Microsoft opens state of the art facility in Vancouver, promising a $90 million yearly investment

This morning, Microsoft  officially opened the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre (MCEC) – a new, first-rate facility in the heart of downtown Vancouver that will bring together the best and brightest minds from Canada and around the world. 

The MCEC will allow Microsoft’s presence in Vancouver to grow to more than 750 positions. It will inject $90 million in direct investment in the city annually. Across the province, it will have an estimated economic impact of $180 million each year.

Click to read more ...

TomTom launches TomTom City, includes Toronto and Vancouver as traffic information sources

TomTom City – a new traffic portal that provides live traffic and travel information for consumers and traffic management experts. This new service showcases the extensive range of traffic information available on a city by city basis and will provide a platform to connect traffic authorities, businesses and citizens to jointly manage sustainable and efficient mobility.

TomTom City, which can be found at http://city.tomtom.com, is accessible from any internet enabled computer, tablet or smartphone and provides freely accessible content showing live traffic status and incidents and other driver-based information in cities. This will enable consumers to check their journey routes first and plan the best route. Furthermore by also being accessible to traffic management experts, traffic issues can now be dealt with even more quickly. The initial launch of 25 cities in 18 countries will expand to include more cities and products throughout the year. 

Click to read more ...

TELUS and Huawei partner to build ‘5G Living Lab’ in Vancouver

TELUS have announced that they have a memorandum of understanding with telecommunications and ICT supplier Huawei to build a “5G Living Lab” in Vancouver. The new project will have Huawei and TELUS testing next-generation converged fibre-wireless network in downtown Vancouver. Huawei will be making a “significant investment” in the design, testing, and deployment of new technology to help develop 5G-based telecommunications network. This agreement follows TELUS’ announcement of a $1-billion investment to expand its fibre optic network in Vancouver.

This partnership is also in line with helping the City of Vancouver meet its goal of making it the world’s greenest city by 2020. They will serve as providers of network capacity and speed needed to create a “smart city” as well as support for other sustainability-focused technology initiatives.

Tesla Motors supercharger network enables electric travel in Western Canada

Tesla Motors has energized the highly-anticipated Supercharger corridor between Vancouver and Calgary, enabling free, long-distance electric driving for Tesla Model S owners. 

The completion of both Highway 1 and the Sea-to-Sky Highway enables Tesla Model S owners to now travel for free between Whistler, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. A full map of the Western Canada network is available at teslamotors.com/supercharger.

Click to read more ...