Wavefront's Wireless Zone Brings 1000 Hardware Devices to the Canadian Startup Community Making Testing Mobile Applications Easily Affordable

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec. 7, 2016) - Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre Society ("Wavefront"), a national centre of excellence, headquartered in Vancouver, BC., today announces the expansion and re-launch of its Wireless Zones in 6 accelerator facilities across Canada. These device libraries have now expanded to carry over 1000 devices including, smartphones, tablets, sensors and wearables, spread across locations in Vancouver, Toronto, Waterloo, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. The addition of sensors and wearables is to help augment the commercialization of applications being developed for the Internet of Things (IoT).

Through exclusive agreements with Rogers, Samsung and Sierra Wireless, Wavefront is able to provide a range of hardware devices and SIM services that help developers, UI/UX designers and QA personnel test their mobile applications across a variety of operating systems and environments, with minimal rental and data costs. Wavefront has partnered with Communitech, Invest Ottawa, Centennial College, CEIM and Volta to deliver this essential service through hosting Wireless Zones in their facilities. Startups and SMEs can access these devices to help get their products to market faster and more effectively. This past year, the device libraries have recorded over 4542 rental days using 407 handsets. With the increase in devices available for testing, Wavefront anticipates seeing a significant increase in usage throughout the next year.

"We greatly appreciate the support of our enterprise and community partners in helping us expand the Wireless Zone offering," said Wavefront CEO, James Maynard. "Being able to provide a resource such as the Wireless Zones have contributed to enabling the companies we work with to accelerate their time to market by 4 to 5 months, while also saving them considerable costs in building their businesses."

With the rapid rise of applications being developed for connected devices in industries such as healthcare, retail, smart-home automation, smart communities, and in-vehicle technologies, developers are keenly aware that success hinges on their applications performing without fail for the end user; and testing is necessary for that outcome. By 2020, analyst firm Gartner predicts there will be nearly 20 Billion connected devices in the marketplace, and is expected to generate $300 Billion in incremental revenues. Wavefront's core mandate is to help drive economic impact and social benefits for Canadians through accelerating the adoption and commercialization of wireless and IoT technologies. Wavefront does this by equipping companies with the critical resources, partnerships and opportunities necessary to scale from Startup up to export ready, mid-size enterprises.

"We all have a role to play in supporting Canada's innovation ecosystem," said Nitin Kawale, President, Enterprise Business Unit, Rogers Communications. "We recognize the challenges that some businesses face when it comes to bringing new technologies to market successfully. By providing devices in Wavefront's Wireless Zone, we hope to give start-ups a big boost - to accelerate their market-readiness and get on with becoming the high growth companies of the future."

"Working with a partner such as Wavefront allows us to bring even more value to the programs and services that Communitech delivers to our startup and SME community," commented Avvey Peters, VP External Relations, Communitech. "It also allows us to support the growth of a nationally engaged entrepreneurial ecosystem."

About Wavefront

As the Canadian Centre of Excellence for wireless innovation we are one of a handful of organizations in the world that bring all the components critical to a wireless company's success under one roof. Companies at all stages of development, from emerging start-ups to more established players benefit from our holistic approach to commercialization. We are able to address the needs of both Wireless Entrepreneurs and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Wavefront Accelerator. Our expertise in technical training and business consulting allows us to deliver solutions to established enterprise companies who want to gain a competitive market advantage through Wavefront Enterprise Solutions.

Visit www.wavefront.ca to learn more

About Communitech

Communitech is a private-public innovation centre in Waterloo Region that supports a community ecosystem of more than 1,000 tech companies -- from startups to rapidly growing mid-size companies and large global players. A member of the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs, which is funded by the Ontario Government, Communitech helps tech companies start, grow and succeed.

Visit www.communitech.ca to learn more.