Non-profit gives tech leg up to telecoms, smaller businesses

Canada’s big three wireless providers are now cooperating on a not-for-profit initiative that offers small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) a networking test bed to experiment with new technologies, such as 5G communications. BCE Inc. is the latest Canadian telecom to join the Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN), in a move announced Tuesday. CENGN partnered with enterprise communications business Mitel Networks Corp. in May, just after it received $63 million over five years from the Ontario government in April to connect 18 innovation centres in the province. “The telecom business model is changing and there’s a lot of research required,” because of the emergence of new services and the need to upgrade telecom networks, Tanveer Ahmed, director of economics and finance at Nordicity, said in a phone interview. He noted that “companies like Bell have to do a lot of work,” and being part of CENGN helps them do so at a lower cost. Nordicity has previously done work, including economic impact projects, with CENGN. Founded three years ago with headquarters in Ottawa, CENGN helps SMEs test new technology for commercial release using facilities and funding provided by industry players. The now-14-member organization includes Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., and Nokia Corp. The consortium is also composed of researchers and academics. “With their contributions, we’ve managed to build a very advanced infrastructure that Canadian companies normally wouldn’t have access to because it’s too expensive,” Richard Waterhouse, CENGN’s vice-president of business development and marketing, said in a phone interview, adding those industry members contribute funding in the “hundreds of thousands” of dollars. In 2014, the federal government also pledged $11.7 million over five years to the organization through its Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada (NCEC). CENGN says on its website it provides companies and academic researchers with access to the “world’s first multi-vendor platform for testing and validating advanced products and applications, allowing them to collaborate on new network technologies and services.” In 2016, that included testing for 5G, smart city, cybersecurity and public safety initiatives, according to the NCEC website. For Bell, the partnership will provide the company with a low-cost solution to develop new services and concepts, while the telecoms’ “in-kind” contribution will be to provide low-cost connectivity to CENGN and the SMEs, said Ahmed, who previously worked at Bell. He added connectivity throughout Canada is important to enable SMEs in other parts of the country to work with CENGN. As well as having a say in the organization’s goals and objectives, Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis said in an email her company will also have an opportunity to collaborate on the SME commercialization projects. As such, Ahmed added that members can effectively use these new products and services developed out of the CENGN lab and deliver them to their retail customers, while at the same time helping SMEs avoid the “huge costs of marketing and commercialization.” Telus was a founding member of the CENGN. Rob Keates, its technology strategy manager, said in an emailed statement that Telus benefits from participating by receiving early access to new technologies and approaches “that can help inform our network technology roadmaps.” “Creating a trusted ecosystem of Canadian technology companies — including SMEs, established vendors and service providers — allows us to more effectively test new ideas and identify their benefits and interoperability challenges,” Keates added. Michelis said that the company’s focus will be on bringing the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) to Canada’s SMEs, adding it’s also looking to build relationships with Canada’s “most promising” up-and-coming companies in the next generation networking sector. CENGN has already seen technological advances in the areas of 5G and IoT applications come through its test bed, including projects like data-gathering sensor technology for traffic signals to predict travel times. “This is very disruptive technology, and the people who are doing all the innovation are the small, nimble companies,” Waterhouse said, adding the organization collaborates with up to 30 SMEs a year. CENGN said in the release the Bell partnership will leverage the company’s networking expertise and improve CENGN’s lab infrastructure and software-defined networking. Software-defined networks give network owners the ability to manage traffic via software instead of physically rewiring. Tech giants like Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Facebook Inc. use SDNs to manage their servers. Nordicity partner Stuart Jack said in an email that the telecom industry is at the cusp of 5G, “which will enable the digital transformation of the Canadian firms — and SMEs in particular — through software-defined network virtualization.” CENGN notes on its website that by 2020, there will 50 billion smart connected devices globally, and in order to meet the demand for network bandwidth, “future networks will need to be dynamic, using technology” like SDNs. “CENGN is a keystone for SMEs in the migration to the digital economy,” Jack added. Waterhouse noted in the interview that the organization is still looking for more members to join its ranks, but could not disclose names. “We are seeking more partners that would add to our infrastructure and the ecosystem, so if you look at the list — if it’s a large multi-national, who is in the telecom space, the internet space, we are probably in discussions with them.” — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Non-profit gives tech leg up to telecoms, smaller businesses

News | July 28, 2017

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Non-profit gives tech leg up to telecoms, smaller businesses

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