SMART TORONTO OPENS INFOTECH CENTRE
By Adnews Staff
SMART Toronto, a not-for-profit corporation promoting the Greater Toronto Area as a world centre for the information industry, opened its innovative InfoTech Centre on Friday. A combination exhibit hall, conference centre and on-line laboratory, the facility is a new kind of business centre that will aim to help organizations work together in developing and using advanced communications technologies. It will bring organizations together to collaborate on technological developments, including a regional high-speed network. Federal Industry Minister John Manley was on hand to inaugurate the InfoTech Centre, which will provide access to the National Test Network. It is the world's longest high-speed test network, extending from St. John's to Vancouver, which until now has not been accessible to organizations from the GTA. SMART Toronto president Walter Stewart told Adnews Friday that, for now, the centre is open to SMART Toronto member organizations only. They eventually hope to expand it to a wider audience, at which time a more aggressive promotional campaign would be launched. It is currently being hyped via public relations efforts created in-house.