The following is courtesy of Kathryn Anthonisen from
CANARIE:
Businesses across Canada can now apply for free cloud-
computing
resources through a program that aims to improve Canada’s
competitive position in the technology sector.
The Digital Accelerator for Innovation and Research (DAIR)
program
is offered by CANARIE, operator of Canada’s Advanced Research
and
Innovation Network, in partnership with two other leading
technology organizations, Compute Canada, and Cybera. It is
designed to help entrepreneurs develop and test new products
without prohibitive product development costs, so that
Canadian
companies can get a competitive foothold in emerging
technology
markets. The goal is to support hundreds of projects across
Canada
over the next three years.
“Building or even paying for computing infrastructure can
be a
huge cost and time impediment for high-tech innovators. The
DAIR
program effectively removes that hurdle,” says Jim Roche,
President and CEO of CANARIE. “All Canadian entrepreneurs
should
think about how this rapid access to low-cost cloud computing
can
help them improve their businesses.”
Current users of DAIR have great things to say about the
value
of
the program.
“A startup like ours is very sensitive to incurring costs,
especially in high-risk R&D activities like moving to the
cloud
infrastructure,” says Dr. Shahzad Khan, President of Gnowit
Inc, a
digital-media/social-networking developer. “DAIR enabled us to
experiment with the cloud infrastructure for a fraction of the
cost (and at a much lower risk-profile) than if we had used
one of
the commercial offerings – indeed, we may never have had the
incentive to consider this without the DAIR program – which
would
have limited our growth significantly.”
Dr. David Poellhuber, COO of ZEROSPAM Security Inc., points
out
that it’s vitally important for tech entrepreneurs to keep
pace
with emerging technologies. “There is an important shift in
our
market to cloud-based solution as organizations realize the
hidden
costs of software and appliance-based solutions,” he says. “I
wish
I had known this program existed before.”
“This is exactly the kind of program that Canada needs in
order to
compete in today’s digital economy,” says John Reid, President
and
CEO of Canada’s Advanced Technology Alliance. “It leverages
existing infrastructure, builds skills, and gives a
competitive
edge to Canadian entrepreneurs.”
For more information about the DAIR program visit CANARIE.
www.candevs.ca
