FOUR OTTAWA AREA LEADERS IN ADVANCED INTERNET WIN AT 2001 CANARIE IWAY AWARDS

Awards celebrate Canadian contributions to advanced broadband technology

OTTAWA, April 23, 2001 - The Honourable John Manley, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Randall Gibson and Farhad Shafai, Founders of SiberCore Technologies, and the Media Awareness Network were honoured for their contributions to the advancement of broadband technology and innovation tonight at the 2001 CANARIE IWAY Awards in Vancouver.

Minister Manley won the Public Leadership Award for his unparalleled leadership in championing and promoting the development of Canadian advanced Internet technology. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Shafai of SiberCore Technologies won the New Technology Development Award for their development of a packet forwarding chip that helps give networking speeds a quantum leap. The Media Awareness Network won the Community Service Award for its work on the Web Awareness Canada program, designed to raise public awareness of Internet issues and to provide guidance to young people in the sound use of this dynamic medium.

Other 2001 CANARIE IWAY Award winners were: Community Service category - John Demco, Computing Facilities Manager, Department of Computer Science, UBC (Vancouver, British Columbia); Application of Technology category - Robert Proulx, Vice-President, IMS Experts-Conseils Inc. (Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec).

Ottawa area finalists receiving honourable mentions included: New Technology Development category - Deepak Wanner, President, Precidia Technologies Inc. (Kanata, Ontario) and Public Leadership category - Maureen Cubberley, Chair CIRA (Ottawa, Ontario).

Now in their sixth year, Canada's prestigious CANARIE IWAY Awards (IWAY is short for Information Highway) were developed by CANARIE Inc., Canada's leader in Internet technology innovation. The Awards recognize "frontier" technology and celebrate the exceptional achievements of visionaries in the field of advanced broadband innovation.

"Canada's top innovators, educators and entrepreneurs are receiving the recognition they so richly deserve," said the Honourable Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry. "They are examples of the leadership that Canada needs to stimulate a culture of innovation which will help to ensure Canada's global competitiveness. I applaud all of their achievements in the development, application and championing of advanced Internet technology."

Dr. Andrew K. Bjerring, President and CEO of CANARIE Inc. agreed, adding, "the individuals and organizations being honoured this evening show how creativity, innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit can result in technological advances that improve the quality of life and economic prosperity for all Canadians."

Honourable mentions also went to: Community Service category - Anja Haman, President, Wired Woman Society (Vancouver, British Columbia) and John Ouellette, Program Director, Strait East Nova Scotia Community Enterprise Network (Port Hastings, Nova Scotia); Application of Technology category - Malcolm Fraser, CEO, e-plicity (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and Stefan Embleton, CTO, eZedia Inc. (Winnipeg, Manitoba); and New Technology Development category - the Co-Founders of West Bay Semiconductor Inc. (Vancouver British Columbia).

Bell Canada, The Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Citizen Online, The Vancouver Sun, and The Province have sponsored the 2001 CANARIE IWAY Awards. Bell Canada is also the corporate sponsor of the Public Leadership Award.

CANARIE Inc. - a non-profit organization - is a reflection of the Government of Canada's commitment to supporting innovation. CANARIE Inc, plays a critical role in making Canada the most wired society in the world.

The nominations process for the 2002 CANARIE IWAY Awards will begin on April 24th, 2001. Nominations will be accepted at www.canarie.ca/iway.

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For more information, contact:

Opsis Communications and Marketing Inc.:

Todd Montgomery
Fido: 613-261-7955
tmontgomery@opsis.ca

Andrée Mongeon
Fido: 613-276-2044
markant@intranet.ca

Barbara Drysdale
Tel: 416-368-8998 ext. 337
bdrysdale@opsis.ca

Danielle Parney
Tel: 416-368-8998 ext. 336
dparney@opsis.ca

Farrah Jinha
Cell: 604-961-7859

CANARIE Inc.:
Susan Baldwin
Tel: 613-943-5399
susan.baldwin@canarie.ca
www.canarie.ca/iway