down 4% from the previous quarter and 13% from last year. At the halfway mark of the fiscal year, sales are running nearly 30% below last year, so even a flat year would be an achievement at this point.
RDM still has lots of cash -- $17.8 million -- with operations providing $460,000 in cash in the quarter.
[6]---------------------------------------------------------------
Dalsa sets sales record, looks for digital cinema partner
April 30, 2008
Dalsa got its new fiscal year off to a good start, with earnings of $3.8 million on sales of $54.6 million. It was the biggest top line in company history, with sales up 15% from the previous quarter and 21% from last year.
Dalsa's digital imaging and semiconductor businesses both showed strong quarter-over-quarter growth, and together they contributed $5.7 million of profits. The drag on earnings, again, was the digital cinema business, which reported a loss of $1.9 million, up slightly from both the previous quarter and last year. Digital cinema revenue was just $399,000, with most of that coming from sources other than Dalsa's digital movie camera.
After the end of the quarter, the company decided to look for "strategic partnership opportunities" for its digital cinema business. Dalsa is looking for a company with strong ties to the film industry that is prepared to make a significant financial investment. It has hired an investment bank to assist with identifying potential partners.
Operations generated $6.7 million in cash and Dalsa spent $2.0 million on property and equipment. It ended the quarter with $13.5 million in cash and securities.
[7]---------------------------------------------------------------
Open Text piles up the cash
April 29, 2008
Another big cash-generating quarter for Open Text, which reported earnings of US$7.3 million on sales of US$178.8 million in the period ended March 31 (Q3 08). Sales were down 2% from Q2 but up 15% from last year.
Revenue continued to be split almost evenly between Europe and North America. There were three licensing deals of $1 million or more and another four in the $500,000 to $1 million range.
Operations provided US$49.8 million in cash to the company, and -- because it reports in U.S. dollars -- its holding in non-U.S. cash provided added another US$9.9 million in exchange gains, leaving Open Text with US$215.8 million in cash at the end of the quarter, up US$56.1 million from the end of Q2.
[8]---------------------------------------------------------------
STOCK REPORT: Another rough month for Sandvine shares
April 2008
Even after issuing a warning about its quarterly results a month in advance, Sandvine shares still took another beating in April, finishing at the bottom of our list for the third straight month and the fourth time in the last five months. It still has a market capitalization of just under $200 million -- slightly less than Descartes, which overtook Sandvine in the market cap rankings in April. Sandvine shares are down 64% over the first four months of 2008 and 79% over the last seven months.
Virtek shares only went up seven cents in April, but that was good enough for a 19% gain, making them the top performer for the month.
For the month of April:
Virtek [TSX: VRK] +19%
Arise [TSX: APV] +17%
ATS [TSX: ATA] +15%
Open Text [TSX: OTC] +15%
Biorem [TSXV: BRM] +13%
RDM [TSX: RC] +9%
Descartes [TSX: DSG] +7%
RIM [TSX: RIM] +6%
--S&P TSX COMPOSITE INDEX +4%
Dalsa [TSX: DSA] +3%
===============================
MKS [TSX: MKX] -2%
--S&P TSX VENTURE INDEX -2%
TurboSonic [OTCBB: TSTA] -3%
Com Dev [TSX: CDV] -5%
Sandvine [TSX: SVC] -21%
Open Text ended the month with a $2 billion value. RIM's market cap jumped to $76 billion.
Companies with core operations outside the area:
ON Semiconductor [Nasdaq: ONNN] +32%
Google [Nasdaq: GOOG] +30%
Ansys [Nasdaq: ANSS] +17%
Sybase [NYSE: SY] +12%
NCR [NYSE: NCR] +8%
Oracle [Nasdaq: ORCL] +7%
Adobe [Nasdaq: ADBE] +5%
===================================
Blue Coat [Nasdaq: BCSI] -4%
Agfa-Gevaert [Brussels: AGFA] -5%
McAfee [NYSE: MFE] -7%
[9]---------------------------------------------------------------
Miscellaneous Tidbits
- RapidMind was named "start-up company with the best innovation" at the 2008 Premier's Catalyst Awards. The award comes with a $200,000 cash prize from the provincial government.
- Tungle has launched its first product: a free Outlook plugin that lets users share calendar information and coordinate meetings across organizations.
- AideRSS's PostRank technology has been integrated into NewsGator's online RSS reader.
- Jeff Fedor and Terry Goertz, both formerly with AideRSS and, before that, Primal Fusion, have founded a new company: ParkVu. Fedor previously founded Covarity and Ardesic.
- Well.ca, Tungle, and AideRSS were among the startup companies at the "Tech Expo" component of the 2008 Tech Leadership Conference at Bingemans. Other exhibitors were Aeryon Labs, Client Outlook, FOSS Factory, Ghoti Studios, LoyaltyMatch, Semacode, Something On, Smartpatterns, and T-Ray Science.
- LiveHive worked with the Toronto Raptors to create a interactive online trivia/predictions/polling site during the Raptors' brief run in the NBA playoffs. The Raptors are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., which had used LiveHive's NanoGaming technology earlier this year with the Leafs. The NBA's Philadelphia 76ers had worked with LiveHive in March.
- After 16 years at MKS, Ellyn Winters-Robinson has left to become a principal of Ignition Design and Redline Promotions. She had been MKS' marketing VP for several years.
- John Tennant will be stepping down as CEO of Canada's Technology Triangle, the region's economic development organization. He has led CTT since 2002.
- Also changing organizations is Todd Letts, who is resigning as president of the chamber of commerce to join the management team at eSolutions Group, led by Karen Mayfield.
- UW computer science professor Alex Lopez-Ortiz has been hired as chief scientist by San Francisco's Discovery Engine Corp. It is developing a "next-generation" search engine, expected to be in public beta later this year.
- New Dundee's Andrew Sloss, a UW systems design engineering grad, was named "country manager" of eBay Canada and will oversee all eBay Canada operations. He had been in the role on an interim basis since September.
- BlackBerry placed 51st in the third annual BrandZ ranking of the world's "most powerful brands." It had a year-over-year "brand value change" of 390%, which blew away every other brand in the top 100 (Apple was second at 123%). Surprisingly, Canada's top brand -- according to this list -- is Royal Bank of Canada, which ranked 34th -- ahead of Mercedes, Honda and Dell. RBC and BlackBerry were both placed ahead of Amazon, Yahoo! and eBay.
- RIM has launched a BlackBerry certification program for IT service providers.
- Maplesoft, the former Waterloo Maple, celebrated the 20th anniversary of its incorporation in April.
posted by Gary Will at 12:29 AM
