About the NCIT

Photonics The NCIT (NCIT Inc.) was established in 1999 as an incorporated non-for-profit business to create an enduring institute to undertake state-of-the-art research in the then emerging field of broadband communications; to train highly qualified people to provide local and national leadership in this technology revolution; to create new jobs and economic prosperity for the Province of Ontario; and to build a sustainable infrastructure including 9 university research laboratories and a live high-speed optical network connecting the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and the two Federal Laboratories NRC and CRC. These research, development and training activities were managed under “NCIT Project” which was completed on December 31, 2005. Subsequently, The NCIT took over management of the ORNEC Project (Ontario Research Network in Electronic Commerce starting October 01, 2004; the ORNEC Project is completed June 30, 2008. Click on the ORNEC tab for more information.

With the completion of the NCIT Project and the ORNEC Project, the NCIT has completed its mandate and the NCIT Board of Directors has therefore approved a resolution during its meeting on March 24, 2008 to close down the NCIT and surrender its charter. This is a rather lengthy legal and financial process that is expected to be completed before end of September 2008. Dr. Robert Crawhall the President of the NCIT since the year 2000 is taking a new job as the President and Chief Executive Officer of nano québec in Montréal, Québec (http://www.nanoquebec.ca/) starting July 02, 2008.

The NCIT Founding Members are the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Algonquin College, the NRC, the CRC, Nortel, Alcatel, Bell Canada and OCRI.

The NCIT Board of Directors included members from academic institutions, industries and the Federal Labs. As at November 2006, the Board members were:

Feridun Hamdullahpur, VP Research & International, Carleton University (Acting Chair)
Mona Nemer, VP Research, University of Ottawa
Bob Gillett, President, Algonquin College
Robert Crawhall, President, NCIT
Veena Rawat, Acting President, CRC
Marie D’Iorio, Director General, IMS, NRC
Jeffrey Dale, President and CEO, OCRI
Claudine Simson, ICT Consultant (Formerly CTO and Corporate VP, Freescale Semiconductors)
Tom Moss, President, Telecom Ottawa

The NCIT started operations in 1999 by establishing the NCIT Founding Project to undertake research in all aspects of broadband communications, established the NCIT*net and initiated other activities to develop research labs, research opportunities and research alliances.

NCIT Founding Project started in January of 2000 with a 5-Year Term (ended in December of 2005) with funding from Federal and Provincial sources as well as partner industries. It was managed by the NCIT Technology Committee Chaired by Dr. Samy Mahmoud, Dean, Faculty Engineering and Design at Carleton University with membership from Universities, Industries and Federal Labs. The total funding of $41M (19.2M from ORDCF, CFI, OIT and Industry Partners along with $21.5M inkind from Universities, Industries and Federal Labs) was applied to support research, establish NCIT*net as a high-speed optical network, establish research alliances and education and training opportunities. The NCIT Founding Project structured its research activities in four coordinated thrusts:

Fiber Optics and Wavelength Division Multiplexing Technologies
Broadband Wireless and Component Technology Evolution
Networking, Computing and Control Technologies
Multimedia Communications and Applications

Many research projects have been started under each of the above 4 Thrusts with a strong focus on aligning Academic, Federal Labs, and Industry research initiatives and interest and on working with small industry partners to allow them low-risk participation in exploratory research in the established Academic Labs.

NCIT*net was established as an optical research network connecting Labs at sites of the four Founding Members (University of Ottawa, Carleton University, NRC and CRC). It was commissioned by the NCIT during the year 2000 to provide unique telecom research capacity enabling research and development of pre-commercial applications at all layers/planes from physical to network to management and control. Upgrades in 2004 connected the NCIT*net to Algonquin College and added more wavelengths and capabilities.

NCIT Educational and Training Initiatives included the establishment of the NCIT Fellowship program to bring industrial researchers into academic life to work on academic but industrially-oriented research; establishment of new professorships to encourage hiring by University Partners of young academics; and the establishment of the Under-Forty Photonics Prize to encourage and reward young researchers in photonics.

NCIT Research and Training Labs were founded with funding from the NCIT at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and Algonquin College in wireless, networking and multimedia as a concerted effort to establish research infrastructure and research capacity.

NCIT Outreach Activities initiated to strengthen the research capacity of the Ottawa Cluster through the establishment of major research alliances in photonics (OPRA: Ottawa Photonics Research Alliance) and wireless (OWRA: Ottawa Wireless Research Alliance) in addition to workshops specialized in networking topics like MPLS and VoIP.

Click on “NCIT Archive” for more details on the above 5 items

ORNEC In November of 2004, the NCIT started management of ORNEC (Ontario Research Network in Electronic Commerce). ORNEC was established in 2001 with a grant of $13.4M from ORDCF to the University of Ottawa, along with $26.8M in contributions from the four universities and private sector partners in the technology, business and law sectors. ORNEC is the meeting place where Industry, Government and Universities conduct eCommerce research with the objectives to create scientific knowledge pioneer breakthroughs, new concepts, new business models and best practices in eCommerce law, business and technology. ORNEC contributes to the enrichment of a highly qualified pool of future academic and business leaders and to the economic growth and job creation by leveraging the effective and efficient transfer of knowledge and innovation to Canadian businesses. ORNEC ends in December 2007.

Click on “ORNEC Project” for more details

NCIT Members

University of Ottawa
Carleton University
Algonquin College
National Research Council of Canada (NRC)
Communications Research Centre (CRC)
Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI)
Bell Canada