NAFTA renegotiation could affect privacy rules on Canadian data: Geist

The upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could include pressure to change rules requiring some information to stay in Canada, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist told a Parliamentary committee.

Google bringing cloud services to Canada

Alphabet Inc. said Thursday it is expanding its cloud platform reach by launching its first Canadian data service in Montreal.

The Cloud Platform “consists of a set of physical assets, such as computers and hard disk drives, and virtual resources, such as virtual machines (VMs), that are contained in Google’s data centers around the globe,” said a Google overview of the service.

SaskTel opens Saskatoon data centre

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holdings Corp. said Thursday that its newest data centre is now operational.

Cogeco shifting data centre strategy due to Amazon, Microsoft: Audet

MONTREAL — Moves by Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. into the Canadian data centre business won’t compete directly with Cogeco Inc., which is changing its data centre strategy by focusing on a different type of client, CEO Louis Audet told reporters Thursday.

Amazon expands cloud services in Canada

Amazon.com Inc. has expanded its data centre services into Canada with the introduction of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Montreal.

It is the first AWS in Canada, joining four other regions in North America (in Northern Virginia, Ohio Oregon and Northern California) and 14 others worldwide, according to Amazon. The total number of AWS availability zones is now up to 40 globally. 

The cloud service can now house customer data in the central region of the country, the e-commerce company said in a Thursday press release.

CenturyLink buys Level 3 for $34B US

CenturyLink Inc. said Monday it is buying Level 3 Communications Inc. in a deal valued at approximately $34 billion US.

“The combined company will have the ability to offer CenturyLink's larger enterprise customer base the benefits of Level 3's global footprint with a combined presence in more than 60 countries,” the companies said in a press release. 

Bell buys Q9 amidst increasing data centre competition: analysts

BCE Inc. announced Monday it is buying out its fellow investors in Q9 Networks Inc., a data centre operator in which it currently holds a 35.4-per-cent stake, in a move that analysts said comes as investment and competition in the data centre space increases.

Bell said in a press release it will acquire the stakes “in a transaction valued at approximately $675 million, including Q9 net debt but excluding Bell's existing ownership interest.”  

Rogers launches new cloud storage service

Rogers Communications Inc. has introduced a new data cloud storage service for businesses, the company said in a press release Thursday.

The Rogers Public Cloud “gives customers access to computing and storage space in a shared cloud environment,” the release said.

“Customers manage this virtual IT environment through a single web portal and have access to 24 x 7 support,” it said, noting that data will be stored in Canada.  

Bell partners with IBM to expand cloud services

BCE Inc. announced Monday it is partnering with IBM Corp. in order to expand its cloud computing services.

It said in a press release that the partnership will give Bell Business Cloud customers access to the IBM Cloud “via a secure, high-speed private connection from Bell.”

MTS completes sale of Allstream to Zayo

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. announced Friday it has completed the sale of Allstream, its business communication division, to Boulder, Colo.-based Zayo Group Holdings Inc.

Telus launches new cloud services for businesses

Telus Corp. announced Thursday it has expanded its cloud services to offer Canadian businesses a suite of managed infrastructure as service solutions that include private and public cloud offerings, as well as a hybrid of the two.

It said in the press release that the cloud services portfolio will allow companies to create a flexible and secure IT environment that will help meet the needs of businesses and push for operational efficiencies.

Rogers acquires Internetworking Atlantic

Rogers Communications Inc. announced Tuesday it has acquired Internetworking Atlantic Inc., a Halifax based communications technology company that offers a range of IT products and solutions to government agencies, institutions and businesses.

It said in the press release that the acquisition will help Rogers offer local expertise in areas such as cloud computing, data centre services, fibre networking and professional services, such as IT and network solutions.

Forbes downplays potential MTS selloff after Allstream deal

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. CEO Jay Forbes on Monday downplayed the likelihood that the whole company could be sold in the wake of a deal to unload its business communications division, Allstream.

MTS announced Monday that it has an agreement in place to sell Allstream to Boulder, Colo.-based Zayo Group Holdings Inc. for $465 million in cash.

3Macs telecom analyst Troy Crandall said the deal is positive for MTS, as Allstream has been "an albatross around the neck of Manitoba Tel every since it was acquired."

Cloud traffic to surge in coming years: Cisco

Global cloud traffic will be four times higher than what it was in 2014 by 2019, Cisco Systems Inc. said this week, rising to 8.6 zettabytes from 2.1 zettabytes.

Cisco said in a press release Wednesday that its fifth annual global cloud index shows the growth rate of cloud data will outpace overall data centre traffic, which it said would triple to 10.4 ZB from 3.4 ZB.

Tony Ciciretto stepping down from Cogeco Peer 1

Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Wednesday that Tony Ciciretto, CEO of its business unit Cogeco Peer 1, will be stepping down and replaced by chief technology and strategy officer Philippe Jette.

Cogeco renames subsidiary to Cogeco Peer 1

Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Monday that its combined subsidiaries Cogeco Data Services and Peer 1 will be renamed Cogeco Peer 1.

It said in the release that combining the two subsidiaries will help grow Cogeco’s enterprise data services sector.

“The new name, Cogeco Peer 1, allows us to combine the strengths of two great companies and deliver uncompromising value and innovation, reinforcing our position as a market leader in the enterprise IT sector,” Cogeco CEO Louis Audet said in the release.

Almost half of small businesses use cloud services: survey

A newly released survey shows 46 per cent of Canadian small businesses polled are using cloud-based services, and most of those that do are seeing benefits.

Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. said in a press release Wednesday that a survey it commissioned found 86 per cent of small businesses that use cloud services have improved their business processes, and 47 per cent have "experienced unexpected positive business changes by moving to the cloud."

SaskTel to construct data centre in Saskatoon

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holdings Corp. announced Monday it has started construction of a new data centre in Saskatoon.

It said in the press release that the data entre has met the Tier III certification requirements from the Uptime Institute, which requires maintainable electrical and mechanical components and multiple independent distribution paths to power IT equipment within the site’s architecture.

Cogeco opens Montreal-area data centre

Cogeco Cable Inc. said Friday it has officially opened a new 100,000-square-foot data centre in Kirkland, Que., just west of Montreal.

Videotron to build $40M data centre

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron announced Wednesday it is spending $40 million to build a data centre in Montreal.

Videotron said in the release this will be the only facility located in Technoparc Montreal that is built specifically for data hosting, and is the company’s latest step towards expanding “robust, reliable, competitive products and services for the business community.”

MTS opens data centre

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. announced Monday it has opened a new $53-million data centre in Winnipeg.

MTS’ CEO Jay Forbes said in the press release that the data centre offers reliable, secure and flexible IT solutions to customers that are trying to grow their business.

“This is the most advanced commercial data centre in Manitoba,” Forbes said in the release. "MTS Data Centres offer reliable, secure and flexible IT solutions, providing peace of mind so customers can focus on growing their business."

Shaw announces new data centre for Calgary

Shaw Communications Inc. on Thursday announced that it will have a new "state-of-the-art" data centre in Calgary that will begin operations this fall.

It said in a press release the 40,000-square-foot facility will offer business customers options for storing data, cloud operations and related services.

Cisco to buy cloud security company OpenDNS

Cisco Systems Inc. announced Tuesday it is planning to acquire OpenDNS, a security systems company with offices in San Francisco and Vancouver.  

Bell Aliant opens new data centre in N.B.

BCE Inc.’s Bell Aliant announced Monday that its new data centre in Saint John, N.B. is now fully functional and open for business.

The new $25 million data centre met the Tier III certification from the Uptime Institute, which “requires that the engineering design and commissioning of the facility is executed to a specific standard,” said spokeswoman Katherine VanBuskirk in an e-mail. Only one out of 11 centres in Canada hold this “gold standard for data centres”, the release stated.

Telus to invest $2.1 billion in Ontario

Telus Corp. announced Tuesday that it will spend $2.1 billion in Ontario by the end of 2018, the latest in a series of funding announcements from the company.

Telus to make $4.2B investment in Alberta

Telus Corp. said Monday it will spend $4.2 billion on infrastructure and facilities in Alberta between now and the end of 2018, including $1 billion in the current year.

The company said in a press release that, when combined with operational spending, its total investment in Alberta over four years will amount to more than $11 billion.

IBM to build IoT division

International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. said Tuesday it will invest $3 billion US over the next four years to establish an Internet of Things (IoT) unit.

It said in a press release it will use its cloud-based platform to help business clients better integrate data from IoT devices and other sources into their decision-making.

HP opens new security centre in Ontario

Hewlett-Packard Co. announced Thursday that it has opened a new security operations centre in Mississauga, Ont., to help businesses defend themselves from security threats.

The centre provides “security management services” to businesses and is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the company said in a release.

TeraGo to buy RackForce Networks

Data solutions provider TeraGo Inc. said Thursday it has reached an agreement to buy RackForce Networks Inc. for $33 million in cash and shares.

The acquisition “establishes TeraGo as a leading provider of enterprise class network, data, voice and cloud services,” the company said in a release, and expands the footprint of its data centres from 40,000 to 58,000 square feet.

The deal should close by March 27, TeraGo said.

IBM opens cloud centre near Montreal

International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. announced on Tuesday the opening of a new cloud centre in Drummondville, Que., near Montreal.

IBM said in a press release it is part of a $1.2-billion US effort to expand its global cloud operations and marks the second such facility in Canada, following the opening of a Toronto centre last August.

Apple to spend billions on European data centres

Apple Inc. said Monday it will spend 1.7 billion euros ($2.4 billion Cdn) on two data centres in Europe that are expected to be operational in 2017.

The company said in a press release the facilities will each be 166,000 square metres (1.8 million square feet), with one going in Athenry, Ireland, and the other in Viborg, Denmark.

Apple said the data centres will be used to power its online services such as iTunes purchase, the App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for customers across Europe.

Cogeco lays off 20 data service workers in Toronto

Cogeco Cable Inc.'s data services division has cut about 20 jobs in Toronto, the company said Thursday.

Cogeco Data Services spokeswoman Shawna Abbott said in an email that the cuts were made Wednesday "to increase efficiencies and streamline internal processes."

Q9 Networks launching new support services for data centres

Q9 Networks Inc. said Thursday it is launching a new support option for its data centre customers that includes hardware installation and management for the full life cycle of customers’ servers and co-located products.

The company said in a press release that the new onsite support services (OSS) allow it to support “entire physical computing infrastructure layer, from the data centre to the device,” and lets customers optimize their IT spending.

Cogeco launching Montreal data centre in spring

Cogeco Cable Inc. said Tuesday it expects to open a new 100,000 square foot data centre in Montreal in the spring.

The facility is designed to meet Tier 3 standards, the company said in a release, and will serve customers in Montreal and the surrounding area with colocation and cloud services.

Cogeco said Montreal is an ideal location to host the data centre because of its access to abundant and reliable power and a cool climate for most of the year.

Telus buys stake in Quebec IT and consulting company

Telus Corp. said Wednesday it has purchased a 20 per cent share in and formed a partnership with a Quebec City-based IT and consulting service.

Telus said in a press release it is teaming up with Alithya, which according to its website has offices in Canada and France, to offer information and communications service packages with a focus on managing "infrastructure solutions."

Many businesses unprepared for cyber threats: Cisco

A large proportion of Canadian businesses are unprepared for cyber threats, Cisco Systems Inc. said Tuesday, particularly as new processes emerge with growth in mobile and cloud-based technology.

Cisco said in a press release that a survey found that about 60 per cent of businesses polled either had no security strategy in place to protect their networks, were unsure whether existing strategies took into account evolving technological trends or did not have plans that protect against new and emerging technological realities.

Karen Sheriff to lead Q9 Networks

Q9 Network Inc., a Toronto-based provider of data centre services, said Tuesday that Bell Aliant CEO Karen Sheriff would become its president and CEO as of Jan. 5.

Telus announces 2 new cloud products

Telus Corp. on Monday announced two new products it said can help businesses take advantage of cloud computing.

One is called Cloud Collaboration, which Telus said in a press release is a suite of cloud-based communications services such as voicemail, integrated messaging, instant messaging and video-conferencing.

Bell, Cogeco execs say enterprise market weak

Executives from two of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies told the crowd at the Scotiabank Telecom & Cable 2015 Conference on Wednesday that the business of selling services to businesses is challenging their bottom line.

Yet both BCE Inc. chief financial officer Siim Vanaselja and Cogeco Cable Inc. CEO Louis Audet said weak growth in enterprise services is an industry-wide phenomenon that reflects continuing tepid growth in the overall economy.

Ottawa networking centre granted $11.7M

Industry Canada on Monday included an Ottawa-based centre dedicated to developing cutting-edge network technology as one of five new recipients for funding over the next five years.

The department sent a link by email for the government's Networks for Centres of Excellence of Canada website that said the Centre for Excellence for Next Generation Networks would get $11.7 million over the next five years.

The other four recipients are medically oriented and all five are getting a combined $68.1 million over five years, the website said.

Internet infrastructure approaching limits of capacity

The size of the Internet is becoming a challenge for the hardware that supports it and there could be some hiccups in service in the coming months as a result, according to experts.

Jim Cowie, chief scientist with New Hampshire-based Internet analytics company Dyn, said users of the Internet might have had problems accessing certain websites on Aug. 12 because on that day many of border gateway protocol (BGP) routers that direct web traffic reached their limit.

Software-defined networking market to boom: IDC

The market for software-defined networks will multiply in the coming years, according to a new forecast from International Data Corp.

The research company said in a press release Wednesday that the worldwide market value for software-defined networking products for the enterprise and cloud-service segments will rise from $980 million US this year to more than $8 billion US by 2018.

Shaw buys U.S. data centre company for $1.2B

Shaw Communications Inc. said in a press release Thursday it will acquire 100 per cent of  Colorado-based data centre provider ViaWest Inc. for $1.2 billion.  

Shaw said ViaWest, which will operate as a Shaw subsidiary from its current Denver headquarters, was “one of the largest privately held and most respected providers of data centre infrastructure, cloud technology and managed IT solutions in North America.”

IoT spending to almost quadruple by 2018: report

Spending on Internet of Things (IoT) technology in Canada in 2018 will be almost four times what it was last year, according to a new report from International Data Corp.

The report, commissioned by Telus Corp., said spending on IoT will be about $21 billion in 2018 compared to $5.6 billion in 2013, Telus said in a press release issued Tuesday.

Cogeco to provide telecom services to Laurentian Bank

Cogeco Cable Inc.’s data services subsidiary will manage Laurentian Bank’s “corporate telecommunications program,” the company said in a press release Tuesday.

Cisco top recipient of government funding last year: Globe

The Canadian arm of Cisco Systems Inc. received the most government funding in Canada of any company last year, according to a list published by the Globe and Mail.

The rankings published on the Globe's website Thursday showed Cisco received $220 million in funding. That was more than four times the $49 million the second-ranked company, aerospace component maker Héroux Devtek Inc., received, according to the list.

The chart gave "expansion" as the reason for Cisco's funding.

Cisco commits $150 million to Canadian innovation

Cisco Systems Inc. on Thursday announced it would put $150 million toward innovation and technology development in Canada over the next 10 years.

The U.S. technology giant said in press release it was establishing the Cisco Canada Innovation Program, through which it would "support and accelerate" the development of technologies and companies. It said it would do this through direct investment in technology investment, venture capital arrangements and working with incubators.

Cisco says it’s building world’s biggest ‘Intercloud’

Cisco Systems Inc. said Monday it is teaming with a number of partners to build what it called “the world’s largest global Intercloud,” which is a network of clouds.

Among the companies it is partnering with is Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.’s Allstream division, Cisco said in a press release.

Data centres a natural evolution for telecoms

Consumers and businesses alike have been storing increasing amounts of data in the cloud in recent years, a movement that has precipitated the building of a growing number of secure, air-conditioned, server-filled “clouds” across Canada.

The centres storing all that data have some very specific requirements, and they’re ones Canada happens to fulfill — from a cool climate to a low probability of political upheaval — making it a popular destination for data.

Root plans $20M data centre for Montreal

Root Data Center is opening a $20-million data centre in Montreal that it claims will offer the world’s best prices for colocation server leasing and cloud services.

Root CEO Jason van Gaal said in a press release Tuesday that the new data centre, a shared space where companies can rent servers and bandwidth, will be “a world-class facility without the world-class price tag.”

Rogers opens data centre in Calgary

Rogers Communications Inc. opened an 85,000 square foot data centre in Calgary Wednesday.

The centre is in “close enough proximity to Calgary city limits to be used as a primary corporate data centre for that market, and far enough out to be used as a disaster recovery site,” the company said in a release Wednesday.

The facility will be Rogers’ flagship data centre and is its 15^th centre in Canada, Rogers said.

Bell Aliant opening New Brunswick data centre

Bell Aliant Inc. is opening a new $25-million data centre in Saint John, N.B., the company said in a press release Tuesday.

The company, in which BCE Inc. has 44 per cent stake, said that over the last five years, it has invested more than $40 million in its data centre facilities in Saint John, Halifax and St. John's, N.L.

It added the construction and operation of the Saint John centre would create about 50 new jobs.

Telus opens $75M data centre in B.C.

Telus Corp. on Friday said it has opened a new Internet data centre in Kamloops, B.C., which will serve as “the foundation” for the company’s “next-generation cloud computing services for thousands of Canadian businesses.”

The company said in a press release it has invested $75 million in the data centre, which is resulting in 75 new permanent jobs.

Savvis renamed CenturyLink Technology Solutions

CenturyLink Inc. said Tuesday it has changed the name of its data-hosting division from Savvis to CenturyLink Technology Solutions.

Eastlink opens Nova Scotia data centre

Eastlink has opened a data centre in Sambro, N.S., the company said in a release Monday.

Eastlink (owned by Bragg Communications Inc.) said the Pennant Point Data Centre is currently operational and serving customers in Atlantic Canada.

It is Eastlink’s second data centre, following its centre in Bermuda, which serves multinational finance and insurance companies and the government of Bermuda, according to the release.

MTS building data centre

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. is building a $50-million data centre, the company said Wednesday.

MTS said it expects the facility, which is designed for multiple businesses, to open in 2015.

“Our business customers are increasingly using cloud computing to store and process ever-expanding amounts of data," CEO Pierre Blouin said in a release, adding the centre would allow MTS to fulfill “an important and growing business need."

Company spokesman Craig Lawrence said in an email that the centre will be located in Winnipeg.