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The Brilliance of Canadian Software

With the highest levels of broadband penetration and the lowest overall communications costs of almost any country in the world, it’s not surprising that Canada has an edge over its competitors when it comes to software development. Canada’s software advantage starts with its world renowned work force and mature, technologically advanced telecommunications infrastructure that provides the backbone for all technology businesses. Canada boasts CA*net 4 - the world’s premier, advanced, all-optical, research network. Add to this a culture of innovation fostered through rich R&D tax credits and industry clusters. Factor in a progressive regulatory regime, the lowest operating costs in the G7 and Canada’s multi-cultural population that can tailor software applications and solutions to customers’ needs, and it is clear to see why Canada is the place to be for software investors.

Look what Canada has to offer:

32,000 ICT companies, 79% in software and computer services
+575,000 highly skilled ICT workers - over 262,000 in the software sector alone
92 universities produce 50,000 math, computer science and engineering graduates
ICT is Canada’s largest private investor in R&D - $5.7B annually, $650M in software alone
of the Top 500 global software companies, the second highest number after the U.S.
1st in the G7 for quality of life
2nd Business Process Outsourcing market in the world
9th in the world for ICT competitiveness

Canadian Software Excellence:

Enterprise Application Software

Business solutions abound in Canada, where Canadian software firms turn raw data into strategic information that profits their customers. Canadian pioneers like Cognos and Open Text set the standard. Canada continues to lead the way, with four of the country’s top 10 fastest growing technology companies providing business applications. And 57% of emerging Canadian software companies has their primary area of business in the EAS space. Canada is prominent in financial services as well as the public sector, including healthcare, telecommunications manufacturing, retail and distribution, and energy and utilities. Canadian enterprise software market was valued at nearly $1B in 2007 and is expected to continue to grow in the next five years. Canada is home to global players like Adobe, Oracle, IBM and Microsoft, and home-grown industry leaders including Brainhunter, Constellation, Descartes, Emergis, Enghouse Systems Ltd. and Matrikon.

Web solutions

Canada is home to 3,200 firms in all market segments in the web solutions space. While most are small and medium sized, many operate at the cutting edge of emerging technologies. Almost all - 71% - are engaged in content creation. Roughly 51,000 people are directly employed in the digital interactive media market, the most visible part of the web solutions space. Canada is also a strong springboard for companies investing into foreign markets. Web solutions enterprises depend heavily on a robust communications infrastructure underpinning to allow them to function effectively. The Canadian Internet Service Provider (ISP) market is well served by national, regional and local firms. Some 400 companies serve over 5,000 communities across the country. Canada’s telecom and cable companies are the largest and most prominent ISPs, including: Bell Canada, Telus, Rogers, Shaw, Vidéotron, MTS Allstream, Cogeco, SaskTel and Primus. Many lease their infrastructure to smaller, regional and local service providers who develop their own offerings for Internet connection services.

E-security

Tackling tough problems like technology security is an area where Canada excels – from anti-virus software to cryptography and encryption, to mobile authentication and intrusion detection. With high consumer adoption of technologies like internet banking and the second highest proportion of secure servers per capita in the world, Canada is a leading adopter of technologies that make e-Security a priority. High consumer adoption is important because it drives Canadian companies to innovation and attracts world-leading companies such as such as CA, Microsoft, McAfee, Symantec, Cisco Systems, IBM and EMC, as well as world-leading Canadian companies like Radial Point, Third Brigade and Certicom. The World Economic Forum ranks Canada #3 in the world for the number of Secure Internet Servers per-capita. Security software is the fastest growing software market in Canada. It was valued at over $300M in 2006, with 12.1% year-over-year growth. Security spending is predicted to grow by a five-year compound annual growth rate of 10.75% and surpass $440 million by 2010.

Green IT

Going green is good for the bottom line, as Canadian Green IT firms can attest. Demand for clean technology is exploding globally and Canadian companies are capitalizing on a massive influx of venture capital – thanks in part to Advantage Canada, a strategic, long-term economic plan by the Canadian government. One of the strategy’s goals is to establish Canada as a leader in green technology. This work is already underway. Canadian companies and universities such as Bell Canada, Nortel Networks, RIM, McGill University and University of Toronto are part of $50 million research consortium for carbon-neutral Next Generation Internet. IBM and the SciNet Consortium of the University of Toronto are building Canada’s most powerful and energy-efficient supercomputer, the first system to use future Intel Nehalem processor. D-Link Canada became the first manufacturer to produce “green” home network Wi-Fi routers that reduce power usage by up to 40%.

R&D Advantage

Research consortia and industry clusters across the country encourage collaboration and inspire innovation to enhance business growth. Partnerships that bring together governments, universities and industry can be found in urban centres in all regions of Canada. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Waterloo are particular hotbeds of software innovation.

Ontario
Ontario’s software and systems development sector has thousands of world leading firms including subsidiaries of large multinationals like IBM, Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco Systems, Research in Motion, HP, EDS, and Satyam. Most of these companies operate in clusters centred in the Greater Toronto Area, the Waterloo Region, and Ottawa. Sector strengths include network application and connectivity, business intelligence, content and information management, enterprise planning solutions, CRM tools, security, IT services, and graphics and multimedia. These firms are drawn by close proximity to world-class universities and highly-skilled ICT workers who speak over 100 languages.

Québec
This sector is highly diversified with strong vertical niches in electronic commerce/CRM, finance/ERP, manufacturing processes, health, transportation/logistic, training, imaging, and public administration. Major players in the Montreal area include Dassault Systèmes, Ericsson Canada, MediSolution, SAP and Société GRICS.

British Columbia
More than 32,500 workers in B.C. specialize in software and services including Application Service Providers, Web hosting, business intelligence, Customer Relationship Management, e-commerce, graphics and publishing management, and supply chain management. Vancouver’s extraordinary lifestyle has attracted multinationals, such as Microsoft, that have developed unique approaches within the applications area. Areas of market strength include content management, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), e-commerce, security, wireless, digital video, and Web 2.0.