Wireless Disruptor Distinguishes Itself with Supply Chain Innovation [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

The consumer wireless market in in the United States is extremely competitive, but when you’re looking to disrupt business models and also provide e-commerce in crowded market, competition is even fiercer.

For Republic Wireless in Raleigh, North Carolina, product innovation and customer service is how it looks to differentiate itself. It’s one of as  many as 50 mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) competing for customers along with the four big wireless carriers. Since launching its services in 2010, supply chain efficiency has been a key component of the company’s success and growth. Read my full article on EBN Online.

Micron CEO Durcan to Retire [Byline]

/ Gary Hilson

Micron Technology Inc. CEO Mark Durcan announced his pending retirement Thursday (Feb. 2). No timeframe has been set for Durcan’s retirement, but he will continue to head the company as CEO for the time being.

Micron (Boise, Idaho) said its board of directors has formed a special committee to oversee the succession process and has initiated a search, with the assistance of an executive search firm, to identify and vet candidates. Durcan has pledged to help with the search process and the transition. Read my full article on EE Times.

Gary Hilson is a freelance writer with a focus on B2B technology, including information technology, cybersecurity, and semiconductors.

West coast skin care company leverages cloud to support U.S. expansion [Byline]

/ Gary Hilson

Expanding into new markets is a challenge in and of itself, but when it’s a complex business and your financial management software can’t keep up, it’s time to make some changes.

Vancouver-based Skoah Inc. is a small chain of shops that offer facial products and treatments to its customers in 15 stores, some of which are franchises. Company president Christ Scott said that as the company looked to expand to the United States, those complexities could not be accommodated by its QuickBooks accounting software – it didn’t integrate with its Point-of-Sales (PoS) system.

Read my full article on ITBusiness.ca.

Gary Hilson is a freelance writer with a focus on B2B technology, including information technology, cybersecurity, and semiconductors.

Canada a bright spot for tech investment in 2016 [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Canada wrapped up 2016 on a high note when it came to investment in venture capital-backed companies, according to a recent report, bucking the global trend of a 10 per cent decline in deals and a 23 per cent drop in total funding compared to 2015.

The MoneyTree Report from PwC Canada and CB Insights shows that deals and dollars were up in the last quarter of the year, with the number of deals increasing seven per cent from 248 to 266 in 2016 with total dollars invested equaling $1.7B USD in 2016, less than on per cent lower than last year’s figure. Read my full article on ITBusiness.ca.

Waterloo media startup snags Vice Canada CRO [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

The trend toward having a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) is growing, and Waterloo, Ont.-based Sortable has just hired its first by luring a media veteran from Vice Canada.

CROs are essentially responsible for all revenue-generating processes in the organization, said Ryan Fuss, Sortable’s latest employee, and it’s a role that’s become increasingly common in Silicon Valley. Traditionally, revenue generation has been fragmented throughout business units, he said, and there was a need to have a C-level executive overseeing all revenue generation. This includes sales and marketing, and enables a company to fully align to create cohesive plans. “It’s definitely an emerging trend.”

Read my full story on ITBusiness.ca.

Persistent Memory Platform Support Will Take Time [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

TORONTO — Over the last several years, there’s been an increasing overlap between what was traditionally seen as memory and traditionally seen as storage, as well as the increasing use of persistent memory.

Last week’s Persistent Memory Summit in San Jose, organized by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) as part of its Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI), included a presentation by Steve Pawlowski, vice president of advance computing solutions at Micron, outlining how computing architectures must change to get the right data to the processor efficiently and how persistent memory such as NVDIMMs can play a role.

EE Times spoke to Pawlowski following his SNIA keynote on why new computing architectures must support current software applications, the current roadmap for NV-DIMMs, and what might be the non-volatile memory of choice down the road.

Read my full Q+A on EE Times.

Miniaturization, IoT Fuel Electronics Adhesive Growth [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

TORONTO — The market for high-quality electronics is growing, and with that also comes a rising need for technology adhesives. This demand has been driven, in part, by miniaturization.

“As the market for high-quality electronics has increased in the past few years, the need for material to protect and bond electronic components has also increased,” said Technavio Senior Industry Analyst Chandrakumar Badala Jaganathan, in an interview with EE Times.

The research firm’s recent Global Electronic Adhesives Market 2017–2021 report is forecasting the market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 10% between now and 2021, said Jaganathan. “The market in 2017 is expected to grow by 8.89% compared to 2016.”

Read my full article on EE Times.

Up, Periscope: TVO advances digital transformation via Twitter video platform [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

TV Ontario (TVO)’s The Agenda is broadcasting on a new channel.

As part of the publicly-funded education station’s digital transformation, its flagship current affairs program is now available on Twitter, via Periscope, at the same time it airs on television.

TVO’s choice of Twitter was serendipitous in many ways, said John Ferri, TVO’s VP of current affairs and documentaries. The channel had people attending the Online News Association Conference in the fall, as did Twitter. “They were moving in that direction and thought we would be a good partner,” he said. “We thought the alignment was great because Twitter is a platform that resonates with our existing audience and the audience we’d like to reach.”

Read my full article on ITBusiness.ca.

Additive 3D Printing Creates Another Supply Chain Tier [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Improved materials with be where the innovation is in the coming years, disrupting the current paradigms of parts replacement and storage. Not surprisingly, 3D printing got a lot of attention at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but it’s also poised to fundamentally change the behavior of supply chains.

Just as consumers are now able to more easily tap into 3D printing, 3Diligent set out to make the technology readily available globally for businesses, and last month, it announced that addition of a new process for metal parts. In a telephone interview with EBN Online, company CEO Cullen Hilkene said that the company is now able to offer the broadest range of popular metal rapid manufacturing options.

Read my full article on EBN Online.