Ontario Government Announces $63 Million for CENGN in the 2017 Budget

OTTAWA, April 28, 2017 /CNW/ - CENGN, Canada's Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (NGN), a leader in the rapid commercialization of Canadian network products, applications and services, was announced in the Ontario 2017 Budget as a key player for the Ontario Government's 5G Technology initiative.

CENGN has proven successful in accelerating innovations developed by Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  This success is attributed to federal funding provided by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), and essential support from CENGN's members, a group that brings together top industry leaders in ICT and network solutions.

This critical support from the Government of Ontario will enable even greater collaboration among industry, academia, research, and government bodies in critical and highly technological areas of NGN, software-defined networking, and network function virtualization across the province.

The Ontario budget briefing identifies 5G networks (fifth-generation wireless technologies) as the backbone of future technologies. Ontario will invest $63 million over five years in CENGN's Cloud Expansion Project. The CENGN Cloud will connect 18 innovation centres across the province that directly support industries that underpin Ontario's economy, and provide SMEs with new advanced networking capabilities. This will advance the development and availability of next-generation networks and the many digital economy industries that leverage these networks. It will help firms to capitalize on key opportunities in fields such as Autonomous Vehicles (AV), aerospace, public safety, cybersecurity, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), mining, eHealth, smart agriculture, and broadband Internet architecture (rural and remote).

"CENGN is pleased to partner with the Ontario Government and the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) to develop a next generation Internet Cloud that links all Regional Innovation Centres (RICs) together," said Ritch Dusome, President and CEO of CENGN. "This will enable SMEs and students across the province to practice and demonstrate their innovative technologies and solutions, helping to drive the development of the new digital economy."

CENGN's goal is to strengthen Ontario and Canada's leadership in global ICT and next generation networking. This initiative directly addresses this objective by helping to drive economic growth in Ontario, and deliver long-term benefit to its residents. For example, it will enable SMEs to test their products and services in the CENGN environment, and accelerate their time to market. This will catalyze the growth of SMEs, and the ICT sector as a whole. It will also help to address the future workforce needs of the ICT and advanced networking industry by enriching student and training programs, and creating a highly skilled talent pool. 

About CENGN – Canada's Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks
Canada's Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN), an NCE (Networks of Centres of Excellence) funded CECR (Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research), is a consortium of industry, academic and research leaders dedicated to accelerating the commercialization of next generation communications solutions. CENGN's internationally recognized testing centre employs interoperability between multiple software and hardware products, providing a unique environment to commercialize advanced products, applications and services. Our fully operational data centre is running a production OpenStack environment with multiple connections to a real-world WAN including a dark fibre connection that enables connectivity speeds of more than 100Gbps. CENGN services include; Proof of Concept (PoC) validation and hosting, interoperability/performance/ certification testing, technical training (SDN, NFV, IPv6, ODL, OpenStack, Innovation for Hire and Commercialization Acceleration. 

CENGN members include: Cisco, EXFO, GENBAND, Fujitsu, Invest Ottawa, Juniper, Nokia, Rogers, TELUS, VIAVI, Wind River, and Zayo Canada.

CENGN's Ontario academic partners include: Algoma University, Algonquin College, Brock University, Carleton University, University of Guelph, University of Hearst, Lakehead University, Laurentian University, McMaster University, Nipissing University, OCAD University, University of Ontario, University of Ottawa, Queen's University, Ryerson University, Trent University, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Willis College, Wilfrid Laurier University, Western University, University of Windsor, York University.

CENGN's government and other organizational partners include: NCE, Ontario Centre of Excellence, MaRS, Invest Ottawa, Communitech, Mitacs.

For more information visit www.cengn.ca

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SOURCE Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks

CENGN Media contact: Rick Penwarden, Marketing Manager, [email protected], Ph: 613-963-1200 ext:329