With the most widely deployed province-wide broadband fibre optic network in Canada, Nova Scotia has a thriving IT sector and enables instant communication around the world. Our telecommunications industry is constantly on the edge of innovation. Companies such as Aliant, EastLink, and Nova Scotia Power all contribute to these advancements in areas of data management, Internet connectivity and disaster recovery.
Nova Scotia is home to the
Hibernia Atlantic network cable, a low-latency cable circuit that provides European and US customers with direct Trans-Atlantic connectivity via redundant rings between Dublin, Manchester, London, New York, Halifax, Montreal and Boston. It is the fastest way to communicate across the Atlantic. Using dedicated Ethernet and optical level services, up to GigE and 10G wavelengths, this advanced, sub-sea network provides US and European carriers/enterprises a reliable, integrated network solution for international communications.
The network is configured as a self-healing ring on diverse paths, with cable landing stations in Dublin (Ireland), Boston (USA), Halifax, (Nova Scotia), and Liverpool (UK). The Hibernia Atlantic system also includes a fully protected terrestrial ring that links the Boston and Halifax stations via New York City in North America. The system also includes a fully protected terrestrial ring that links the Southport station, (near Liverpool) with Telehouse North in London, while also providing fully protected breakout capability at Manchester-Telecity.
Halifax also houses the Canada International Exchange Center in Herring Cove. This is a major interconnecting hub for Canadian telecommunication service providers linking the United States, Ireland and the UK Telecom market Exchanges. Hibernia Atlantic Canada is situated beside the Atlantic Ocean just outside Halifax. Here the Hibernia Atlantic network connects directly with stations across Canada and directly to Boston USA by a submarine connection. This new telecom connectivity will serve to dramatically increase the strategic significance of operations located within the Halifax and Nova Scotia region.
With this advanced cost effective communications capability now available, it means that organizations can share and distribute information-based workloads from either across the Atlantic or from major cities across North America. This also ensures that the parent company maintains the same levels of controls, collaboration and information exchanges in Nova Scotia locations, as if these tasks were being performed in the same locality of their headquarters.
Dalhousie University
- The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has an RF/Microwave and Wireless Laboratory, which is oriented towards research in wireless technology. The general objective of this research group is to design RF/microwave circuits and systems for future wireless applications.
- In June 2005, Dalhousie launched a Privacy and Security Lab that aims to develop IT security and privacy technologies, promote policy changes and lead software programmers across the industry to create less vulnerable applications. Symantec Canada and IBM Canada are key investors in this lab.
Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC)
Since 2000, NSCC has conducted $18 million of applied research work, with a focus on using modern technology including geomatics, LiDAR, and wireless innovations to support economic development initiatives with Nova Scotian, Maritime, and International regions.
National Research Council Institute for Information Technology (NRCIIT)
The NRCIIT is one of the organization’s primary research institutes and national programs, with Sydney, Nova Scotia hosting the Wireless Systems Group (WSG) research program.
The WSG’s research focus is on extending and exploiting recent advances in low-power microelectronics, modulation techniques, error correcting codes, antenna design, digital signal processing, communication and network protocols, Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS), embedded processors, and advanced power sources to integrate wireless communication technologies in a wide range of devices. The Wireless Systems Group also tracks, extends and exploits advances in other areas, such as software radio, ultra wideband, software engineering, parallel processing, real-time and embedded systems, and in the use of commercial off-the-shelf software and hardware components.
The primary focus of the research is to adapt existing or develop new low-power and low-cost wireless communication technologies that can be integrated with sensors and microprocessors to create Wireless Integrated Network Sensors (WINS), Low-Power Wireless Integrated Microsensors (LWIM), or Wireless Sensors suitable for use in Sensor Networks.
TARA
TARA (Telecom Applications Research Alliance) is a unique facility that combines cutting-edge telecommunications research and development equipment with seed investment funding and business mentoring resources. In conjunction with the Canadian Research Centre, TARA is working to establish a wideband data technology centre in Halifax that would help company’s research, develop, and test technologies in areas like LAN, WAN, and Bluetooth.