SYSTEM UPDATE
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KANATA’S BRIGHTEST LIGHTS These companies are leading the way in area’s highest-performing sectors BY LUCY SCRENCI
Last month, the Kanata North BIA released a report on the area’s technology ecosystem outlining the sector’s impact on the overall economy. Not surprisingly, the study found that tech is a major driver of growth in Kanata North, directly or indirectly employing 26,000 of the area’s 30,000 workers and generating more than $6 billion in annual economic activity. The BIA’s study looked at 10 subsectors of the tech industry and assessed their individual impact on the overall ecosystem. TECHOPIA has zeroed in on four of those subsectors, profiling a leading company in each one. Here are TECHOPIA’s subsectors to watch in Kanata North.
NUMBER OF WORKERS
SOFTWARE
REVENUES
$
576.6M PRODUCTIVITY BASED ON SALES-PER-EMPLOYEE
$
209K
I do think that Kanata is actually very interesting to go to social networking events now, because when you ask people what they do, it’s no longer, ‘What part of telecom do you work on?’ It’s, ‘What is your tech company?’ I’m talking to people who are doing aviation systems to people who’ve got gaming applications to people who are trying to figure out the next trend on consumer behaviour.
EXPORT RATIO
95%
The defence and aerospace sector in Kanata employs more than 1,400 people and generates in excess of half a billion dollars in annual revenues. One of its leaders is Neptec Design Group. Though the previous Conservative government cut funding to Canada’s space program, that hasn’t slowed Neptec’s growth. The producer of elaborate sensors and robotics technologies for the space market has been extremely successful in securing contracts with international space agencies. Neptec founder and chairman Paul Nephin says Neptec has developed numerous sensors for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, supporting roughly 40 of NASA’s space missions. In addition, Neptec staff have racked up 30,000 hours or more in Mission Control at NASA. Nephin says the company, which employs about 100 people in Kanata and another 10 in the United States and England, will likely see at least a 30 per cent increase in revenues in 2016, thanks mainly to a rise in exports. Most recently, Neptec collaborated with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. “We developed a sophisticated metrology system to align X-ray telescopes on orbit,” says Nephin. The technology will allow scientists to better distinguish black holes and other objects that normally appear blurry. Neptec’s long history has allowed it to refine its proprietary and in-demand technology, which has also been spun off for use in terrestrial applications. Its sister company, Neptec Technologies, builds sensors for the mining and construction industries. “We’ve been developing the expertise and intellectual property for 25 years,” says Nephin. That track record keeps Neptec busy. The company is planning to develop a lunar lander sensor for the European Space Agency and to collaborate with
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revolutionary steps that make them work better” – will become a dominant industry in Kanata “because we get how to do big stuff like that.”
MARTELLO TECHNOLOGIES CEO BRUCE LINTON
DEFENCE, SECURITY AND AEROSPACE
MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016
Roughly 10 per cent of Kanata’s tech workforce is employed in the software sector, which brings in $576.6 million in annual revenues. Not surprisingly, software providers took up the most spots on the Ottawa Business Journal’s roundup of fastest-growing companies last year. At the top of that list was Martello Technologies, maker of fault and performance management software for unified communications systems. Founded in 2009, the company has already achieved a number of major milestones, raising $3 million in funding in 2014 and acquiring French software firm Netvitesse the same year. The firm now has nearly 30 employees, 22 of them in Ottawa. Martello CEO Bruce Linton credits the company’s software-as-a-service model for allowing it to support a high volume of clients. Martello serves 2,000 customers in 18 countries. Linton believes that software companies are able to flourish in Kanata because of an influx of “people who understand very complicated, technically advanced large systems. “The resource pool is terrific, there’s many layers of years of experience, so if you want some junior people, some intermediate people and some senior people, they happen to all be here.” This range of talent will allow the software sector to continue to gain traction, says Linton. He predicts that software defined networking – “systems that progressively work better because they identify the
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NETWORKING IN KANATA: NOW VERSUS 15 YEARS AGO