Equation / Green ICT by Origo

THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF ICT THE NEXT GREAT LEAP FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE

ACTIVITY REPORT 2012 2013

2-3 Equation at a Glance: Vision, Mission and Mandate 4-5 Letter from the Chairman of the Equation Steering Committee 6-7 Letter from the President and CEO of Prompt 8-9 Technology + Ecology = Our Future Economy 10-11 A Day in Our Green ICT Future 12-13 How Does Equation Benefit Québec? 14-15 The Power of Smart Grids 16-17 CGI Success Story 18-19 IBM Canada Success Story 20-21 From Cloud Computing to Telco Clouds 22-23 Ericsson Success Story 24-25 Fujitsu Canada Success Story 26-27 Teledyne DALSA Success Story 28-29 Miranda Technologies Success Story 30-31 Mobilizing Québec’s ICT Community for a Prosperous, Green Future 32-33 Mobilizing Equation R&D Teams 34-35 Equation Steering Committee Members 36 References

There will soon be more wireless devices than humans on Earth. From cell phones to laptop computers, tablets, sensors, data centres and networks, information and communications technologies (ICTs) have experienced massive growth across our planet over the last decade. There are seven billion wireless devices on Earth today. By 2017, this number will catapult to more than 10 billion.1

The carbon reductions and energy savings offered by green ICT solutions could be realized in sectors as diverse as agriculture, buildings, manufacturing, energy, transportation and consumer services.

Sustained growth of the ICT sector 8% of global energy consumption 2.5% of global CO2 emissions

These technologies impact our planet. If the Internet was a country, it would be the 5th largest energy consumer in the world.7

As a global society, we conduct billions of Google searches, share 2.5 billion items on Facebook (including status updates, wall posts, photos and videos)2, issue half a billion tweets3 and send 250 billion e-mails every day4.

And yet, in an interesting duality, ICTs also hold a key to a more environmentally sound and sustainable world.

Independently, ICTs consume relatively little energy. However, as ICT usage explodes across our planet, these technologies collectively become voracious electricity consumers.5 And their carbon footprint is constantly growing.

While leaders across the ICT industry take action to increase the energy efficiency of ICT-based products and services, these technologies have the potential to enable even greater energy and carbon savings in other sectors. The novel application of ICTs across our economy could reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 9 gigatonnes by 20208. This is more than nine times the carbon produced by the entire ICT sector. And these applications not only deliver environmental benefits; they create significant economic opportunities.

In fact, ICTs currently produce as much carbon as the aerospace industry. These technologies account for about 830 million tonnes of carbon dioxide or 2.5% of global carbon emissions each year. Without concerted action, this rate could double by 2020.6 They also consume about 8% of global energy.

Over the last several years, Prompt identified and championed green ICT as a significant opportunity for the ICT industry, as well as the many sectors it supports.

New sustainable economy US$1.9 trillion in potential energy and fuel savings Potential to reduce carbon emissions by nine gigatonnes Opportunity to eliminate 16.5% of worldwide GHG emissions

Seizing the Green Opportunity As part of the 2010-2013 Québec Research and Innovation Strategy (QRIS), the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade (MDEIE) selected Prompt, Québec’s ICT R&D consortium, to coordinate the first major green ICT project of its kind in Québec: Equation. Prompt and the six multinational industry partners leading this project applaud the Government of Québec for taking action on this tremendous economic and environmental opportunity for the ICT sector, users and the people of Québec. Highly strategic, this collaborative project holds even greater potential for Québec as a jurisdiction rich in renewable and clean energy.

Green ICTs represent an important weapon in the fight against climate change. These ubiquitous technologies also serve as a foundation on which to build the interconnected digital economy of the future. In this new economy, digital networking and ICTs will enable us to communicate, collaborate and acquire information in novel ways. Green ICT creates an unparalleled economic and environmental opportunity. Equation is helping Québec to seize this opportunity.

Equation is a novel private-public R&D partnership that aims to develop and apply energy-efficient green ICT solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Valued at $70 million, the Equation Project brings together $30 million from the province of Québec and $40 million from six multinational companies selected by the Government of Québec. These include: CGI, Ericsson, Fujitsu Canada, IBM Canada, Miranda Technologies and Teledyne DALSA. Working in close collaboration with Québec researchers, entrepreneurs and SMEs, these firms aim to develop and commercialize energy-efficient green ICT solutions. These include telco clouds, smart grids and environmentally friendly ICT-based manufacturing processes and systems. These industryacademic teams will leverage Québec’s world-class expertise in microelectronics, photonics, wireless technologies, computing services and telecommunications. The resulting products will help to grow Québec exports, further strengthening our local economy and increasing the competitiveness of our province. When applied, they will also help to cultivate a more sustainable environment, and develop an interconnected digital 21st century society for the people of Québec.

Smart Grids

Telco Clouds

By pooling the expertise, capabilities and resources of multinational companies, entrepreneurs, SMEs, academic researchers and government, Québec has established a winning innovation formula. It is one that promises to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits for the people of Québec. Collaboration is required to achieve our green ICT objectives – and create a prosperous, sustainable future for many generations to come. We all have a stake in this opportunity. After all… we are all part of the Equation.

Financial Partner

For many years, the carbon footprint of the ICT industry has grown at a rapid rate. Today, this sector is developing energyefficient and carbon-neutral ICTs that directly address this issue.

Although we face major economic, social and environmental challenges as a society, green ICTs offer powerful solutions. Our energy is clean and our future is green. Beginning today, we are building the sustainable Québec of tomorrow.

Prompt – Equation Project Coordinator

Prompt achieves this by:

Prompt is a non-profit corporation that stimulates R&D partnerships between industry and public research institutions (universities and government research centres) to increase the competitiveness of Québec in the global ICT market.

• Providing funding for precompetitive R&D partnerships; • Brokering new relationships amongst researchers, developers and leaders in academia, industry, government and the investment community; and • Identifying and stimulating new R&D and market opportunities for ICT companies and researchers across Québec.

With support from the Government of Québec, the Government of Canada and the private sector, Prompt facilitates the creation of new alliances that increase the R&D capacity of Québec companies, maximize public investments in research, and enable the development of highly qualified people.

Building on Prompt’s 10-year track record in the development of industry-academic R&D partnerships, and its leadership in green ICT, the Government of Québec selected the organization to coordinate the Equation Project in 2011.

The United Nations Environment Programme defines a green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.9

An equation is a mathematical statement used to evaluate a value. Québec’s landmark Equation Project is a unique calculation. It brings together the R&D expertise, capabilities and resources of many ICT innovators across the province with critical funding from the Government of Québec. It is a combination that will enable the development and adoption of new green technologies that deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to the citizens of Québec. It will help us unlock the digital economy of the future – a future that is powered by clean, green technologies. As we work together to realize this vision, one thing is certain. It is founded on a unique Québec formula for economic, social and environmental success.

We are combining our R&D expertise, capabilities and resources to establish a powerful green ICT project with some of the greatest innovators in Québec. Together, we will bring our creativity, know-how and ingenuity to bear to create a more prosperous green economy.

We are part of the

Letter from the Chairman of the Equation Steering Committee In Québec, the word ‘Equation’ has taken on new meaning. As the Chairman of the Equation Steering Committee, I might define it as a unique innovation formula where the combination of world-class companies, SMEs and academic researchers is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Of course, these attributes are embedded in the design of the landmark Equation Project established by the Government of Québec. This strategic initiative is led by six multinational powerhouses with a strong R&D presence in Québec. These companies provide high quality jobs to thousands of Québecers; collectively generate hundreds of millions in revenues that build our local economy; and create technology-based products and services that improve our quality of life. These firms include CGI, Ericsson, Fujitsu Canada, IBM Canada, Miranda Technologies and Teledyne DALSA – and I am privileged to work with them to deliver on the mission of Equation. By collaborating with fellow innovators, entrepreneurs and researchers, we aim to develop information and communication technologies that simultaneously offer a compelling economic value proposition and positive environmental impact. It is a grand challenge for Québec – and the world more broadly. That is why we have assembled some of the most innovative companies in the province to pursue a collaborative solution that promises to deliver such benefits for generations to come. The establishment of the Equation Project is truly an innovation in itself. It is not an easy feat to convince some of the most R&Dintensive firms in the world to invest in a Québec-based R&D project

Equation brings to bear the power of coopetition, business strategy based on a combination of cooperation and competition. Within this context, coopetition is derived from an understanding that business competitors can benefit when they work together.10 This collaboration often leads to value creation that could not be achieved by any single organization as it requires the combination of expertise and resources. Within the Equation Project, multinational firms that currently compete (or anticipate competing) against each other in select markets are collaborating on the development and application of novel green ICT. This cooperation is expected to generate a variety of commercial benefits for participating firms, accelerating product development, facilitating entry into new markets, generating new exports, and developing talent.

Rémi Jean Director, Fujitsu Innovation Centre, Chairman of the Equation Steering Committee

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, it delivers mutual value to all contributors and society more broadly. The value proposition of

that comprises Equation. Downstream, these initiatives will lead to new technologies, processes and services that: • Deliver new telecommunications capabilities, while reducing the carbon emissions generated by the networks that underpin this industry; • Develop more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes that generate less chemical by-product and wastewater; • Put the abundance of Québec’s renewable energy sources to work in new and effective ways; • Create smarter power grids that increase energy efficiency while reducing energy consumption; • Drive down carbon emissions and operational costs in the cable television and satellite service industry; and • Establish an innovation hub where Québec entrepreneurs, SMEs and university researchers can work together to bring new products and services to market.

– particularly when some of the key decision-makers reside next door in the United States or as far away as Japan and Sweden. It must increase the competitiveness of the company by building its product and services portfolio and its bottom line. The Government of Québec recognized the importance of these elements during the creation of the Equation Project. They sought firms that are global technology and environmental sustainability leaders. Today, multinational companies have the opportunity to invest in R&D anywhere in the world – and it is an increasingly competitive global market. Equation is helping to attract major R&D mandates and foreign direct investment to Québec. It creates the opportunity for multinationals to leverage investment from the Government of Québec through Equation, helping their R&D dollars go further while delivering on corporate objectives. Here in Québec, it is cultivating a critical mass of R&D expertise in green ICT that helps local companies to retain skilled personnel and create new jobs. This strengthens our regional economy and lays the foundation for a digital 21st century society. And as we aim to address broad environmental and sustainability challenges, there is no question that it will require collective effort, ingenuity and investment from our entire innovation community. I am confident our many industry and academic partners will agree, it is helping to position our local industry in the global market.

Following the official launch of Equation, I believe there are several key ingredients that differentiate this unique green ICT innovation recipe and enable its successful implementation in Québec.

As Equation Project Coordinator, Prompt is mobilizing the ICT innovation players required to make a positive and lasting impact on our economy and our environment. This report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of Equation and the promise it holds for the citizens of Québec, today and tomorrow. It reports on the initial achievements and progress to date in each individual R&D project

Equation encompasses financial, social and environmental benefits that companies and researchers strive to achieve. It will help create new green ICT expertise, technology-based products, and companies that work together to cultivate a sustainable society.

Letter from the President and CEO of Prompt When thinking about Québec’s landmark Equation Project, I am inspired by the technological, economic and environmental opportunity it creates. Rich in renewable energy and internationally recognized for sustainable energy production, Québec is an important constituent in a global society facing significant economic and ecological challenges. And through Equation, Québec is taking action to address some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time – from energy management to climate change. Punching far above its weight on a global scale, Equation reinforces Québec’s ICT leadership and commitment to sustainability. Leveraging $70 million in private and public investment, Equation is comprised of six industry-led green ICT projects made possible by visionary investment from the Government of Québec and six worldleading companies. Launched in late 2011, this novel private-public partnership is already generating energy-efficient green ICT solutions that promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. These include cloud-based telecommunications networks, smart utility technologies and new environmentally friendly ICT processes and systems. These ICT-based innovations impact all sectors of society, and they will play a central role of the development of sustainable 21st century. Following broad promotion of the tremendous potential for green ICT to reconcile economic and environmental imperatives, Prompt is truly proud to have been selected by the Government of Québec to serve as Project Coordinator for Equation. And the opportunities are significant. Equation exploits the rare convergence of economic imperatives and environmental protection.

These six world-renowned companies invest significantly in Quebecbased R&D, and bring the horsepower required to commercialize the green ICT innovations that emerge from Equation. In fact, they have built Equation Projects into their technology roadmaps and R&D strategies. This helps to ensure the development of new products that address current market opportunities and meet customer needs. This is essential to the success of Equation. To reap the economic and environmental benefits of green ICT solutions, these emerging technologies must be adopted. We aim to help ensure these technologies translate into exports that bring new global revenues to Québec – and into applications that help slow global warming. To support these objectives, and to foster the emergence of a green ICT innovation ecosystem in Québec, Prompt is helping Equation participants to capitalize on the Prompt model. As the Equation Project Coordinator, Prompt is helping to broker new R&D partnerships among the six participating multinational

Dr. Charles Despins, Eng. President and CEO, Prompt

green ICT projects that served as important milestones on the way to Equation. Drawing on the Prompt model, these initiatives brought together companies and researchers to address specific green ICT challenges and opportunities. These projects included:

According to a recent report published by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), green ICT has the potential to reduce global carbon emissions by 9.1 gigatons (GtCO2eq) by 2020. This amounts to US$1.9 trillion in gross energy and fuel savings. This is equivalent to the GDP of the Russian economy.11

• The GreenStar Network (funded by CANARIE) which aimed to create the first prototype telecommunications network of its kind to be powered entirely by renewable energy. • The Netvirt Project which investigated specific opportunities and challenges presented by virtualization, which significantly reduces the volume of carbon-emitting hardware from the network. • The Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership (CCSIP) which enabled high profile collaboration with the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (CALIT2) at the University of California San Diego, and facilitated the development of cross-border green ICT strategies.

These carbon reductions – and the associated economic benefits and energy savings – could be realized in sectors as diverse as agriculture, buildings, manufacturing, energy, transportation and consumer services. And they will be achieved through green ICT solutions such as cloud-based telecommunications networks and smart grids – the very types of initiatives that Equation supports. And it is timely. As demand on our telecommunications networks, data centres, utility companies and power grids grows at an exponential rate, existing systems and management techniques are becoming unsustainable. The old ways of doing things often require the procurement of more costly and carbon-emitting hardware – the kind that is increasingly incurring carbon tax in Europe and other nations in the emerging carbon economy. Equation is proposing new solutions that address economic and ecological requirements, and help to establish Québec as an energy-efficient and interconnected digital society.

These collaborations enabled the creation of new green ICT technologies and supported the development of Québec-based firms such as NoviFlow and Inocybe Technologies. Today, these companies are creating virtualization solutions for markets around the world – and new jobs for Québec engineers. It is no wonder many of the concepts developed during these early Prompt-supported green ICT initiatives have influenced Equation. In fact, the Equation sub-project led by Ericsson builds directly on the initial outcomes achieved by the GreenStar Network and Netvirt teams. We are proud to have catalyzed the development of novel green ICT expertise and R&D in Québec. This internationally recognized know-how helped to attract six multinational heavyweights to the Equation Project. Investing a total of $40 million, these firms represent a fundamental part of this equation.

One might say Equation has been in the making for several years. With critical support from the Government of Québec and many industry and academic stakeholders, Prompt established a green ICT vision and strategy for the province in early 2008. The goal: to bring the power of digital technologies and renewable energy to bear for the development of a sustainable 21st century society. Working closely with a committed community in Québec, throughout Canada and even internationally, we achieved several early wins on

Equation will accelerate the development of smart technologies and applications that build our economy and a sustainable environment. It is truly a winning formula that will deliver high return on investment for Québec for decades to come.

firms, Québec-based SMEs, university researchers and students. For busy multinational companies, Prompt offers a highly effective and productive way to source and recruit the right R&D talent into their extended Equation Project teams. This industry-academic collaboration also strengthens the social fabric of Québec. It helps to cultivate the pool of experienced highly skilled people required to grow our local research base, industry and economy. Many Equation collaborators represent future green ICT industry leaders, entrepreneurs, policy-makers and professors for the next generation. As I look back on 30 years with Québec’s ICT community, Equation represents one of the most exciting initiatives and opportunities of my career. With critical leadership from the Government of Québec, the six industry partners, their suppliers and the research community,

A Day in Our Green ICT Future Smart technologies, such as those embedded in our handheld devices, homes and cars, increasingly connect us to the world, improve our productivity and enhance our quality of life. In the future, they will play a key role in the carbon economy, particularly emissions trading. Commonly referred to as cap-and-trade, this market strategy provides economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.12 There are many ways smart technologies will enhance our daily lives, and contribute to a more sustainable environment. Come along as we explore a few highlights of a day in our green ICT future.

• Your favorite band is coming to Québec City and you are determined to get tickets! You are going to wait until you get to work to purchase them online. Why? Your office network is managed by a green data centre that is fuelled by the Robert-Bourassa Hydropower Facility in James Bay. The colder climate maximizes the energy efficiency of the data centre, while minimizing its negative environmental impact. It is an approach that is also beneficial for the network users who receive a 20% discount on every online purchase performed on such a clean, green network. As you arrive at the office, you purchase your concert tickets at a reduced rate and begin to think about how you will spend the money you saved!

Imagine…. • You are driving down Montréal’s Décarie Expressway at 7:45 AM on your way to work. As you leave the house, the sun is shining and traffic is moving at a steady clip. But the closer you get to the city the pace slows, and steadily comes to a grinding halt. All of a sudden, you are surrounded by a growing mass of idling cars and the carbon emissions from their exhaust pipes. You look up at a bulletin board and see an invitation to drop into a roadside restaurant that is offering free coffee to any driver who will stop by during rush hour. Why? The coffee shop will collect carbon credits for every driver who pulls off the road during peak hours. Turning off the motor reduces greenhouse gas generation. • You wake-up in the morning and get ready to begin the daily routine…hop in the shower, make coffee, get the kids up and get some breakfast into them. Before you have a chance to step out of bed, your daughter emerges with a high fever and flu-like symptoms. As you consider the best course of action, you recall a new web-based service offered by your regional hospital that enables non-critical patients to be triaged remotely via two-way high definition webcam. This helps keep more carbon-emitting cars off the roads, while reducing patient volume and wait times in the Emergency Room. You turn on your smart television and prepare to engage the local nurse for an initial assessment without ever leaving your home.

• You have just completed your grocery list and are ready to head out and purchase everything you need for dinner. You jump in your electric car, and your on-board computer system determines the optimal route to minimize traffic – and reduce neighborhood grid lock and carbon emissions generated by idling gas-powered cars. As your vehicle draws on electrical energy, your trek to the grocery store will take you down several streets that are equiped with induction coils located inside the pavement. These coils will recharge the batteries of your car when you are stopped at traffic lights or stop signs, preferably using renewable energy sources. And each time you recharge, you acquire points towards gift cards at your favorite stores – all because you have invested in an electric car that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and helps to preserve our environment. According to a report published by the World Wildlife Foundation, the implementation of these and other green ICT solutions could help us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20 million tonnes a year. This would be equivalent to taking 3.2 million cars off the road13. The Equation Project aims to accelerate the development and adoption of such smart technologies across Québec, enabling the province to realize a green and prosperous future.

The Equation Project aims to accelerate the development and adoption of smart technologies across QuĂŠbec, enabling the province to realize a green and prosperous future.

Québec is a unique tapestry of economic sectors, geographic landscapes, natural resources and cultures. Among its strengths, the province boasts a strong ICT sector that contributed more than $13 billion14 (about 5.1%15 of Québec’s GDP) to our economy in 2012. It also benefits from a thriving research base and a wealth of renewable resources. In fact, Québec is recognized around the world for its leadership in sustainable and environmentally friendly energy production. It is positioning itself as a North American energy leader in hydropower and green electricity. When combined with the power of ICT, these natural resources – and energy sources – can be leveraged in many ways to benefit the region and its citizens. For example, they can be exploited to help slow global warming; create smart, interconnected cities of the future; and open-up new global markets for firms across the province. The Equation Project aims to help Québec reap these and many other economic, social and environmental benefits offered by green technologies. The potential for information technology to reduce global carbon emissions in 2020 is 9.1 gigatons (GtCO2eq). This amounts to US$1.9 trillion in gross energy and fuel savings.16

How Does Equation Benefit Québec?

These carbon reductions – and the associated economic benefits and energy savings – could be realized in sectors

Let’s Take an Example…

Nestled in a corner of Southeastern Québec, Magog is a small town with a big green ICT vision. The municipality of 28,000 people aims to become one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Canada. Magog is exploring how green technologies could deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to the region by deploying new networking solutions, and establishing city-wide demonstrations and experiments for a variety of smart applications. It is well suited to adopt many of the green ICT innovations under development through Equation – and it is taking action to create the smart city of the future. The city plans to rollout Canada’s first next-generation gigabit network for use by all citizens of Magog. This ultra high-speed network will be as open and accessible as the physical roads we drive on each day, as users will not be forced to purchase access or related services from traditional telecommunications providers. The

The Equation Project is a powerful collaborative approach that could serve as a blueprint for the creation of smart cities across Québec, and underpin a digital economy strategy that serves as an example for the world.

as diverse as agriculture, buildings, manufacturing, energy, transportation and consumer services. And they will be achieved through green ICT solutions such as cloud-based telecommunications networks and smart grids developed by Equation Project participants.

network will be municipal infrastructure of the City of Magog, just like its streets, sidewalks and water pipes, and it will provide greater capabilities than the standard Internet. Drawing on fibre-to-the-home and wireless technology, Magog will be the first city in Canada to provide such a service to all citizens. With two near-by dams on the Magog River, and an independent utility company, the city is ideally positioned to draw on hydropower and other renewable energy sources to fuel this network. The city will also set up living lab projects (user-centred open innovation ecosystems17) that enable its citizens to test smart technologies and applications – including those under development in the Equation Project. The feedback received will help the city to make decisions about innovations that offer the greatest potential impact on families across the regions.

By creating an interconnected and intelligent city of the future, Magog aims to cultivate and retain talent; provide high quality employment opportunities for the next generation; strengthen the local economy; and improve quality of life for citizens. How will the city achieve these objectives? By adopting green ICT technologies and systems, including those developed by innovators participating in Equation. This not only builds the intelligent City of Magog, it builds a stronger business and bottom line for Québec companies that develop and supply these innovations. The Equation Project is a powerful collaborative approach that could serve as a blueprint for the creation of smart cities across Québec, and underpin a digital economy strategy that serves as an example for the world.

Smart Grids

PROJECT PARTNERS:

The Power of Smart Grids On August 14 2003, more than 50 million people18 in Northeastern and Midwestern North America were thrust into darkness during the largest blackout to ever hit North America. The widespread power outage spanned eight US states and the province of Ontario. It was caused by a software bug in the alarm system of a control room in an Ohio-based energy corporation. Operators were unaware of the need to re-distribute power after overloaded transmission lines hit nearby foliage.19 This incident triggered a series of events that caused the electrical grid to collapse within nine seconds, leaving millions without power on one of the hottest days of the summer. Every day, we rely on power that is distributed and managed through an electrical grid – networks that carry electricity from the plants where it is generated to the consumer20. It is comprised of generating stations that produce power; transmission lines or cables that transmit energy; transformers and substations that change the voltage of an electric current; and switches that help to shift and balance energy loads. With increasing demands on the electrical grid and a changing energy landscape, traditional grid architecture, equipment and approaches no longer address the energy needs of those they serve. And when this critical infrastructure fails, it can lead to power disruptions and outages that bring routine activities and critical services to a halt.

This has given rise to the smart grid – a computerized electricity management and distribution system. Smart grids capitalize on digital technologies such as: • Sensor-based voltage meters, fault detectors and analytic tools that gather data and monitor the grid; • Software that enables the remote control of the grid and streamlines management processes; • Automation technologies that manage energy distribution in accordance with demand; • Wireless and communication technologies that facilitate two-way communication between devices in the field and the utility network operations centre21; and • Advanced systems that put renewable sources of energy (such as hydro, solar and wind power) to work in the grid, helping to reduce carbon emissions.

Today, the traditional grid is primarily a vehicle for moving electricity from generators to consumers. Tomorrow, the smart grid will enable two-way flows of electricity and information as technology makes new forms of electricity production, delivery and use possible.22 Smart grids promise to deliver significant economic, social and environmental benefits to utility companies, their customers and society more broadly. These include improved grid efficiency and control; increased use of renewable energy; reduced energy consumption; and fewer power outages. To help Québec capitalize on the potential of these powerful technologies, Equation is enabling innovative projects on smart grids and related technologies. The outcomes of these initiatives will directly support Québec’s internationally recognized leadership in the production and management of sustainable energy.

Success Story We are part of the

CGI Success Story

In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy swept across the Atlantic Ocean and slammed into Eastern Seaboard. Spanning 1,800 kilometres wide with winds up to 115 kilometres per hour, the storm left a $75 billion trail of destruction in its wake. This included significant damage to underground and aboveground systems that comprise the electrical power grid. Superstorm Sandy knocked out power to 8.1 million homes, impacting people across 17 states and 5 Canadian provinces. This included 49,000 homes and businesses in Québec. More than 57,000 utility workers fled to New York alone to help utility companies restore power to the city. Despite the heroic efforts of crews that worked around the clock, it took up to two weeks to restore power to many parts of the region. A key challenge facing utility personnel: how to locate, diagnose and resolve each problem in the electrical grid as quickly as possible – particularly amidst debris from the storm. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, utility companies were forced to deploy crews to storm affected areas one-by-one to physically source, assess and repair damage to electrical systems. This time consuming process left millions of people in the dark – and in sub-zero temperatures – for many days.

Smart Technology for Smart Grids: Improving Energy Management and Reducing the Duration of Power Outages

CGI, a leading provider of information technology (IT) and business process services that has served the electricity industry for more than two decades, aims to address this challenge and help utility companies better manage electrical power grids. Electricity providers across North America and around the world are upgrading existing electricity systems to sensor-based and computer-managed smart grid systems. This creates the opportunity for these companies to better monitor and manage the health of cables, transformers and other equipment that work together to provide electricity. To harness the true power of smart grid systems, operators require new tools and technologies

Progress Achieved to Date Over the last year, CGI developed the first release of each product. The company completed the initial design and coding of the software, and it is now testing and validating the functionality of these tools which target utility clients across North America. According to Gilles Naud, Senior Researcher with the utilities division of CGI, the software tools will enhance the management of smart electrical grids, while enabling operators to reduce energy consumption and impact on the environment. “These user-friendly products work together with open standards and capitalize on cloud computing techniques to help achieve greater efficiencies in grid operations,” says Mr. Naud. “In particular, the Mobile

Workforce Management Tool will help utility companies build and maintain their smart grid infrastructures using intermittent and renewable power.” “We have more than 20 CGI employees working on this Equation sub-project,” said Mario Boulanger, Senior Director with CGI. “We are bringing more than 25 years of in-house utilities experience to bear to develop smart grid management tools that address the needs of electricity providers and the clients who rely upon them. When implemented, these products will deliver cost savings to utility companies and many social and environmental benefits to society. This includes fewer power outages, faster restoration when service is disrupted, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.”

“When implemented, these products will deliver cost savings to utility companies and many social and environmental benefits to society. This includes fewer power outages, faster restoration when service disruptions occur, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions.” Mario Boulanger, CGI

to capitalize on the potential of this infrastructure. This includes the ability to pinpoint and resolve problems in the power grid as quickly and efficiently as possible. CGI is leading an Equation R&D sub-project that strives to deliver this capability to mission-critical utility companies. Leveraging funding provided by the Government of Québec through the Equation Project, CGI is developing software that will enable utility companies better manage smart power grids and outages for clients. It will help electricity providers to better operate their distribution network and reduce energy consumption by field crews during day-to-day operations through optimized scheduling and routing of personnel. CGI is developing two software products for utility companies that reduce the cost of smart grid ownership and operation, and the carbon emissions generated by their fleets: a remote asset management tool and a workforce management tool.

Helping Utility Companies Remotely Monitor and Manage Smart Grids CGI’s Distribution Asset Operations Tool will provide operators with a comprehensive 360 degree view of the entire smart grid through any web-based interface on a laptop or handheld device. It will gather data from sensor-based smart metering systems deployed throughout the grid, and provide more accurate real-time information about its status. This will enable utility companies to better manage the grid and ensure seamless operation. For example, it will help an operator to track the life cycle of planned and unplanned work on the smart grid; consistently assess the health of all technology and equipment; and plan for required upgrades and repairs. Through an interface to smart meters and remote control devices, it will also automatically

detect and flag problems in the grid that require immediate resolution. This new software will also generate information that helps utility companies to better predict and prepare for potential damage to the electrical grid during storms and natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy. This will help utility companies mitigate some anticipated challenges, proactively develop work plans for emergency scenarios, and restore power to clients faster when outages occur.

Optimizing Utility Personnel and Reducing Carbon-Emitting Technician Trucks on the Road CGI’s Workforce Management Tool will help utility companies optimize the use of personnel. It will allow operators to identify the exact dispatch location of a fault in the electrical grid and determine the best course of action to minimize power disruption for clients. Issue resolution typically requires field action by a technician, incurring time, cost and carbon emissions from the trucks deployed to physical sites. This CGI software tool will optimize crew displacements and travel. It will even help to reduce the number of technicians dispatched to resolve problems on location – as well as the volume of carbon-emitting utility trucks on the road. This will also decrease the cost of smart grid management and repair – and the time to power restoration for clients. This tool will also help to facilitate greater collaboration among technicians who are already in the field managing repairs at different locations. For example, it will help these engineers to establish a meeting point and time to exchange tools and information that may be required to support ongoing repairs. This eliminates the need for technicians to return to a central depot to gather what they need, reducing the carbon emissions generated by their vehicles and maximizing their time.

CGI emphasizes the value of Equation for participating innovators, CGI clients and Québec. “Funding provided by the Government of Québec through Equation, and Québec-based R&D coordination facilitated by Prompt, are instrumental to the success of this project and the progress achieved to date,” said Mario Boulanger. “It is catalyzing the development of an innovation with immediate application in smart grid management and potential applications for other smart infrastructure. This includes the monitoring and management of smart meters and other technologies that will shape intelligent cities of the future.”

Success Story We are part of the

IBM Canada Success Story

Along the edge of Québec’s Eastern Townships sits a small town called Bromont. With less than 8,000 people, this municipality is an internationally recognized innovation hub that is anchored by multinational firms. Its high tech industrial park boasts technology powerhouses such as IBM. In fact, Bromont is home to IBM’s largest semiconductor packaging and test centre in the world. The advanced microchips and systems that emerge from this facility are embedded in various products from video games consoles to telecommunications equipment and high-end servers.

Green and Clean: Developing Smart Technology for Smart Energy Solutions

IBM Bromont operates 24 hours a day. Hundreds of engineers and technicians contribute to the packaging of millions of microchips per year, generating up to half a billion dollars annually. In a highly competitive global business where technology rapidly becomes obsolete, the facility constantly strives to boost productivity. It is committed to enhancing efficiency, lowering manufacturing costs and increasing output. It is also dedicated to reducing its impact on the environment. IBM Bromont aims to develop greener microchip packaging processes that reduce the power, water and chemicals consumed by the plant. This will enable the company to provide the world with greener microchips for a host of products. This includes energyefficient smart grid systems developed by Trilliant, a global smart grid communications platform company originally founded in Québec. Now headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Trilliant’s platform enables all smart grid applications – from smart distribution to smart metering and smart consumer – all from one powerful network. The company maintains an R&D team in Granby, Québec that plays a key role in the delivery of smart energy solutions for utility companies worldwide. Excited by the possibilities of R&D

Left to Right: Nicolas Boyer, IBM Canada; Valerie Oberson, IBM Canada; and Mamadou Diop, Université de Sherbrooke.

Trilliant – Leveraging Green Technology for Smart Energy Products Trilliant is expected to be among the beneficiaries of these new packaging processes. Recently recognized as one of the top 100 global cleantech companies for the fourth year in a row, Trilliant is driven to work with suppliers that share its commitment to environmental sustainability. This includes technology developers that can deliver the advanced components required for its next-generation smart meter. Through this Equation sub-project, Trilliant is working with IBM Bromont to define the specifications for its green packaging solution, as well as the specialized chips it requires for its smart energy products. As part of Trilliant’s Communications Platform portfolio, the company has developed a communication device called the Trilliant Communications Hub (or the Trilliant Hub) that is targeted to the European energy market.

Intended for distribution by energy companies, the device enables customers to better track gas and electricity consumption, and make educated decisions about future energy use. For example, it provides information that might prompt a home owner to use energy during off-peak hours (such as midnight) as opposed to peak hours (such as 5PM). This would help consumers to reduce their energy costs, while helping utility companies better manage energy distribution. Trilliant completed the first iteration of the Hub in 2012 and secured British Gas as its first customer. This utility company has initiated the deployment of the Hub to their customers in the United Kingdom. Following the receipt of customer feedback, Trilliant aims to create a second version of the Hub with new functionality. They require advanced microchips to deliver the desired capability. The long-term goal is to fabricate these components at IBM Bromont

“By contributing to the development of smart grid solutions, sold around the world, we are helping to generate global revenues that flow back to Québec.” Éric Bourget, Trilliant

collaboration, IBM Bromont and Trilliant have joined forces on an Equation sub-project to translate this global vision into reality. Leveraging funding from the Government of Québec through Equation, the companies are pursuing two objectives as part of this project: • IBM Bromont aims to develop more environmentally friendly microchip packaging processes; and • Trilliant seeks to benefit from IBM’s new packaging processes and acquire the specialized chips it requires for its smart energy products.

IBM – Developing Greener Microchip Packaging Processes IBM Bromont specializes in the packaging and assembly of microchips – small devices that are big business. Microchips are tiny components made of silicon that conduct, send and receive electrical signals. At the end of the microchip fabrication process, the device must be attached to a lightweight unit called a substrate. This requires special materials that allow the chip to transmit signals to the outside world while protecting it against damage and corrosion. This package enables all the connections inside the chip to function properly once it is embedded inside a device such as a cell phone or other electronic device or system. During the packaging process, IBM Bromont uses different chemical solutions or fluxes that help to solder the microchip to the substrate. The company then undertakes a chemical cleaning process that demands extensive energy and large volumes of water. As part of the Equation Project, IBM Bromont strives to develop new packaging materials and processes that fuse the device to the substrate with

using new green packaging process developed during this Equation sub-project. According to Éric Bourget, Director of Hardware Engineering for Trilliant in Granby, Québec, “Equation provides the 60 employees in Granby, Québec with a strategic mandate. Moreover, it will enable us to broaden our in-house expertise and create up to 15 new jobs. This allows us to play a greater role in Trilliant’s multinational R&D team, while increasing our impact on the local economy. By contributing to the development of smart grid solutions sold around the world, we are helping to generate global revenues that flow back to Québec. More importantly, our partnership with IBM Bromont enables us to contribute to the development of new business practices that help preserve our environment.”

minimal use of chemicals, water and energy. Among its ideas, the company is exploring thermal compression bonding techniques that use heat and compression to solder materials together with greater efficiency. This would eliminate the need for a chemical cleaning process, and significantly reduce the associated water and energy consumed by the plant. To achieve this objective, the team must overcome several technical hurdles. “The package enables the microchip to function within an application or product,” said Mr. Etienne Lemieux, Packaging Development Business Unit Manager, IBM Canada Bromont. “There are up to 20,000 connections between a chip and a substrate. Our new packaging solution must deliver reliable and robust bonding between these elements and consistently support all of these interconnections. If just one of these connections fail, the chip is worthless. If we can develop an effective packaging process that requires fewer chemicals, uses less water and is more energy efficient, it would reduce the time and cost of packaging. Moreover, it would enhance our competitiveness and environmental sustainability, leaving a legacy in Québec for many generations to come.” Over the last year, the team has assessed different approaches for packaging processes. These experiments brought together senior packaging engineers from IBM Bromont, and postdoctoral students such as Mamadou Diop from the Université de Sherbrooke. “Over the last year, I have explored alternative packaging processes and new microchip surface treatments that reduce energy consumption and cost for IBM,” said Mamadou Diop. “These approaches also support faster microchip assembly, helping to improve the overall productivity of the plant. This Equation Project has enabled me to acquire a better understanding of the microelectronics industry by working directly with an industry leader. This hands-on experience will open-up new doors as I pursue an engineering career.”

Going forward, Trilliant and IBM Bromont look forward to working with Prompt on the development of new alliances that could further support the goals of this Equation sub-project. This team is truly developing smart technology for smart energy solutions. It is a unique innovation formula that promises to generate economic, social and environmental benefits for the people of Québec and many others around the world.

From Cloud Computing to Telco Clouds Imagine you are a CEO running a software company in Québec City with dozens of developers who create applications. You stumble onto a lucrative market prospect with an industry leader and know such opportunity comes along once in a lifetime. That’s it – you are going to pursue it! There is just one problem. To seize this opportunity, you must rapidly scale up your team and supporting IT infrastructure – and resources are scarce. Success will require a creative approach that maximizes existing resources and generates high return on all investments. Moreover, you are committed to sustainability and aim to ensure every business decision benefits your employees, customers and the environment. You take a step back, and look at how your business is running today. You have always maintained your own servers, hardware and software – and the IT team required to manage this technology – right at your office. But you simply don’t have the funds to purchase a wealth of new IT infrastructure or the time and skilled personnel to manage it. Opportunity is knocking at your door, but you are struggling to know how to respond. Like many others, you have heard the buzz about ‘cloud computing’ and how it helps companies expand their IT capabilities without significant capital investment. Cloud computing essentially moves a majority of onsite IT infrastructure to an offsite location and makes it accessible via the Internet. It enables business owners to lease or rent specific hardware, software and computing capacity when it is required – as opposed to owning it directly. It is a highly flexible and cost-effective approach that allows companies to scale up or reduce their IT capabilities and investment as business

Telco Clouds

Telco clouds offer a viable solution for telecommunications operators, their customers and society more broadly. They move network functions into the cloud, while providing the same robustness and quality of service as traditional telecommunications networks. This enables telecommunications providers to gain greater leverage on network investments, streamline operations and reduce their overall energy consumption. This compelling economic argument is driving the telecommunications industry towards telco clouds. This shift is reinforced by the recent call of 13 major telecommunications providers to establish virtual cloud-based networks. Companies such as Ericsson are demonstrating global leadership on this front, and developing telco cloud solutions. As one of six industry leaders participating in the Equation Project, Ericsson recognizes the many environmental benefits cloud-based telecommunications networks offer. Telco clouds decrease

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demands. It enables businesses to capitalize on economies of scale as costly and secure state-of-the-art infrastructure is shared with many other users. This means you can do more while spending less money and generating less carbon. You begin to consider the specific cloud computing services that could help you to achieve your business objectives. As described by Andrew McAfee, Principal Research Scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management, cloud computing has spawned three key services increasingly used in business today23: • Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): This is the most basic service available through the cloud. It is essentially a server or servers in the cloud that provide a wealth of computing capacity or bandwidth. It provides users with access to computing power without all the responsibility of installation and maintenance. Customers simply pay for the capacity used. • Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): This is a cloud-based platform that companies can use to develop custom applications or write software that integrates with existing applications. It typically comes equipped with software development technologies that enable customers to start writing code quickly. Once the code is ready, the cloud vendor hosts it and makes it widely available to employees. • Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): This is the largest and most mature part of the cloud. It’s an application or suite of applications that resides in the cloud instead of on a user’s hard drive or in a data centre. You realize cloud computing solutions would accelerate product development without a significant outlay for new IT and computing

the volume of carbon-emitting hardware in the network, helping to reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. This is the power of virtualization which consolidates much of the physical network equipment. The environmental benefits are even greater when network management is relocated from a locale where equipment is powered by fossil-based energy to a green data centre that is powered by renewable energy. This rare convergence of economic and environmental opportunity holds significant promise for any jurisdiction that boasts renewable energy resources – including Québec. You begin to think about the many ways telco clouds could bring about positive change. There are just so many possibilities. For example, by leveraging optical technology that puts light to work, cloud-based networks could support the deployment of broadband access. This would provide clean, green, high-speed Internet access to citizens in urban and rural regions. Moreover,

capacity. With such a compelling value proposition, you make the decision to integrate cloud computing into your company. Excited by the prospects of this innovation, you begin to imagine the many ways cloud computing could deliver even greater economic, social and environmental benefits to Québec. Equation is propelling new R&D projects that explore such opportunities. This includes the potential to extend the cloud computing concept to telecommunication networks to create telco clouds. This innovation isn’t simply nice-to-have, it is becoming mission critical. With the advent of smart phones and other intelligent end-user devices that generate data and video, the traffic on telecommunications networks has increased by orders of magnitude over the last few years. In 2012, global mobile data traffic grew more than two-fold over 2011, more than doubling for the fourth year in a row.24 This is driven by our unending quest for data, including mobile video which now represents more than half of all traffic.25 And this rate of growth shows no sign of slowing down. There are seven billion mobile devices on earth today. By 2017, this number will catapult to more than 10 billion.26 You think to yourself, how can existing telecommunications networks support such exponential growth in traffic? If this growth is sustained as experts predict, traditional telecommunications networks could eventually become unsustainable. Moreover, if telecommunications operators rely on traditional network infrastructure and approaches, it will demand significant capital investment. This creates new operational challenges and generates more carbon emissions that pollute our environment. It is not a winning economic or environmental formula.

the network would underpin the development of smart applications across many sectors, fuelling even greater economic growth. And if governments proceed to implement cap-and-trade approaches that provide economic incentives to reduce polluting carbon emissions, the economic drivers for telco cloud networks become even stronger. There is simply no question – telco cloud and green data centres create a powerful economic, social and environmental bottom line. They hold an important key to digital and sustainable societies of the 21st century. As you begin to plan your own cloud computing strategy, you look forward to learning about the outcomes of the Equation Project funded by the Government of Québec. It is clear this strategic investment will help to create a more prosperous and sustainable future for you, your family and many generations to come.

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Ericsson Success Story

When you download a movie, send an instant message, or purchase online concert tickets, you are drawing on a wealth of computing capacity. It allows you to acquire data, perform an e-commerce transaction or communicate with someone around the world – almost instantly. Increasingly, the racks of servers, hardware and software that enable us to perform such tasks no longer reside onsite with service providers. They are steadily moving into the ‘cloud’.

Unleashing the Potential of Telco Clouds for a Sustainable 21st Century Society

Cloud computing draws on a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server27. As cloud computing unleashes many possibilities to reduce operational costs, deliver new services and generate increased revenues, it is gaining significant momentum among companies. This includes the multinational giants of the telecommunications world. In fact, in October 2012, 13 of the largest telecommunications providers called for the development of virtual, cloud-computing networks. These companies are seeking new ways to manage the rapid growth in telecom network usage, and capitalize on the wave of global investments in cloud services. These investments are projected to more than double from an estimated US$55 billion in 2011 to almost US$130 billion by 2015.28 Although this industry is driven by these economic imperatives, cloud computing also offers significant environmental benefits as it reduces the volume of carbonemitting hardware in the network. Ericsson is leading an Equation sub-project that aims to help telecommunications providers capitalize on these opportunities. The company is developing technologies for the Ericsson Cloud System – a ‘telco cloud’ or cloud-based network that offers the same robustness and quality of service as a traditional telecommunications

Left to Right: Pierre Boucher and Makan Pourzandi, both of Ericsson Canada.

Hardware to Light a Greener Path for Network Traffic The creation of a telco cloud also requires specialized hardware that supports virtualization. For data centres, virtualization allows cloud service providers to consolidate multiple physical servers to a single server with complete isolation30. This increases the efficiency of data centres, helping them to build a better bottom line, streamline network management and reduce the volume of costly, carbon-emitting network hardware. In fact, analysts estimate that the continued adoption of cloud computing will lead to a reduction of data center energy consumption of 31% from 2010 to 2020.31 As part of its telco cloud, Ericsson aims to employ optical or light-based techniques to optimize the transmission of data over virtual networks and deliver the reliability required for telecommunications. This demands sophisticated components such as optical switches that automatically

route or direct the flow of data over the network. Ericsson is working with Dr. David Plant, James McGill Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his research team at McGill University on the development of this optical hardware. “This our first collaborative R&D project with Ericsson,” said Dr. Plant. “The opportunity to work with this global industry leader creates a unique learning opportunity for the researchers and students in our Photonic Systems Group at McGill. It will bring our collective photonics expertise to bear on a commercial system that to be deployed around the world. This is invaluable experience for our team.” As described by Pierre Boucher, Research Director at Ericsson Canada, this Equation sub-project directly supports the objectives of Ericsson’s Networked Society initiative which sees everyone, everything and everywhere connected in real time.

“In addition to the near-term opportunities presented by telco clouds, this Ericsson-led Equation Project could help catalyze the development of sustainable, intelligent cities across Québec.” Pierre Boucher, Ericsson Canada

network. This includes the hardware and software required by telecommunications operators and data centres29 to manage the network through the cloud, while reducing energy consumption. Perhaps even more promising, Ericsson aims to help data centres assess their energy usage and capitalize on renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydropower to operate the network. This directly supports Ericsson’s vision of a networked and sustainable society, and the economic, social and environmental goals of the Equation Project. Working closely with collaborators from universities and SMEs across Québec, Ericsson Canada’s Montréal-based R&D team is developing: • Software that enables the management and control of telecommunications networks from the cloud, and the use renewable energy sources to power them; and • Specialized hardware that supports the implementation of ‘virtual’ networks, helping to reduce the overall volume of physical carbonemitting hardware.

sources of energy to work in the network. This is not an easy task as solar and wind power are intermittent sources of energy that are heavily dependent on changing weather and climate conditions. Ericsson aims to design solutions that enable the network to draw on available renewable power, and automatically switch to an alternate energy source when required. To achieve these objectives, the firm is collaborating with researchers from École Polytechnique de Montréal, ÉTS, Université Laval and McGill University. It is also working on specific software capabilities with Inocybe Technologies, a Québec SME that develops network virtualization technology. Over the last year, Ericsson and its collaborators developed the first iteration of this network management solution. The team tested the functionality of this software in a lab at ÉTS using Ericsson technology. Building on the outcomes of this initial assessment, Ericsson continued to evolve the functionality of the software. The company is now commercializing this technology and demonstrating how it will help data centres better assess network carbon emissions and reduce overall energy consumption.

Software to Manage the Telecom Network from the Cloud To capitalize on the many opportunities presented by telco clouds, data centres require new ways to manage a virtual network which relocates the network function to an offsite location. As part of this Equation sub-project, Ericsson is developing software that will provide these facilities with new web-based network management capabilities. For example, it will enable data centres to better assess the health and lifecycle of network equipment; determine the impact of carbon emissions from this infrastructure; and put renewable

“If network traffic continues to grow at the anticipated rate, existing telecommunications networks could become unsustainable. As more telecommunications equipment moves to data centres, Ericsson aims to deliver new service provider cloud solutions to this industry. The technologies developed in Montréal will provide new capabilities to telecommunications providers in Québec and around the world. The resulting innovations will have far-reaching impact on the Québec economy, and society more broadly.” Mr. Boucher emphasizes the critical role of Prompt, an ICT R&D consortium and the Equation Project Coordinator, in helping to realize this opportunity for Ericsson. “The outcomes of our Promptsupported green ICT projects over the last few years have helped our Montréal-based R&D team to obtain a strategic mandate for the Ericsson Cloud System. This initiative allows us to leverage funds from the Government of Québec, the expertise of local researchers

and SMEs such as Inocybe, and many years of collaboration with Prompt. It could lead to new R&D initiatives that help to retain and create new jobs here in Montréal, delivering many benefits to our employees, their families and the local economy.” In addition to the near-term opportunities presented by telco clouds, this Ericsson-led Equation sub-project could help catalyze the development of sustainable, intelligent cities across Québec. Given the wealth of renewable energy sources across Québec, this technology could be deployed in networks managed by green data centres across the province. These networks would reduce carbon emissions from existing telecommunications infrastructure, as well as the many applications and services that run on them. According to Mr. Boucher, “Telco clouds could truly put Québec on a digital path towards a sustainable 21st century society.”

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Fujitsu Canada Success Story

Open innovation… “a paradigm that assumes that firms can and should use external ideas as well as internal ideas32”… “innovating with partners by sharing risk and sharing reward”33…“finding the right solution, the best ideas and the brightest minds, wherever they may be, and bringing them together to take on business challenges whether they’re unique to you or faced by everyone in your business sector.34”

Opening a New Door to Green ICT Innovation and Collaboration in Québec

There are many ways to define open innovation and even more ways to put it into practice to gain a competitive edge in the market. Fujitsu knows this well. The company is an open innovation leader and global powerhouse in the ICT world. Offering a full range of technology products and services, it serves clients in more than 100 countries and generated consolidated revenues of $4.5 trillion yen (equivalent to US$54 billion) in 2011. As Fujitsu continues to blaze a trail of success, it remains focused on a powerful vision: to create a more prosperous, intelligent and sustainable society. The firm specializes in ICT solutions that help customers to reduce their carbon emissions and overall burden on the environment. When the company aimed to introduce the first open innovation centre of its kind in North America, there was only one place to do it: Québec. Leveraging funding from the Government of Québec through Equation, Fujitsu Canada has expanded its presence in Québec City and established the Fujitsu Innovation Centre – a nexus of ideas, expertise and technologies. This novel multimillion dollar centre is a collaborative space where Québec-based business partners and customers are invited to work with Fujitsu specialists to put new ideas into practice and build innovative business solutions. Left to Right: Rémi Jean, Fujitsu Canada; Vincent Morissette, Edusis.

Progress

The team is now preparing to launch a market-ready product in spring 2013.

Given the alignment with corporate objectives, the Fujitsu Innovation Centre initiated a project with Edusis, the company founded by Mr. Morissette, and negotiated an acquisition of the intellectual property. “Working with seasoned veterans and technology from Fujitsu, we designed a mobile solution that addresses the needs of teachers, parents and students,” said Mr. Morissette. “This tool allows a user to access student information from any tablet, laptop or handheld device in real time. It rapidly consolidates a variety of data and provides a complete picture of a student’s academic progress.”

“This application will provide children with academic challenges that are well suited to their capabilities. This will help them to focus on their strengths and academic progress as opposed to their performance. The tool also supports collaborative teaching and cooperation within the school,” said Mr. Morissette. “The team at the Fujitsu Innovation Centre accelerated our product development and commercialization, enabling us to achieve these results.”

In 2012, more than 30 teachers tested the application at 14 elementary and secondary schools across Québec. The resulting feedback led to further enhancements that strengthened the capability of this online tool.

According to Rémi Jean, Equation played a critical role in the establishment of this novel facility. “Equation and other Promptled green ICT initiatives supported by the Government of Québec directly influenced Fujitsu’s decision to establish the centre in

“Equation and other Prompt-led green ICT initiatives supported by the Government of Québec directly influenced Fujitsu’s decision to establish the centre in Québec City.” Rémi Jean, Fujitsu Canada

Driven to create value for all collaborators and society more broadly, the Fujitsu Innovation Centre promotes the development of green technologies and solutions that benefit our environment. It is founded on four areas of focus: cloud computing; mobile computing; intelligent information management; and desktop virtualization.

For example, an elementary school teacher walked into the Fujitsu Innovation Centre with a promising idea. As a teacher at École Jouvence and École des Hauts-Clochers in Québec City, Vincent Morissette found it challenging to effectively track and monitor the overall progress of each student. With many sources of information, it is difficult to acquire a comprehensive snapshot of a student’s academic performance and personal development. It is time consuming to search for student evaluations, curricula details, extracurricular activities and feedback from fellow teachers. Moreover, it is equally challenging for parents and students to gauge progress in real time.

Drawing on the rich industry base in Québec City, this facility is providing local entrepreneurs and SMEs with new R&D capabilities and channels to market. This includes access to high quality technology development environments and laboratories. Downstream, the innovations that emerge from this centre promise to generate economic, social and environmental benefits for the citizens of Québec.

To address this issue, Mr. Morissette and six colleagues developed a mobile application for student evaluation. This easy-to-use online tool puts a wealth of information at the fingertips of teachers, parents and students, while helping to reduce teacher workload and supporting Québec Education Reform. With a first prototype in hand, this teacherturned-entrepreneur approached the Fujitsu Innovation Centre. He aimed to enhance the application and develop a global go-to-market strategy.

Harnessing the expertise of more than 1,500 local Fujitsu employees and more than 170,000 other employees around the world, the centre is translating research concepts into working prototypes, demonstrations and early-stage products.

“The Fujitsu Innovation Centre is expected to create at least 50 high quality jobs in Québec City over the next few years,” said Rémi Jean, Director of the Fujitsu Innovation Centre. “We expect to develop a minimum of 20 collaborative initiatives by March 2015. We have already initiated several cloud computing and virtual desktop projects that engage a dozen in-house experts and 50 Québec innovators. These initiatives are already beginning to pay significant dividends.”

Québec City. Fujitsu applauds Québec’s commitment to develop smart technologies and put them to work to create an intelligent society and sustain our environment.” The Fujitsu Innovation Centre is currently finalizing new ICT-based projects with applications in a host of sectors that will help create jobs, strengthen the local economy and preserve our environment. “Equation provided our Québec-based team with a strategic mandate in cloud computing and related technologies, enabling us to grow our team and make an even greater impact on the province,” said Rémi Jean. “Going forward, we aim to work with Prompt and other Equation Project Leaders to engage university researchers and other SMEs in collaborative projects at the centre. This will extend our reach and help us to create an even greater critical mass of green ICT expertise and applications in Québec.”

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Teledyne DALSA Success Story

Small technology is big global business. And it has the potential to make a big impact on our environment. With the right application, it can help us to decrease our energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help slow climate change. The team at Teledyne DALSA in Bromont, Québec knows this well. They look out over the green rolling hills that lead-up to Mount Brome as they drive up to the office each day. It serves as inspiration to develop technology that will preserve this environment for their children and future generations. And as the leader of an Equation sub-project, the company is doing just that.

Helping Data Centres Take an Economical and Energy-Efficient Path

Teledyne DALSA is an international leader in high-performance digital imaging and semiconductors with approximately 1,000 employees worldwide. This includes more than 90 engineers and scientific staff based in Bromont. Established in 1980 and acquired by Teledyne Technologies in 2011, Teledyne DALSA designs, develops, manufactures, and markets digital imaging products and solutions, in addition to providing semiconductor products and services. The company possesses more than 30 years of expertise in specialized integrated circuit and electronics technology, software and highly engineered semiconductor wafer processing. This technology is found in factories, laboratories, studios, hospitals and inspection stations all over the world – and even on other planets. Teledyne DALSA manufactured the high-reliability microchips that provide the Mars Curiosity Rover with image-capturing capabilities as it roams the Martian landscape. With so many achievements under their belt, it is no wonder the firm is now developing technology that will help to conserve energy. Left to Right: André Lessard, Marc Faucher, Patrick Wright, René Taillefer, Marc Roy and Kevin Kornelsen, all from Teledyne DALSA. Absent from the photo: Ali Badar Alamin Dow and Frédéric Drapeau.

Progress Over the last year, Teledyne DALSA designed and manufactured an application-specific switch that supports transmission speeds of both current and next-generation networks. This device combines high-voltage integrated circuit technology and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). MEMS are tiny mechanical devices and machines small enough to fit on the head of a pin. These technologies sense their environment and can be precisely actuated. The first prototype switch features miniaturized mirrors that can be tilted and controlled to direct the flow of data as a beam of light in any desired optical fibre on the network. When developing this custom product, Teledyne DALSA employees worked with local research partners from Optech, Québec’s optics and photonics college centre for technology transfer. Prompt helped to facilitate these valuable research collaborations as the Equation Project Coordinator. “This project enabled our engineering team to bring their photonics

expertise to bear on the development of a commercial system that brings together optics, microelectronics and MEMS – from design through to prototype and testing,” said Mr. Maroun Massabki, Development and Innovation Director at Optech. “It allowed us to play a key role in the development of this optical device and its integration with Teledyne DALSA technology. We aim to leverage the knowledge and experience we have acquired with this industry leader to open-up new opportunities for Optech in the microelectronics world, specifically in micro-optics system design and integration.” Mr. Faucher emphasizes the value of Equation as a driver to this R&D initiative. “The funding provided by the Government of Québec through Equation, together with the expert coordination by Prompt, enabled us to assemble a Québec all-star team for this project. The outcomes of this cooperative R&D will strengthen the technology

“The outcomes of this cooperative R&D will strengthen the technology portfolios of each contributor, and cultivate the expertise required to cultivate a strong economic and environmental future for Québec.” Marc Faucher, Teledyne DALSA

With critical support from the Government of Québec through Equation, Teledyne DALSA is developing sophisticated optical components that will significantly reduce the power required to operate an optical network. Optical networks send data digitally, as pulses of light, through connected fibre strands35. About the size of a human hair, these fibres are powerful glass pipes that enable the rapid transmission of large volumes of data over the Internet. They provide the capacity required to send and receive this information over very long distances – up to 100 gigabytes per second – to locations all around the world. This includes data centres that house computer systems, telecommunications equipment, and other hardware and software. Teledyne DALSA aims to help these facilities – and by extension, the users who rely on them – to reduce their energy consumption by more than 50%. The company is developing a unique application-specific optical cross connect switch – a device used by telecommunications carriers to switch high-speed optical signals in a fibre optic network36. Combining several microsystems technologies, this switch will enable operators to reconfigure and reprogram data centre networks quickly and easily. Today, data centres rely primarily on electrical circuitry to perform this function. As described by Marc Faucher, Director of Product Development Solutions at Teledyne DALSA, this optical technology opens new possibilities for cloud computing-based data centres to reduce operational costs and conserve energy.

capabilities while reducing network power consumption. We are developing an application-specific optical switch that will allow operators to rapidly re-route traffic to different data centre modules and networks. This will help them to reap significant cost and energy savings. For example, many data centres are now exploring renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and solar power. These energy sources often generate power intermittently. Using this optical device, operators could flow traffic to data centres currently drawing on solar power, and then redirect it a few hours later to an alternate computing facility driven by wind or hydropower once the sun goes down. This Equation Project opens-up many new possibilities for telecommunication networks and the data centres that rely on them.” It is a technology sea change that could pack a major environmental punch for the computing industry. It is estimated that data centres that draw on renewable energy could decrease the consumption of brown energy (or energy produced by polluting sources) by 35%.37 This will have a positive impact on the business community these facilities serve. Green data centres that produce clean computing power enable the development of green applications.

“By leveraging optical networks as opposed to electrical networks to manage traffic to data centres, we can provide carriers with new

“As opposed to having tens of thousands of data centre switchboards expending needless energy to function at minimal capacity throughout the evening, this switch will enable operators to reroute all night traffic to a select few,” said Mr. Faucher. “Operators could target a computing facility where it is an off-peak time of the day and energy prices are lower. This type of strategic flexibility could significantly reduce operational costs and energy consumption across this industry.”

portfolios of each contributor, and cultivate the expertise required to create a strong economic and environmental future for Québec.”

automotive and entertainment sectors, and the many technology suppliers that aim to help build intelligent cities and homes of the future.

Next Steps Going forward, Teledyne DALSA aims to create a higher performance version of the application-specific switch for greater speed and connectivity. The team will also develop hardware and software platforms that help validate the performance of this customized optical switch. This initiative is helping to pave the way for the development of new communication networks that increase capacity while reducing power consumption. These networks will support the aerospace,

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Miranda Technologies Success Story

As you settle in on a Saturday night to watch a great movie on Pay-Per-View, or catch a game on your favorite sports channel, carbon emissions likely don’t cross your mind. Like the more than 100 million cable and satellite TV subscribers in North America38, you look forward to watching your favorite program. But when there is an issue with broadcast quality, or worse, an interruption of service, disappointed customers are quick to take to the phones to report the problem and demand a fix. Cable and satellite providers spend tens of millions of dollars each year dispatching technicians to customer locations to diagnose issues and restore service.

Driving Down Carbon Emissions and Operational Costs in the Cable Television and Satellite Service Industry

In the telecommunications and broadcast world, the deployment of such a specialist to a client site is called a ‘truck roll’ – and every time a truck is dispatched, it generates carbon dioxide. In fact, every gallon of gas a truck burns emits almost 20 pounds of this greenhouse gas – and in the multibillion dollar television service distribution industry, tens of thousands of repair vans and utility trucks hit the road each year. It is prompting a Québec ICT company to demonstrate global industry leadership, and develop technology-based solutions that reduce carbon emissions from truck rolls – and save cable and satellite companies millions of dollars in operational costs. It is an important venture. The elimination of just one truck roll per week per truck for every 1,000 trucks on the road could eliminate 1.1 million pounds of carbon emissions annually.39 This green ICT R&D project is led by Miranda Technologies, a Belden Brand and a leading worldwide provider of hardware and software solutions for television broadcast, cable, satellite and IPTV. And it is a critical part of the Equation Project coordinated by Prompt. Left to Right: Laurent Ruel, François Gourvil and Guy Langlois, all of Miranda Technologies.

Next Steps

Going forward, Miranda aims to continually decrease the power requirements and physical footprint of the system. This will enable operators to reduce their energy consumption, while maximizing available space within the NOC. Once complete, the company will promote this technology to all major cable and satellite companies. When implemented, this novel technology will help cable and satellite providers to streamline their workflow and optimize operations.

During the remainder of the project, Miranda will focus on the creation of network management and signal analysis tools that enhance system efficiency and further reduce energy consumption. To achieve these objectives, the firm will collaborate with researchers at ÉTS. According to Dr. Stéphane Coulombe, Professor at ÉTS, “We look forward to working with Miranda and contributing our expertise in advanced video identification and visual quality monitoring to this Equation sub-project. We aim to further enhance the diagnostic capabilities of the iControl Headend system, and help operators identify video quality issues and their root cause as quickly as possible. This research will provide our team and collaborating students with challenging work, and invaluable experience with a leading Montréalbased firm.”

“Environmental sustainability has always been a part of Miranda’s DNA,” says Mr. Laurent Ruel, Miranda’s Vice-President of Management and Control Systems. “We consistently strive to develop green technologies that enable our customers to achieve a triple bottom line comprised of economic, social and environmental benefits. For example, the estimated average financial cost of dispatching a truck roll is $100 per hour, and the environmental

“We believe this technology could become the industry standard for television signal monitoring, helping to reduce greenhouse gas production around the world and further positioning Québec as a global clean tech leader.” Francois Gourvil, Miranda Technologies

With more than 20 years in the business, Miranda has acquired deep knowledge of the television distribution industry. With the launch of the Equation Project 18 months ago, the firm conducted an in-depth investigation of how broadcast, cable and satellite companies monitor television signals from within their network operations centre (NOC). A key learning: the engineers who are accountable for service delivery have little to no visibility of customer impacting signal problems inside the NOC. To properly diagnose and resolve a signal problem, they must often be on site with the customer. This often takes hours – and it takes a truck roll.

Progress

Leveraging funding from the Government of Québec through the Equation Project, and building on existing technology, Miranda is developing a novel real-time television signal monitoring system for cable and satellite providers. Known as iControl Headend, this software-based innovation allows network operators to remotely surveillance and manage television signals as they travel across their distribution path.

With a strong customer focus, Miranda conducted a first test with some major US cable operators. The pilots proved highly successful, enabling network operators to diagnose signal problems far more rapidly, whittling down troubleshooting time from hours to minutes.

Over the last 18 months, this Equation team has achieved a series of key R&D milestones, including the development of new visualization software and probing instrumentation. To realize some of these goals, Miranda partnered with Québec SMEs such as Nuum Design Inc. and Savoir-faire Linux, and the Centre de recherche industrielle du Québec (CRIQ). These collaborators contributed to the development of important new hardware and software elements that improve the usability, configuration and installation of the system.

This three-year Equation Project features four R&D components that work together to create an integrated solution. Once complete, the product will monitor thousands of channels simultaneously and provide network operators with enhanced capabilities in: • Visualization, allowing engineers to see the television signal; • Probing, enabling the real-time assessment of the integrity and quality of the signal; • Network management, helping to put massive network data to work in highly effective and intelligent ways; and • Signal analysis, facilitating the rapid detection and diagnosis of problems with the broadcast signal.

Project Coordinator. This is particularly important as we grow our R&D partnerships with ÉTS and local SMEs, and cooperate on the development of new capabilities for this system.”

cost can be hundreds of tons of carbon a day. iControl Headend will enable service providers to save millions of dollars and reduce carbon emissions from truck rolls by at least 5%.

Conclusion According to Guy Langlois, Director of Project Management at Miranda, “Equation is enabling us to evolve our second generation iControl system into a comprehensive and environmentally friendly solution for the television industry. The funding provided by the Government of Québec has significantly accelerated this R&D project by enabling us to create eight new highly skilled positions in engineering. These people would not be here without Equation. In addition to this investment, we consistently benefit from Prompt’s R&D collaboration expertise and experience as the Equation

Mobilizing Québec’s ICT Community for a Prosperous, Green Future Québec’s Research and Innovation Strategy (QRIS) for 2010-2013 is built on five key strategies that aim to strengthen the economic, social and environmental fabric of Québec. It strives to foster: • More competitive and internationally-recognized research; • Greater entrepreneurship across the province; • Increased productivity and competitiveness through innovation; • Improved governance of research and innovation investments; and • Collaboration among industry, academia and government on major innovation projects.

This fifth strategy is an essential element in Québec’s innovation equation. It seeks to: • Accelerate innovation and provide companies with a greater competitive edge in high-growth global markets; • Increase R&D cooperation among well-established companies, SMEs and researchers, and foster a culture of open innovation; and • Contribute to the development of a green economy. The Equation Project directly addresses these objectives. It facilitates high-value partnerships that mobilize multinationals, SMEs, entrepreneurs and university researchers on collaborative projects to accelerate the development, commercialization and adoption of green technologies.

In our current economic climate, companies are constantly challenged to generate new ideas and technologies, and to find the talent and capital to bring them to market. Increasingly, companies must engage in collaborative R&D to succeed in business—and they require highly effective ways to connect with compatible partners from concept to commercialization. In Québec, Prompt facilitates highly productive industry-academic R&D partnerships.

These collaborations benefit all participants as they: • Combine the complementary strengths and resources of all contributors, expanding their R&D capacity and enabling them to do more together; • Bring interdisciplinary know-how to bear to solve specific technical and business challenges, helping them to apply key outcomes and insights to other R&D initiatives; • Share the costs of R&D, enable them to undertake high risk/ high reward initiatives that might otherwise not be possible; and • Establish new relationships that often open-up new research, business development and market opportunities.

And as Equation’s Project Coordinator, Prompt is helping to mobilize many ICT players across Québec on green ICT projects – from telco clouds to smart grids, green technologies and applications.

Let us introduce you to the green ICT innovators who are working together on the Equation Project to create a more prosperous, interconnected and sustainable Québec.

Smart Grids Cloud Computing and Telco Clouds

Mobilizing Equation R&D Teams

Université de Sherbrooke Trilliant Centre de recherche informatique de Montréal (CRIM) Nuum Design Centre de recherche industrielle du Québec (CRIQ) Savoir-faire Linux École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) XVP Engineering Optech Edusis

University Collaborators

Industry Collaborators (SME)

Equation Steering Committee Members Project Leaders (Voting Members) 1

1 Laurent Ruel

4 Marc D. Faucher

Vice-President, Management and Control Systems, Miranda Technologies

Director, Product Development Solutions, Teledyne DALSA

2 Etienne Lemieux

5 Renaud Caron

Business Unit Manager, Development and Product Introduction, IBM Canada

Senior Vice President, Strategic Development, CGI

3 RĂŠmi Jean

Director, Fujitsu Innovation Centre Chairman, Steering Commitee

6 Pierre Boucher Research Director, Ericsson Canada

7 Dr. Charles Despins President and CEO, Prompt

Other Members of the Steering Commitee (Non-Voting) 1 Jean-Louis Legault CEO, ADRIQ

2 Daniel Blanche President and CEO, CRIM

3 Pierre Galarneau Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer, INO

4 Michel Vanier

7 Pierre Fafard

CEO, RISQ

Microelectronics Advisor, Ministère des Finances et de l’Économie, Government of Québec

5 Vicki May Hamm Mayor, City of Magog Vice-President, Magog Technopole

6 Jacques Mc Neill Equation Project Coordinator, Prompt

References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39.

http://www.businessinsider.com/more-mobile-devices-than-people-2013-2 http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-23/facebooks-is-bigger-than-yours http://www.complex.com/tech/2012/10/twitter-ceo-dick-costolo-reveals-staggering-number-of-tweets-per-day http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/The_4_most_essential_components_of_an_email_13779.aspx http://www.greentouch.org/index.php?page=how-the-ict-industries-can-help-the-world-combat-climate-change http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/internet-emits-830-million-tonnes-of-carbon-dioxide/article4279734.ece http://green-broadband.blogspot.ca/2011/05/if-internet-was-country-it-would-be-5th.html GeSI Smarter 2020: The Role of ICT in Driving a Sustainable Future http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/AboutGEI/WhatisGEI/tabid/29784/Default.aspx http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/co-opetition GeSI SMARTer 2020: the Role of ICT in Driving a Sustainable Future http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading Innovating toward a low-carbon Canada: Using technology to transform tomorrow http://www.ictc-ctic.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/ICTC_Québec_LabourMarketReport_2013.pdf http://www.economie.gouv.qc.ca/objectifs/informer/par-secteur-dactivite/technologies-de-linformation-et-des-communications/ GeSI SMARTer 2020: the Role of ICT in Driving a Sustainable Future http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_lab http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/poweroutage/blackout_finalreport.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 http://energy.gov/oe/technology-development/smart-grid http://energy.gov/oe/technology-development/smart-grid www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/dotcom/client_service/EPNG/PDFs/McK%20on%20smart%20grids/MoSG_MaxValue_VF.aspx http://hbr.org/2011/11/what-every-ceo-needs-to-know-about-the-cloud/ar/1 http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/14/the-number-of-mobile-devices-will-exceed-worlds-population-by-2012-other-shocking-figures/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/14/the-number-of-mobile-devices-will-exceed-worlds-population-by-2012-other-shocking-figures/ http://www.businessinsider.com/more-mobile-devices-than-people-2013-2 http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cloud%2Bcomputing http://www.ericsson.com/res/site_AU/docs/2012/ericsson_telecom_cloud_discussion_paper.pdf Facilities that house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications systems;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centre http://www.parallels.com/ca/spp/usingvirtuozzo/ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110920005075/en/Cloud-Computing-Cut-Data-Center-Energy-Consumption http://openinnovation.berkeley.edu/what_is_oi.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_innovation http://www.fujitsu.com/uk/services/business-services/innovation/ http://www.21stcenturyinvestoreducation.com/page/tce/library/tandtglossary.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_cross-connect http://www.glif.is/meetings/2011/rap/arnaud-greenstar.pdf SNL Kagan Special Report: US Multichannel Subscriber Update and Geographic Analysis; December 2011 www.kentrox.com

For more information Montréal Office

Québec Office

Equation Project Coordinator jmcneill@promptinc.org Tel.: 514-875-0032, ext. 105 1155 University Street, Suite 903 Montréal (Québec) H3B 3A7, CANADA

Project Development Advisor omunger@promptinc.org Cell.: 514-817-9255 | Montréal Tel.: 418-208-7811 | Québec 1175 Lavigerie Avenue, Suite 300 Québec (Québec) G1V 4P1, CANADA

Jacques Mc Neill

www.equationict.com

Olivier Munger

Greening ICT. Greening through ICT.

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