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Reminder: INplay early bird ticket deadline is April 14th
Seminar: CanWIT Ottawa Chapter Presents – Setting Yourself Up For Success Series – April 19th
Seminar Series: CanWIT Toronto presents – The 2011 Professional Development 4 Part Series – Starts April 14th
Seminar: CanWIT BC Signature Lunch – Career in Project Management – April 20th

Congratulations to all of the digital sector companies who have been named to Canada’s Top 100 Great Places To Work:

Microsoft Canada – Google Canada – NetApp – SAS Institute (Canada) Inc. –  Habañero Consulting Group – T4G Limited – Intuit Canada –  Disney Online Studios Canada (Club Penguin) – CDW Canada Inc. – Sandvine – Qualcomm – Online Business Systems – FinancialCAD Coporation – Nintendo of Canada Ltd – Autodesk –  Softchoice Corporation – Vivonet – Ideaca – IT/Net Ottawa Inc. – WishGroup Inc. – EPIC Information Solutions – Zedi

Air Canada’s enRoute Film Festival today announced it is inviting Canadian film students and emerging filmmakers to enter its fifth annual short film festival. Each year, a jury selects the best short films and broadcasts them to a large international audience on Air Canada’s inflight entertainment system.

The winner of Best Short Film will receive a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of presenting sponsor Cineplex Entertainment. Other awards include Achievement in Direction, Achievement in Cinematography, and Achievement in Animation. All award winners will receive an exciting new destination prize to Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France.

Past jury members have included Jason Priestly, Denis Villeneuve, Donald Sutherland, Alan Cumming, Dan Aykroyd and Rémy Girard, among many others. This year’s jury will be announced this summer.

Selected films will be broadcast on Air Canada’s personal seatback entertainment system on the Canadian Movies channel viewed by millions of Air Canada customers around the world. A free public screening and awards celebration will be held in Toronto at the end of the year to honour the winners.

Worldastronauts.com is excited to announce the launch of a new network of sites featuring space news, travel, multimedia and blogs. VirtualSpaceHotel.com will be the first of its kind and offer a limited number of commercial and personal advertising opportunities. The sites will use 3D Graphic and Web Design granting visitors and members a truly unique virtual experience. This Virtual Space Hotel is aimed at those interested in participation of a global network solely dedicated to space exploration. The site will also offer the opportunity for affiliates to link to their sites and homepages. Creative web design, development and maintenance of the World Astronaut’s Network is managed by the Toronto Canada’s Discotoast Inc. and owned exclusively by New Hampshire-based URL Development.

Montréal will welcome a brand new event this summer that combines all three of these elements this summer: the International Startup Festival (ISF). Designed to stimulate technological entrepreneurship, this event will bring innovators, startups, investors, and clients of the economics of innovation and new technology to Montréal. Many big names on the startup and technology scene, such as Dave McClure, Chris Shipley, Howard Lindzon and Paul Kedrosky, to name but a few, will be on hand this coming July 13 to 15. Andy Nulman, CMO of the Just For Laughs comedy festival, will deliver the keynote presentation. The ISF will be an ideal opportunity to meet, discuss, chat, and spend time with the best and brightest players on the global technology scene.

With a focus on innovation in the areas of applications and technologies associated with mobility, social networking, and gaming, the ISF, under the theme of “Startups & LOL”, will establish itself as a hotbed of new ideas and networking synergy between the visionary investors of today and the dynamic entrepreneurs of tomorrow. As such, the programme will consist of, among other things, startup presentations, conferences on future subjects and challenges, workshops, fun activities, and surprise demonstrations, not to mention the many opportunities to expand networks, develop business, and have a great time in good company.

“Montréal is always enthusiastic about hosting events that highlight creativity and innovation; the International Startup Festival is proof of the constant support the city offers designers of new technology. Since the participants of this event are opinion leaders and important influencers in their technological domain, as well as in their respective networks, Montréal is sure to enjoy considerable spin-offs,” confirms the Honourable Charles Lapointe, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal. “When it comes to matching imagination and ingenuity, Montréal is always ready to act as a catalyst for Web masterminds to carry out – and with great success – all their future projects,” concludes Charles Lapointe.

“Several events for technology startups already exist in many cities and draw local talent. What makes the ISF different, however, is its international character, and focus on the business side of startups. There isn’t another event entirely devoted to entrepreneurship and its players that seeks to bring together startups, innovators, and investors from Canada, the United States, Europe, and elsewhere in the world,” adds Philippe Telio, President of Embrase and principal festival producer.

Other than its natural affinity for creativity and new technology, Montréal also presents, with its unique mix of European and North American cultures, its multiculturalism, and its qualified workforce, a most favourable environment for exchanges between designers, developers, and entrepreneurs from around the world. It goes without saying that these qualities will definitely contribute to making the inaugural edition of the festival an impressive success. Read the rest of this entry »

Register: TOJam is happening May 13 – 15th in Toronto & registration opens sometime today
Speaker Session: Consoles Are Dinosaurs – May 12th in Vancouver
Final Day: To submit Speaker Proposals for the Montreal International Game Summit

Software publisher Strategy First Inc. will increase from 20% of all sales to 30% of all sales from their game store to further assist with the ongoing crisis in Japan. The website will feature both hardcore and casual games so that everyone in the family may purchase and support Japan.

The efforts are to help the RED CROSS with the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts. The Earthquakes and Tsunami   have devastated the country and its people. Strategy First is extending its commitment to helping the region and its people through the Red Cross until April 18th, and anyone who purchases one of the other over 300 titles available on the website will directly help the Red Cross provide relief to the victims in Japan.

Some of the available titles featured are, Ninja Blade Online, Dark Fall Lost Souls, Crash Time III, Darkstar The Interactive Movie, Steel Fury, Jagged Alliance II Gold with casual titles, Rail Way Mogul, Air Port Control Simulator  and many more. Along with Hard Core Strategy, and Casual Games other genres include, Simulation, Arcade Action, Racing, RPG, Adventure, Grand Strategy, and Train Simulator. All titles are available for your donation.

“With the unfortunate news coming from Japan we are renewing our efforts to support the country and its people through the Red Cross.” Says Strategy First Director Emanuel Wall, “Our games will provide an opportunity to help others while providing good quality entertainment to Gamers.”

With your support the Red Cross can continue to provide life-saving medical care, shelter, supplies and most importantly – hope, to earthquake and tsunami survivors.  The needs are great but you can make a difference. All funds raised will support the Red Cross.

Waterloo’s Dejero Labs Inc. has announced that the Panasonic NAB exhibit will feature a Panasonic Toughbook laptop that integrates the Dejero LIVE Transmitter software to demonstrate a live HD video transmission solution that is highly mobile with 4G wireless capability. This innovative transmission solution integrates store and forward capabilities and can also upload clips, photos, and files as well as stream live video. The collaboration between Panasonic and Dejero delivers on the simple premise: broadcast live or remotely located high-quality video without the high cost or complexity of satellite or microwave transmission. Television broadcasters can view at NAB for the first time, a new choice to cover breaking news faster, with less set-up time, and with the ability to transmit anywhere cellular or Ethernet networks are available. The Dejero-enabled Toughbook laptop demonstration is at the Panasonic NAB exhibit # C3707 (in the Central Hall).

“Collaborating with Panasonic on a new HD mobile video transmission solution offers broadcasters a view of a more flexible future for live and remote file-based transmission,” said Dan Mance, Dejero CEO. “Toughbook continues Panasonic’s tradition of delivering no-compromise reliable computing for mission critical users and is the ideal Dejero enabled laptop platform.”

Solution Highlights:

• Toughbook CF-31 Laptop
• Bonded 4G Modem Module
• HD-SDI Input
• Adaptive Bit-rate H.264 Transmission
• LIVE + Store and Forward
• Direct to Web Streaming Solution
• File Transfer Clips, Photos or Files
• HD-SDI to HD-SDI, Web Stream or FTP/Folder
• Low Latency
• High Quality Video

The Panasonic and Dejero live HD video transmission solution includes the Panasonic Toughbook CF-31, the sixth generation of flagship Toughbook clamshell notebooks, which have become the gold standard of rugged computing over the past 14 years, boasting the lowest failure rates in the industry. The Toughbook incorporates the Dejero LIVE Transmitter software, to produce a portable HD/SD transmitter that connects to a camera and goes live with the push of a button. The complete solution also includes the Dejero LIVE Video Manager, the online manager that connects transmitters to video receiving servers; and the Dejero LIVE Video Server, the receiving unit that typically resides in a studio rack to decode the live video transmission for ingest.

Also at NABS is Toronto’s ViXS Systems Inc., and they invite attendees to experience how the next generation multimedia processors by ViXS are enabling new broadcast and professional applications.  Key to these digital media revolutions will be advanced transcoding, encoding and media processing from ViXS Systems.

ViXS’ smart processors put it firmly at the center of the next generation encoders and transcoders, enabling a large array of devices, including: cable/satellite/IPTV encoders; switched digital systems; multi-screen (TV, PC, mobile) transcoders; ingest systems; on-demand video delivery systems; video conferencing; surveillance and many others.  The following demonstration line will be shown at ViXS’ private suite:

• XCodePro^® multi-stream transcoder solution for broadcast and professional applications
• XCodePro^® HD/SD encoder solution for broadcast and professional applications
• Over-the-top and content mobility solutions to address the anytime, anywhere entertainment; streaming to iPAD^®s, tablets and other mobile devices

BPS Resolver Inc., a recognized leader in governance, risk and compliance (GRC) management software headquartered in Toronto has announced the release of the latest version of its flagship GRC application, GRC Cloud. Version 5.4 builds on and expands many key features in response to feedback from BPS Resolver’s customers, many of whom are leading companies in their industries. These enhancements include:

• Greater capabilities for non-Administrative users with new advanced permissions to add items and edit items within the framework from their normal working screens
• More flexibility in determining how users access and interact with reports in the home page dashboard.
• Enhanced abilities to efficiently remove or purge external documents from the application
• Capability to determine the display order of mathematical  functions and include function results in more chart types

“This release of GRC Cloud brings to fruition ideas generated both by our own product team and our customers, and allows companies to assign greater responsibility for maintenance of the GRC framework to qualified users across their organization.” said Steve Taylor, CEO, BPS Resolver Inc.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada has announced that Mobile Advertising Revenues in Canada exceeded budgeted expectations of $18 million, and grew by 169% over 2008 numbers, to just over $31.9 million for 2009. For 2010, Canadian Mobile Advertising Revenues are forecast to grow by 60%, to $51 million.

The Top 10 Earners in IAB Canada’s Mobile Advertising Revenue Survey accounted for 90% of Total Net Revenues in 2009. Revenue concentration among the Top 10 earners has increased substantially over levels recorded during previous years, which ranged from 79% in 2006 to 81% in 2008.

In order to get an update on Ad Spend as per other Media, but also keep track of the rapidly growing Application (App) development industry; for the first time, Mobile Advertising Revenues were separated into mutually-exclusive Ad Placement/Spend and Production-Only categories within IAB Canada’s Survey.

Ad Placement/Spend was the main engine behind the 169% increase in overall Canadian Mobile Ad revenues in 2009, growing at a rate of 325% year over year, driven primarily by Mobile Messaging, with $15.65 million in Net revenue. Mobile Search also grew dramatically in 2009 — to $6.7 million — exceeding Mobile Display/Sponsorship Ad Revenues, which grew to $5.1 million.

Production-Only Ad Revenue was led by monies received for the development of Mobile Applications, which experienced a massive 1377% growth rate compared to 2008, due to the proliferation of smartphones of all makes and models, following the iphone launch in Canada in April 2008. Read the rest of this entry »

Kobo has announced its plans to launch local content stores in Germany and Spain starting in May 2011, with local stores for France, Italy and the Netherlands following shortly after. Kobo’s European stores will offer customers a rich assortment of local content, merchandised to the tastes and preferences of readers across Europe. Kobo has partnered with European publishers to offer a wide range of titles on a selection of localized applications for today’s popular eReading devices. This launch marks the beginning of Kobo’s European expansion with other countries to follow.

Kobo will be in the Digital Zone & Theater Booth #Y655. Attendees who stop by and check in via Foursquare will receive Kobo merchandise. In addition, Michael Tamblyn, Executive Vice President of Content, Sales and Merchandising for Kobo is scheduled to speak at the London Book Fair Supply Chain Seminar on Wednesday, April 13 at 11:10 a.m. in Cromwell Room 1.

“European readers have been looking for an eBook service that encompasses the full range of mobile devices, tablets, and eReaders – we are happy to step up and fulfill that need. This announcement marks Kobo’s entry into the European market and an industry first. In providing local content and reading experiences for European readers, Kobo continues to build on the vision of giving people around the world the freedom to read on any device, and share their love of reading with friends,” said Michael Serbinis, CEO, Kobo.

Today, Kobo has over 3 million users, and customers in over 100 countries worldwide – in a year of dramatic growth, Kobo added just over one million of those users in less than 90 days. In addition to its global store, Kobo already offers locally merchandised English language stores in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. The Kobo store offers a selection of over 2.3 million eBooks, newspapers and magazines with titles ranging from the NYT bestseller list, the hottest new releases, thrillers, romance and over a million free books. Since its launch in 2009, Kobo has been dedicated to an open cloud-based platform, enabling users to read on any device, and with open standards that give users freedom to build their lifetime libraries as they choose. Read the rest of this entry »

GlassBOX Television Inc. and Blue Ant Media Inc., controlled by media executive Michael MacMillan, announced today they have entered into an agreement for the acquisition by Blue Ant of a controlling interest in the Company. The announcement was made by GlassBOX Television co-CEOs Jeffrey Elliott and Raja Khanna.

Blue Ant Media will initially purchase 29.9% of GlassBOX Television Inc. from both existing security holders and Company treasury. In addition, an offer has been accepted for Blue Ant to purchase additional shares in GlassBOX from existing shareholders, which will result in a minimum ownership position of 75% which, in keeping with standard regulatory policies on ownership thresholds, requires CRTC approval. This acquisition will result in Blue Ant becoming a controlling shareholder of GlassBOX Television.

With this transaction, GlassBOX Television’s executive management will be restructured. Michael MacMillan will assume the new position of Executive Chairman and will actively participate in GlassBOX Television’s strategic growth for its digital and broadcast properties, which include Bite TV, AUX TV and the newly acquired Travel & Escape Channel. Raja Khanna will become CEO and Jeffrey Elliott will take on the new position of President, and Chief Strategy Officer.

“Michael MacMillan is internationally respected in our industry and we are delighted to have him take an active role in what we are building at GlassBOX. We are well positioned as an innovative independent media company and Michael’s involvement will allow us to accelerate our growth strategy,” said Jeffrey Elliott and Raja Khanna. Read the rest of this entry »

Canadian filmmaker and 3D visionary James Cameron has teamed up with acclaimed cinematographer and fellow 3D pioneer, Vince Pace to form CAMERON – PACE Group (CPG), which seeks to accelerate worldwide growth of 3D across all entertainment platforms including features, episodic and live television, sports, advertising and consumer products, pioneering a new generation of camera systems, services and a variety of creative tools that are innovative, powerful and easier to embrace. Cameron and Pace unveiled the new company this morning during a press conference at the 2011 NAB Show in Las Vegas.

CPG will build upon the strong foundation of PACE and the 3D technology to which its co-founders have individually and collectively contributed, such as the revolutionary FUSION 3D system. In combination, Cameron’s and Pace’s technologies, products and services have been responsible for $4.7 billion of box office receipts and have played an extensive role in 25 features, seven concert and music entertainment projects and 40 sports productions worldwide, including “Avatar,” “TRON: Legacy,” “Resident Evil: Afterlife” and “U2 3D.” This history puts CPG in a unique position to respond to the growing demand for high-quality 3D entertainment and to provide 3D technology innovations that serve studios, filmmakers, directors of photography, producers, networks, studios and broadcasters. The company plans to take full advantage of its position to drive innovations in technology and deliver products, services and creative tools in unprecedented ways.

In addition to making advanced technologies, tools and services available to the global entertainment community, CPG will serve as an industry advocate for 3D technologies, practices and creative tools that will help filmmakers and other content producers realize 3D’s full potential as a creative and powerful storytelling and live broadcast medium. It will also drive public advocacy by setting the “gold standard” for the public’s perception of 3D, which will result in compelling, engaging and high quality 3D entertainment. CAMERON – PACE Group already has an extensive list of current and upcoming projects, including “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “The Three Musketeers,” “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” “Life of Pi,” and “47 Ronin.” Read the rest of this entry »

Reminder: You have two days left to apply to be one of 20 media professionals at Anita Ondine’s groundbreaking Transmedia Lab on April 28-29, presented by Merging Media Productions and CMPA-BC.
Deadline: MiGS 2011 Speaker Deadline is Monday. Get your proposals in now.
Register: Toronto Startup Weekend is June 3 – 5th.
Launch: Firefox 4 and Mozilla’s Vancouver Office Launch Party is on April 15th

Funcom and EA have released a new Secret World video – and apparently all of those conspiracy theories are … true …

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OymMalX8VYM]

Also new today from EA Sports is the SSX franchise re-launch video for the upcoming Deadly Descents.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72X8csHXflM]

Ludia and Disney-ABC Domestic Television today announced the availability of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game on Facebook platform, giving a true-to-TV experience with thousands of questions and hundreds of categories from the “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” TV show, complete with authentic theme music. Based on the exciting and unpredictable “shuffle” format of randomized questions seen on the hit TV game show, players can now enjoy a multiplayer experience with friends and other Millionaire fans across North America on Facebook.

Contestants simultaneously compete to correctly answer ten multiple choice trivia questions from various categories, with the ability to use the “Jump The Question” lifeline for a stumper question as well as use their Facebook friends as lifelines to earn bonus points and increase their chances of winning. The champion of the multiplayer “Round 1” goes on to play a “Classic Millionaire” round of four questions, each with a progressively higher dollar value that leads to the simulated $1,000,000 grand prize.

Congratulations to Ubisoft, who came out as big winners at last night’s MI6 Game Marketing Awards, hosted by California-based PromaxBDA, an international association for entertainment marketing professionals. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood picked up the following medals:

Gold Medal Best GamePlay Footage Trailer for “Enter Rome” Single-Player Gameplay Trailer
Gold Medal Best Product Packaging
Gold Medal Best Limited Edition or Collector’s Edition
Gold Medal Best Swag for the “Doctor Jack-in-the-Box” Collectible
Silver Medal Outstanding Promotional Trailer for its E3 trailer
Bronze Medal Best Co-Branding & Video Asset by Gamestop TV, Harlequin Doodle Dandy and Ubisoft

Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell franchise also won two Bronze Medals, the first for Best Use Of Online Media or Use Of Online Social Media Marketing for Splinter Cell: The Search for Sam Fisher (by Liquid Marketing), and the second for Splinter Cell Conviction “Set in Stone” Buzz Tactic in the Most Effective Buzz Creation category.

Not to be left out, Ubisoft’s Your Shape Fitness Evolved: Boot Camp Pre-Launch Campaign picked up a Bronze Medal for Most Effective Viral Marketing/Promotion and a Gold Medal for YourShape Fitness Evolved: Outtakes (Pereira & O’Dell) in the Best Work Never Seen category.

EA Sports NBA Jam picked up a Bronze Medal for NBA Jam in the Standout Print Advertisement category while Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 won a Silver Medal in the Best Online Take-over/Road Block/Rich Media Unit for Mass Effect 2 – Diorama produced by draftfcb San Francisco & Wieden+Kennedy

Speaking of awards shows, the voice over community is banding together in an effort for their industry to be recognized at the Oscars, which currently recognizes just four acting awards for live action. Animated films are eligible for the Best Picture and Animated Feature Film categories but there is no category to honour the voice actors in these films.

Canadian company Voices.com initiated the idea for a change to the Oscars program on their Facebook Group. When the company asked if talent were willing to not only talk the talk but also walk the walk and sign a petition lobbying for a voice over performance category, the fan-base gave them a resounding thumbs-up.

“Our initial research shows that many people are in support of the Academy Awards introducing a category for voice over performance,” says Stephanie Ciccarelli, Voices.com Chief Marketing Officer. “We were amazed by the outpouring of support in our endeavor to get the ball rolling in this regard. Recognition in the form of an Oscar for voice actors not only acknowledges their work at this level but also esteems voice acting and its significant contribution to film.”

The purpose of the petition is to achieve recognition for actors who perform behind the scenes. Outstanding voice over performances breathe life into animated films thereby creating iconic characters that are memorable, lovable and real. Recognizing the art of voice acting by designating a voice over performance category for voice actors in the Oscars could result in the fulfillment of many collective dreams.

Ubisoft and Gatorade have announced a new partnership to deliver a workout series designed specifically for fitness athletes for Ubisoft’s popular video game Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Gatorade enlisted the talents of celebrity-trainer Gunnar Peterson to develop a workout series created around the G Series™ FIT, their new line of innovative products for fitness athletes. The Gatorade-inspired workouts are available to download now for free on the Xbox LIVE marketplace.

The ‘G Series FIT Workout with Gunnar Peterson’ offers personalized training sessions with one of the country’s top celebrity and athlete trainers and the workout plan is designed to inspire and fuel the inner athlete in everyone. The downloadable workout plan includes a 30-minute full-body toning program, and introduces new exercises including jumping jacks, squat raises, lunges, and other new moves that integrate free weights and dumbbells.

Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is available exclusively on Kinect™ for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system. G Series FIT was developed specifically for fitness athletes to provide fuel, fluid and nutrients before, during and after a workout. The products, each inspired by fitness athletes and designed by Gatorade, are currently available nationwide.

Yesterday Frima Studio hosted the Quebec Minister of Family, Yolande James, in a press conference at Frima’s office to announce the new Work-Family Standard for local businesses— the first such business certification standards in the world. Frima Studio’s offices were chosen to host the press conference because of Frima’s notable respect for and contributions to the advancement of work-life balance for their employees.

The new standard announced by the government of Quebec yesterday aims to attract and retain employees. Similar to environmental standards established years ago, businesses will soon be able to apply for work-family certification, which when granted will serve as a demonstration of the company’s respect for a healthy balance between work life and family life.

“We truly believe in work and family balance as an investment for our company, rather than an expense,” remarked Steve Couture, CEO, Frima Studio. “We care about our employees’ lives outside of the workplace and we plan to be the first in line to apply for the new standard certification.”

After being recognized with an award in 2010 from the Quebec government for their efforts to balance employees’ work and family lives, Frima continues to put an emphasis on progressive programs that make Frima Studio one of the best places to work in the world. Frima employees are provided with the freedom to care for their families as needed, offering benefits such as flexible work schedules, free bus passes, in-office massage therapy, and a performance rewards system that trades points for services that can help in the home.

Frima is currently hiring to fill more than 35 open positions in art, design, and programming.
Photo Credit: Frima

Markham Electronic Medical Record service provider Nightingale Informatix Corporation has launched its web-based EMR and practice management solution, Nightingale On Demand on the Apple^® iPad™.

Nightingale On Demand for the iPad™ responds to the increasing need for physicians and healthcare providers to have mobile access to their patient data. Key functionalities of the application will allow physicians to review patient charts and lab results, respond to patient and staff messages, as well as manage the scheduling and billing of patient visits. This is a complimentary tool for physicians using Nightingale On Demand and has been designed with use in settings, such as hospital rounds or offsite patient management and homecare, in mind.

“We are pleased to offer Nightingale On Demand to our customers for use on the iPad™,” said Sam Chebib, President and CEO of Nightingale. “Product innovation is a cornerstone of the Company’s mandate. We strive to provide solutions that not only make EMR implementation easier for physicians but also leverage the most current technology available in the marketplace.  We are confident that this will be a significant value added product offering for our customers. As a result, we anticipate considerable uptake over the coming months.”

Nightingale is leading the Canadian EMR market as one of the first companies with plans to launch an iPad™-enabled solution. Physicians and healthcare providers will have the comfort of knowing that all patient data entered while using the iPad™ is stored directly to the same secure servers Nightingale uses for its existing ASP EMR, and that no patient data will remain on the iPad™ device. Nightingale On Demand for the iPad™ will be made available to the Company’s more than 3,000 EMR users in Canada, as well as all new EMR customers.