MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Last month WINBC hosted its 2nd Annual Service Provider Investment Forum (SPIF Vancouver). SPIF is a monthly meeting of representatives from both wireless and wireline carriers, venture capital, and R&D divisions. Members include NTT DoCoMo, France Telecom, BT and Vodaphone. A portion of each of the monthly meetings is spent looking at and discussing deals and potential partnerships.

Last year, companies interested in participating in SPIF were screened and selected by WINBC solely from within the province. This year we took this event national inviting companies from across Canada to apply and gain valuable, direct access to some of the world’s leading wireless and wireline carriers. Our local SPIF committee comprised of VCs and industry experts, vetted the applications down to a chosen 11 companies. Congratulations to; Rx Networks Inc., Tantalus Systems Corp, VoxLib Corp., Bluestreak Network Inc., Bight Interactive Inc., Whitenoise Laboratories Inc., Redwood Technologies Inc., Novax Industries Corp., TurnTV, Talkster and KeyZap. A great representation of wireless technology from across Canada, including five local companies and one from as far as P.E.I!

The two day event kicked off with a panel presentation that included four SPIF members representing France Telecom, DoCoMo Capital, TELUS Ventures and British Telecom. We decided to reverse the format asking the audience what hot wireless topics they would like the panelists to cover, a few favorites included WIMAX, LBS, mobile search and mobile advertising. The panel discussion was followed by a reception and sold out dinner with Keynote speaker Jason Cohenour, President and CEO of Sierra Wireless.

Day two of the event gave the 11 selected companies an opportunity to pitch to a boardroom full of SPIF members and investors, each company was provided 15 minutes to pitch followed by questions and feedback from the SPIFers.

The SPIF members continue to be impressed by the caliber of companies BC and Canada turn out year after year. Liz Kerton, Managing Director of The Kerton Group and Executive Producer of the Service Provider Investment Forum (SPIF) told us, "For the second year in a row our Service Providers have found the trip to Vancouver to be valuable; the breadth, depth, and innovation of the entrepreneurial companies presented to us by WINBC has been impressive".

The results….some great interest and discussions and planned follow up with potential for partnerships and opportunities with numerous companies. Plans are already in the works for an 08 event.

Best regards,
Shana Korotash
Executive Director
WINBC

WINBC Featured Event

MoMoVan - March 12, 2007
LBS - FUTURE OR FAD?

With each passing day we demand more from our cell phones through the delivery of highly personalized wireless data such as location based wireless services. We expect the world to be available at our finger tips and with more and more talk about mobile advertising and mobile search, where do location based services fit in?

Is LBS primed to become the breakout revenue generator that we have heard talk about for years? Hear what our industry experts have to say about the future, trends, and challenges of location based services, and real-life situations showing how the technology can be applied.

Join us to learn:

• Insight into location based services; opportunities, market size and demand
• What types of LBS applications will dominate the market place
• Revenue generation with LBS
• Company partnering opportunities

  For more information or to register

WINBC Partner Events

Massive Technology Show - March 28, 2007

The Massive Technology Show is a three-part event that provides a user-friendly environment to explore technologies for business. In this action-packed day of interactive exhibits, informative presentations and networking opportunities, companies learn how to achieve their goals faster using technology.

  For more information or to register

Ostec 2007 SVIA - March 29, 2007

Join us at the 2007 Silicon Vineyard Innovation Awards where each of this year's finalists will be featured and winners announced. This program celebrates innovation in our region with a gala evening and awards program to recognize excellence in industry of both innovative individuals and organizations from the Shuswap, Similkameen and Okanagan valleys.
Special guest speaker: Guy Kawasaki

  For more information or to register

BCNet 2007 Conference - April 17 & 18, 2007

Western Canada's Premier Technology Event for Research & Higher Education

Attend BCNET's 7th Annual Conference, Making Connections: Sharing Knowledge for Greater Innovation. The conference brings together innovators and leaders in research and education, showcasing achievements and capabilites made possible through global advanced networks.

  For more information or to register

21st Angel Forum - April 24, 2007

Founded in 1997, the Angel Forum - Vancouver introduces emerging companies to private equity investors, each spring and fall. It is the oldest angel group in Canada with 70+ investors and its sponsors include leading companies and industry associations in BC.

  For more information or to register

MEMBER PROFILE

We catch up with another new member company this month: Terry Hughes of otaView tells us about his company and the future of wireless applications.

Unlike other consultancies, otaView isn’t a high level strategic consultancy, instead we are given specific tactical goals and we execute on them, e.g. finding new partners, developing new lines of business, developing major accounts, or helping to close major deals.

I have found the Canadian government and the industry associations like WINBC, WiTec Alberta and WIP to be really supportive, which puts Canada in a good position in preparation for the forthcoming wireless revolution.

  More

ASSOCIATION PROFILE

We also wanted to bring CWCnet to your attention. Below is a highlight of who they are and WINBC’s affiliation with the organization. As our WINLAB plans proceed we’ll be working closely with CWCnet.

CWCnet – Canada Network of Wireless Centres
CWCnet is a network of wireless centres of excellence from coast-to-coast with a mission to leverage Canada's strength in wireless communications research and development (R&D) to enhance the productivity, commercialization and innovation capacities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The main goal of CWCnet is to provide SMEs with the infrastructure they need to develop and test their wireless products and services, leading them closer to the commercialization phase.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the participating members in October 2003. CRC is chairing the CWCnet Steering Committee and the participating members are:

• WINBC - Vancouver
• NEWT (Network for Emerging Wireless Technologies) of TRLabs - Calgary
• WISELAB of CRC - Ottawa
• IIT (Institut International des Télécommunications) - Montreal
• TARA (Telecom Applications Research Alliance) - Halifax
• CCMC (Canadian Centre for Marine Communications) - St. John’s
• ORIC (Okanagan Valley Research and Innovation Centre) - Okanagan

MEMBER NEWS

Wireless Innovation Contest 2007

Fresh off the presses – the judges have spent hours pouring over the entries to WIC’07 – and here are the finalists:

Taking Care of Business:

• Public Sector: Gogomo and In Motion Technology
• Private Sector: Mobile Complete and Innoviti Embedded

Taking Care of Yourself:

• Home & Entertainment: SurfKitchen and Real Dice Inc.
• Sports & Recreation: Loc-Aid and Limbo 41414

Taking Care of the Community:

• Community & Citizenship: Rave Wireless and ComVu

The annual contest received entries from all over North America including California, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Washington DC, Massachusetts, New York, BC, Alberta, Quebec, Ontario. The finalists were selected by independent judges representing TELUS, Nokia Multimedia, Alcatel-Lucent, Foldera/MobileCrunch, 3rd Eye Consulting, Sprint-Nextel and WebMobility Ventures.

To kick off CTIA Wireless 2007 on a high note, WINBC will be naming the five winners of the fourth annual wireless contest at a reception to be held Monday March 26th, one day prior to the start of CTIA, Orlando Florida. Winners will gain a one-hour closed doors session with the panel of judges to receive constructive feedback on their company and solution.

FIERCE WIRELESS

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Journalism 2.0

Lisa Davis of CCNMatthews, the news distribution company, gives us an insight to citizen journalism.

Tonight’s top story could be tucked inside your pocket, purse or knapsack. The omnipresence of cell phones, PDAs and any mobile device that combines a camera with the ability to transmit pictures and text instantaneously around the world has created the mobile journalist.

This is not entirely new. The world watched immediate, first-hand accounts of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and Michael Richards in 2006. What is changing – at an indescribable pace – is the proliferation of outlets and platforms to carry this content, and the seemingly insatiable appetite for these eyewitness accounts.

  More

Valuating Non-Revenue Companies

Bob Chaworth-Musters helps member companies looking for angel investment get ready for the Angel Forum, April 24, 2007.

The traditional methods of valuating companies that has been based upon discounted cash flow and multiplier methodology, has worked well for companies with revenues.

However for non-revenue companies, successful angel investors have either used quick and easy rules of thumb or put off the valuation until a further event occurs.

  More

SPIF 2007 TESTIMONIALS

WINBC EVENTS

momovan
LBS Future or Fad? - Vancouver, BC
March 12, 2007

WINBC PARTNER EVENTS

BCNet
Call for Entry: Poster Session
Deadline: March 23, 2007

massive
Technology Show
March 28, 2007

ostec
Guy Kawasaki to speak at 2007 SVIA's
Kelowna, BC
March 29, 2007

BCNet
2007 Conference - Making Connections: Sharing Knowledge for Greater Innovation
April 17 & 18, 2007

BC Angel Forum
21st Angel Forum - Vancouver, BC
April 24, 2007

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Mission to Turkey
Telecom Sector Market
Visit to Turkey
February 25 - March 2, 2007

Doing Business in US
Langley, BC
March 15, 2007

Canada Pavilion @ CTIA
Orlando, Florida
March 27 - 29, 2007

Canada Pavilion / ICT Partnering
Mission to Hong Kong ICT Expo - Hong Kong
April 13 - 16, 2007

Wireless Trade Mission to Hong Kong
International Trade Opportunies to
Hong Kong & Taiwan
April 16 - 20, 2007

MEM 2007
Mobile Entertainment Market
Monte Carlo
June 5 - 6, 2007

communicasia 2007
Canada @ CommunicAsia 2007 - Singapore
June 19 - 22, 2007

EXPOCOMM 2007
Canada @ ExpoComm 2007
Buenos Aires, Argentina
October 9 - 12, 2007