Business News Holding

Tag: canada

  • shomi is Coming to All Canadians this Summer

    shomi is Coming to All Canadians this Summer

    shomi-canada

    Canada, make room on your couch and time in your schedule – shomi is moving in! Following a successful beta launch in November 2014 to Rogers and Shaw Internet or cable customers, shomi is now coming to all Canadians across the country this summer.

    The comapny is moving in and unpacking “great stuff” to watch – including exclusive series not available on other streaming services, celebrated Canadian content, human-curated collections, plus fun kids and family programming.

    shomi has exclusive content deals for some of the most buzz-worthy TV series being produced today. Canadian exclusives such as Golden Globe-winner Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, and Catastrophe; exclusive day-and-date releases of hot new series including iZombie and multiple award-winning Jane The Virgin; top-notch Canadian content including Vikings, Rookie Blue, and Mr. D; and past-seasons of some of the most popular shows on television, featuring Modern Family and Sons of Anarchy – these are just a few of the series that are coming this summer with shomi.

    Beyond TV binges, shomi offers hand-picked movie favourites plus great kids-and-family content, including Thomas and Friends, Blue’s Clues, Johnny Test, Scooby Doo, and Boy Meets World.

    shomi is accessible across the variety of platforms – tablet, mobile, online, Xbox 360, Apple TV, Chromecast, as well as set-top boxes for Rogers and Shaw TV subscribers; the service is also on offer to other distributors.

  • Westbee: A Canadian start-up aiming to challenge the “made in China” era

    Westbee: A Canadian start-up aiming to challenge the “made in China” era

    westbee

    Westbee is a Canadian start-up offering to change the way we purchase goods by putting forward products by designers and manufacturers who respect proper working conditions. In a matter of a few clicks, people can be assured of the quality and origin of the products they purchase, and of the ethical standards that had to be respected for their production.

    The website gowestbee.com targets a trendy clientele by putting forth many exclusive and original products. On it, you will find clothing, fashion accessories, kitchen accessories, beauty products, and toys as well as exclusive products from Canada, the United States, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

    WestBee donates 1% of sales revenues earned in Canada to Alvéole, a company which contributes to the protection of bees by setting up beehives in urban areas.

    “Western companies, just like bees, produce high quality products that are endangered. The bee is thus the symbol of the fair vision of production and consumption that we wish to convey. Purchasing products that are distributed by WestBee means contributing to the maintenance of local and Western economies, while also promoting the growth and employment of our designers. I invite you all to visit our website!”, said Lorenzo Sterzi, co-founder of WestBee.

  • Akamai Expands Business Operations in Canada

    Akamai Expands Business Operations in Canada

    akamai-logo

    Akamai, one of the world’s biggest providers of Content Delivery Network (CDN) services, is expanding its business operations in Canada. The company has just announced the opening of its Toronto sales and services office.  The new office will support employees focused on sales, services, engineering, and security, and will complement Akamai’s existing Ontario location in Ottawa.

    Akamai’s growth in Canada has expanded in the areas of financial services, media & entertainment, manufacturing, health care, public sector, and commerce, with Ontario being the province with the Company’s largest customer base.

    Akamai is hiring in both Toronto and Ottawa for engineering roles in the areas of Web Performance and Enterprise solutions.

    Canada boasts 33 million internet users, with nearly 95 percent of its total population being internet-connected. Over the last five years, the country’s high broadband (connections greater than 10 Mbps) adoption rate has increased by 589 percent. During that same period, Canada’s 4K readiness rate (connections greater than 15 Mbps) has increased by 710 percent.

    Akamai is currently serving and protecting the online presence for the six largest banks in Canada, many ofCanada’s most successful retailers, and has served as a force behind major online events for several of the national media broadcasters such as CBC/Radio-Canada during the Olympics, the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, and for the upcoming 2015 Pan Am games in Toronto.

    SHOP.CA is becoming Canada’s leader in online shopping, providing “a unique Canadian experience that combines an authoritative selection of products, unparalleled service and a social loyalty program that rewards members on every purchase.” Launched in July 2012, SHOP.CA has become the fastest growing retail site in Canada and a top 10 most-visited, Canadian-owned ecommerce site.

  • Security Study Shows Canadian Businesses Not Prepared For Security Threats

    Security Study Shows Canadian Businesses Not Prepared For Security Threats

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    According to new research from Cisco, Canadian businesses are not equipped to respond to security threats within their networks. The study, which combines the views of Canadian businesses and consumers about security at work, also found there are discrepancies between the preparedness of large and small businesses.

    Respondents were asked questions about security policies, practices and recent cyber-attacks at their business, including their security preparedness for new IT consumption models such as mobile and cloud-based applications.

    Cisco’s findings indicate many Canadian businesses operate without any security strategy for their network, leaving them woefully underprepared to take advantage of new opportunities created by the Internet of Everything (IoE) and making them highly susceptible to threats such as data loss or theft.

    With IoE driving the connection of people, processes, data, and things, the number and type of attack vectors will continue to increase exponentially, driving the mandate that security must become top of mind for businesses in today’s connected world.

    Key Findings

    Canadian businesses are unprepared for future security threats.

    • 6 out of 10 businesses either do not have a security strategy in place, and/or are unsure whether their security strategy accounts for an evolving data centre and IT consumption model, or do not have a strategy to prepare for these changes.
    • Nearly one in 10 (8%) of Canadian businesses overall are still unsure whether they experienced a security threat, attack or breach on their network in the last 12 months.
    • 15% of Canadian businesses still do not have a security strategy in place.
    • 1 in 5 (22%) Canadian businesses report they have experienced a threat, attack or breach in the last 12 months.
    • Canadian businesses with less than 100 employees are the most likely to not have a security strategy (26%), while mid-sized businesses are the least likely to have a strategy in place for changing IT consumption models (25%).
    • One in three (31%) of Canada’s largest companies are unsure whether their IT security strategy accounts for evolving data centre and IT consumption models.

    Canadian businesses are slow to protect company data on employee-owned devices.

    • Less than 60% of Canadian businesses have IT solutions in place to protect company data on employee-owned devices.
    • Nearly a quarter (24%) of employed Canadians use a personal device for work despite being employed by a company that does not allow this practice. Another 11% do so without knowing if it is allowed by their employer or not.
    • The Canadian businesses most prepared to protect company data on employee-owned devices are those with more than 1000 employees (64%). Those least prepared are businesses with less than 100 employees (44%).
    • Almost half (48%) of employed Canadians believe they are allowed to bring and use personal devices on the corporate network, while 57% of Canadian businesses believe they have IT solutions in place to protect data on employee-devices.

    Source: Cisco

  • EPC Opts for Ontario VOIP firm Instead of MTS


    Calls to retender a contract worth about $6 million that was awarded to an Ontario firm were rejected by a city committee, despite protests from MTS, the losing bidder.

    Calls to retender a contract worth about $6 million that was awarded to an Ontario firm were rejected by a city committee, despite protests from MTS, the losing bidder.

    On Friday, the city announced the new telephone contract that was selected by the public service online. The overall combination of awards is expected upon approval to transfer about 4,000 landlines to VOIP service and the award is expected to save $1.5 million over a period of 5 years.

    However, MTS held the view that it was competitive on all contracts, including the VOIP landline that it lost to FlexITy Solutions. The company further questioned why the executive policy committee supported investment from outside Manitoba.

    Kelvin Shepherd, MTS’s president alleged that the small firm that won the tender may lack the necessary security level that is needed to safeguard sensitive city data.EPC members on the other hand noted that the tender would have immense benefits to the city residents and it voted to support the proposal, with a descanting vote coming from Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital).

    City staff noted that they are not permitted to discriminate on a tender process basing on geographical location.

    Cisco is a business partner of FlexITy and its  regional director, Shane Warnez intimated that the company has over 9 years of experience with VOIP, has a proven security record and already operates in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

    MTS was awarded several services by city including landline and cellular contracts worth nearly $10.6 million.

  • VoIP Innovations Launches Canadian Origination

    VoIP Innovations, a provider of wholesale VoIP service, is introducing Canadian origination this week, giving customers the ability to receive calls, purchase DIDs, and port telephone numbers in Canada.

    The company plans further growth with Canadian termination coverage, with service in Puerto Rico and Hawaii to follow later this quarter, making for a complete North American service package.

    According to the VoIP Innovations, “customers will be able to enjoy a full array of domestic VoIP services from a single wholesale provider,” including origination, termination, local and toll-free number porting, and features such as CNAM and T.38 faxing.

    "Through our tremendous growth, it has become very clear who we are and who we want to be," says Jason Tapolci, Product Manager at VoIP Innovations. "We are a wholesale VoIP provider with an unparalleled aggregation model. Our goal is to become the premiere VoIP carrier in North America."

    The company now offers an origination footprint covering most of the United States and Canada. They have 7,500 rate centers and boasts a DID warehouse with over 110,000 numbers.

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