Atlantic Canada's newest economic landmark, the Atlantic Technology Centre (ATC), was officially opened today by the Honourable Pat Binns, Premier of Prince Edward Island; the Honourable Mike Currie, Minister of Development and Technology; and Shawn Murphy, Member of Parliament for Hillsborough, representing the Government of Canada.
Designed in consultation with the industry, educators and other stakeholders, the 130,000 square foot ATC is located in historic downtown Charlottetown. The ATC features key infrastructure for Prince Edward Island's technology and media production sectors, including state-of-the-art office space, training labs, specialized research labs, a smart boardroom with video conferencing capability, as well as a world-class media production environment for television and new media projects, complete with a sound stage, interactive theatre, digital audio and picture-editing suites, green screen and webcasting capability.
"This is much more than just an office building," stated Premier Binns. "This is one of the most advanced facilities in the country and will give our technology and media production sectors access to key infrastructure to compete globally and create new jobs and will give our youth more options to make their futures right here in Prince Edward Island."
Within the ATC is a Launchpad or business incubator, where entrepreneurs and start-up businesses will have access to shared resources and mentorship to develop into established companies.
"The ATC is another part of our plan to further diversify the economy," said Minister Currie." Technology is here to stay, and we can't just sit back and hope we can be part of it – the best way to predict the future is to create it."
The sophisticated network in the ATC is based on Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) technology. The multi-tenant facility features a full range of integrated voice, video and data services, including IP (Internet Protocol - the basic language to communicate over the Internet) telephony and IP videoconferencing, both of which will be a first for the province.
"Bringing together companies under one roof at the Atlantic Technology Centre will help to stimulate innovation and collaboration between Island companies, local post secondary training institutions, and national as well as international technology and media production firms," said Mr. Murphy on behalf of the Honourable Gerry Byrne, Minister of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC).
The facility is designed to attract new and existing technology and media production companies working in the early stages of the innovation cycle, including applied research, new product and solutions development, testing and pre-commercialization.
Tenants that have committed to lease space in the facility include EDS Canada, DeltaWare Systems, Business Technology Consulting, Trapeze Media of Toronto, Cellar Door Productions, Polar Bear Corporate Training Solutions, Holland College, Paramita Academy of Make Up, and Immersion Studios. Seahorse Entertainment has leased space to produce the first TV show in the ATC, "The Adventures of the AfterMath Crew," which begins shooting next week in the facility's sound stage.
The Official Launch of the ATC coincided with the start of Softworld 2002, which is being held in Charlottetown from September 8-11, 2002. Delegates were among the first to preview the facility. The ATC will host a series of public tours in the fall.
Softworld is an Information Technology forum where hundreds of senior IT executives from around the world gather to network and lay the foundation for new business opportunities.
For more information about the Atlantic Technology Centre, visit www.atlantictechnologycentre.ca