EDS Canada today opened a Centre of Excellence (COE) in Charlottetown and plans to move the COE to the Atlantic Technology Centre in Charlottetown, PEI, when it opens in August 2002.
Premier Pat Binns joined Development and Technology Minister Michael Currie, and EDS Canada Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Al Hurd in announcing the centre today in Charlottetown.
Premier Binns said the company's announcement is great news for Prince Edward Island.
"The commitment of a global leader such as EDS to the Atlantic Technology Centre, and the establishment of this Centre of Excellence, demonstrate that this market is a great base for business and an excellent home for innovation," the Premier said.
"From this centre in Charlottetown, EDS Canada will develop and support Client Service Delivery Network (CSDN) solutions for clients throughout the world," Mr. Hurd said. "This is a great opportunity for us, and we can think of no better location from which to launch this business than Prince Edward Island."
Mr. Hurd said the Atlantic Technology Centre made sense as the new home for the EDS CSDN Centre of Excellence. He added the centre represents another example of the commitment of EDS to Atlantic Canada.
"In the past year, we have invested millions in Atlantic Canada," Mr. Hurd said. "We have opened a new customer contact centre in Sydney, we are building a new centre in Port Hawkesbury; and now, we are making a strong commitment to Prince Edward Island's information technology industry through this Centre of Excellence.
"This centre will ensure new developments in this specialized field are developed from Prince Edward Island," said Mr. Hurd.
Minister Currie said it is important to have a well-established company like EDS as the anchor tenant for the ATC.
"We are very pleased to have a company like EDS Canada as part of this facility. They are a secure, proven winner in the IT field, and the plan they have for this facility is exactly what this building is designed for," he said.
Developed in consultation with the industry, education and other stakeholders, the Atlantic Technology Centre, currently under construction in downtown Charlottetown, represents a uniquely designed facility, merging construction and communication technologies. It will feature key infrastructure including state-of-the-art office space, specialized research labs, multimedia theatres, digital audio and video editing facilities, a business incubator or launchpad and smart boardrooms.
The ATC is designed to stimulate new partnerships among IT companies, local post secondary training institutions and national and international IT firms seeking a competitive business environment to locate innovative applied research, new product and solution development, testing and pre-commercialization.
The ATC is scheduled to open in August 2002.
With 6,500 employees across the country, EDS reported Canadian revenues of $1.65 billion Cdn in 2000. EDS brings together the world's best technologies to address critical client business imperatives. It helps clients eliminate boundaries, collaborate in new ways, establish their customers' trust and continuously seek improvement. EDS, with its management consulting subsidiary, A.T. Kearney, serves the world's leading companies and governments in 58 countries.