Montreal Tech Watch

I didn’t know about Technologies Miranda. They manufacture a complete offer of HD TV products and equipment, from image treatment, production, post-production, distribution, to monitoring. The offer is very strong and they also market IP TV equipment. They are also investing 14.9% of their revenus in R&D.

Overall, Technologies Miranda is one the most innovative company I have seen in Montreal, and their report about +11% revenues in 2006 is not suprising at all. I am still surprised how a company can transform their whole product line to HD and IP TV in such a short period of time.

CEFRIO, a Québec research center, announced the results of a poll (en francais), made with Léger Marketing. Key facts:

• 72% of adults use Internet regularly
• 86% are subscribed to High Speed Internet service
• 16% of families use IP telephony
• 38% use online banking services
• 47% use Internet at their office for work
• and 31% of adults use Internet at home for work (!)
• 20% say they have alread read a blog

Those are great news and proves that technology is becoming a standard in Québec.

However, what the press release doesn’t show well is that those are 2006 results. I would also take those results with a grain of salt. You can’t mix people who live in Montréal with the ones living in, for instance, Northern Quebec. The Hérouxville incident proved us so well that there are many Québecs inside Québec. For someone who lives in the Plateau or in downtown Montréal, asking him/her if he already used the Internet is really trivial.

Also, when 20% say that they have already read a blog, does that mean she/he stumbled upon one? or does that mean he is a regular reader? if 31% of adults use Internet at home for work, does that mean he used it once to send an email to a colleage, or does that mean he regularly types reports and works on spreadsheets at home?

Here is a recap of the moves from the YellowPages Group this week:

• 20th Feb 2007: the group wants to buy Aliant Services, which manages phone directories in 4 Canadian provinces, mostly eastern provinces. It will cost Yellow Pages 30 M$ and if the deal is a success, they will control the canadian phone directory business, except in Alberta
• 22nd Feb 2007: the company says they will make the service avalaible to cell phone users in 2008. Montrealers will be able to call at 310-YELO and an automatic voice regnotion system will deliver the results. As I understand it, it will work like AdSense: the company who bidded the highest $$$ will have the priority
• 23rd Feb 2007: Isacsoft, a Montreal IT company, has signed a 2M$ contract with the Group for a 3-year software consulting contract

The yellow pages group publishes phone and business directories in print and web. They also own an array of 20 web sites and vertical trade magazines.

Now, i am aware this is not exactly Montreal Tech news, but the group also owns montrealplus.ca, pagesjaunes.ca, the 411 service and control the directory business in Montreal, and these moves will have an impact on Montreal media and technology world.

X2O Media’s flagship product is XPresenter, a software add-on that transforms Microsoft PowerPoint into broadcast-quality video.

The idea is that the PowerPoint user drag and drop pictures, videos, and text into the presentation and this will be updated in real-time to screens and projectors that are connected to the PowerPoint software. It may seem eye-candy, but XPresenter’s power lies in its ability to accept RSS feeds, scripting, remote management, HD video etc. Think of the screens in the Montreal metro station, which displays latest news, weather info and next train schedules, and you get it. The system can also be used in shops, schools, universities, airports, in fact in about any place where users and customers would want real-time info and entertainement. X2O even used it for the Super Bowl.

Yesterday, 21st Feb, XPresenter is now powering 24/7 the internal TV channel for Touché!phd.

Touché!phd is an ad agency, they live and breathe on information, and having an internal TV channel with RSS feeds is a good way to keep track of all opportunities. I would gladly use it for Montreal Tech Watch, along with my alerts, newsfire, and pipes, to display all recent tech news for Montreal.

What I don’t know however is how much the XPresenter costs. I suspect X2O Media to charge their customers premium prices. I do think however that such an innovative system have great potential for small and big businesses, and organizations. X2O, we are looking at you, democratize your system and you will get the crown of innovation this year.

CAE Inc, a world leader in simulation, manufacture of simulation equipement, and training, is taking over Engenuity Technologies, a software developer that provides the military, automative, civial aviation and video games industry.

The 2 companies have complimentary profiles and Engenuity Technologies’ products fit very well into CAE’s offering. Both parties have qualified the deal as “friendly” and “best in their interests”.

EspaceCanoe, a social networking website, has opened a new section for the 2007 provincial elections. See for example the profile of Jean Lapierre. The website is very web2.0ish, with tagging, videos, blogs and bright pastel colors. They didn’t even forget the ‘beta’ near the logo. You have to go with the times, I guess.

The service is actually simple, easy to use and promising and there are a lot of incitatives for politicians and citizens to participate. Currently, we can’t see much in the ’social’ but since it just opened, we have to yet to see how the website deals with user interaction. Montreal Tech Watch won’t cover the elections, as I believe there will be many bloggers out there who will be doing this, but you might go to Michelle Leblanc’s blog, who is involved in the project.

EspaceCanoe is a canoe service, which belongs to Quebecor Media. That also means there will be a lot of content avalaible, such as videos from TVA

Emergis, based in Longueil, has announced an increase of +37% in 2006 benefits, thanks to their very good services and products offer. Emergis is an IT company which provides key services for the health and financial industry, such as secure transactions or ecommerce solutions. Furthermore, they are buying buying back their actions, willl be investing more in R&D in 2007, and will offer more complimentary services to their exisiting customers.

As always, health is a sure industry to bet in. As one of my friend says, nobody counts their money when it is about health. And Montreal has a very active biotech industry.

Marie-Chantal Surgeon, a proeminent Montreal blogger, founder of Meïdia, published her notes from the Infopresse web2.0 conference. She tells how companies should embrace the internet, adapt their communication strategy and how they should be open to the new media. I think this is better to understand what web2.0 is and how it can change communication

Today, from 8h30am to 4h30pm, TechoCompétences and the Information and Communications Technology Council are inviting human ressources professionals to a meeting about a Wireless Technology RoadMap.

It might be late to register and go to the event, but I believe wireless networks, especially with the WiMax Technology is the future of telecommunications. After 3G and UMTS, most cell phone operators and cell phones manufacturers will install and provide equipment to use wimax instead of CDMA, GSM or other technologies. Cable and ADSL service are also going to be replaced by WiMax towers and routers - of course end-users will still access Internet with cable or landline.

Location: Institut International des Télécommunications, 800, rue de la Gauchetière Ouest, Salle du Conseil

The Information and Communications Technology Council is a non-profit group whose mission is to create highly talented Canadian IT professionals

TechnoCompétences’s mission is to improve the skills of IT workers and provide human ressource services to small businesses.

ITT, or Institut Internation des Télécommunications, is a Montreal R&D center for telecommunications

TechnoMontreal is a new web portal, launched by Montréal International, which provides tech news, tools for networking and lists IT events in Montréal. It concerns:

• the aerospatial industry
• video games industry
• IT consulting services
• telecommunications and related services
• software developers
• multimedia and advertising industry

TechnoMontreal is in french and is sponsored by many IT companies and government agencies. I found it actually to be a good source of information, for french speaking montrealers. Of course, you might still keep reading MontrealTechWatch for up-to-date news and events.

Montréal International is an agency that promotes Montréal as a business center. Lyne Bouchard, vice-president of Montréal International, says that the local tech scence lacks dialogue, exposure and collaboration. She also said that Information Technology is actually the main source of economic development for Québec