It’s like deja vu all over again.

Today, Cogeco Data Services is launching a new downtown data centre, complementing facilities it already has in the west end of the city and in Barrie (about 100 kms north). According to Cogeco Data’s president, Tony Ciciretto,

The trend has been to move data centres outside the downtown core because real estate is at a premium in major economic hubs like Toronto. But Canada’s largest business district has unique needs including access to unparalleled speed and the ability to access facilities quickly for maintenance activities or in the event of an emergency. Even brief delays for a financial or business transaction can mean the difference of millions of dollars and that means that customers of our downtown facility will have a distinct advantage in meeting and exceeding the extreme latency and proximity requirements of the business sector.

The new data centre provides access to Cogeco Data’s optical network that blankets much of the GTA and beyond, enabling 10 Gbps connectivity. With more organizations moving from on-site data services environments to cloud computing, companies frequently need both local and remote facilities depending on the business needs and regulatory requirements.

Earlier this month, during The 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit, Cologix had an Open House for its new data centre and co-location facility at 905 King Street West in downtown Toronto.

Thanks to CPAC, there is on-demand access available to a number of sessions from The 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit.

Here is the link to

• The Regulatory Blockbuster

and links to keynote addresses by

• Rob Bruce of Rogers
• Len Katz of the CRTC
• Bernard Lord of CWTA
• Chris O’Neill of Google
• Kirstine Stewart of CBC

Other portions will be available soon – I will update this post as we learn of more video on demand from The Canadian Telecom Summit.

 

 

This weekend, CPAC will begin to air some of the sessions that were recorded at The 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit. The schedule has changed from what I originally announced on Twitter, thanks to unusually late sessions in the House of Commons.

The latest information we have is as follows:

• Bernard Lord, CWTA – Friday, June 15, 10:10pm ET
• Chris O’Neill, Google Canada – Saturday, June 16, 8:50am ET
• Leonard Katz, CRTC – Saturday, June 16, 9:30am ET
• Rob Bruce, Rogers – Saturday, June 16, 10am ET
• Regulatory Blockbuster – Saturday, June 16, 10:30am ET

We expect additional sessions to air, and all of the programs will be available on-demand, on-line.

Delegates to The 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit have received their conference materials electronically, less than 2 days after the conference ended thanks to our move to electronic distribution.

It has been about 8 years since we stopped felling forests to produce conference binders with presentation that were weeks old by the time the speaker delivered the talk. The next phase in our evolution was production and mailing of CDs after the event, but this took a month or more because of logistics required and the number of hands that got involved between preparing a master, producing it, design and approval of the label and packaging, stuffing and mailing bubble envelops.

Last year was the first time we tried electronic distribution of the materials and this year, we seem to have improved dramatically on the process, shaving 80% off the post-conference delivery time.

Speakers were able to change their presentations right up to the time they went on stage; delegates have speedy access to the files and can move the materials onto whichever platform they prefer.

This year was also the first time that we did not prepare a print version of the conference brochure. I’m sold on the benefits of e-commerce.

It is over for another year. Here are links to stories from the closing day of The 2012 Canadian Telecom Summit.

• Globe and Mail: Globalive mulls possible partnership plans
• itWorld: Don’t wait for Ottawa on digital strategy: Jenkins
• itWorld: Wind makes appeal to Shaw, Videotron

Be sure to visit Cartt.ca which is filled with loads of stories about the event, speakers and various sessions from start to finish. Cartt.ca has a special offer, with 60 days of free access, letting you read about The Canadian Telecom Summit and everything else in the cable, telecom, radio and TV business.

The dates have been announced for next year: June 3-5, 2013. Mark them in your calendar. I hope to see you at The 2013 Canadian Telecom Summit.