OK, ok… I’m back. I realize that you missed me, but I had a couple of things to take care of these past few days.

 

I spent some time in Ottawa visiting with the fine folks from Mitel as well as several other companies including Natural Convergence, DragonWave, NewHeights, Solace Systems, and TalkSwitch, who incidentally announced a deal with Covad today.

 

I mentioned Ottawa, but really all the time was spent in Kanata, the telecom corridor du Nord. There are a huge number of fascinating companies that all play in our space — the IP Communications space that is — and a fair number of them have roots in three places: Nortel, Newbridge, and Bell Canada. It should not escape notice that many of these companies share something else as well: the leadership, wisdom, energy, and financial backing of a man named Terry Matthews. Sir Terry Matthews is also a gracious host.

 

I look forward to returning to Kanata soon — maybe when the days get a bit warmer and the golf courses are open. Who knows, maybe I can time it out to catch a round of the NHL playoffs and mix my winter and summer sporting pursuits. Assuming of course the Senators go more than a round deep in the chase for the Stanley Cup!

 

I’m almost at the end of my post about visiting Canada and I haven’t mentioned beer yet.

 

So…

 

Try the Alexander Keiths. It’s yummy.