Hey, very impressive! I especially like the number of female names that pop up in some eras. You did miss me though! Special effects made right here! https://www.youtube.com/user/gryphonpro

Now here is a masterpiece of candor, insight, and ballsiness those of us who want to be a part of the transparency era can certainly appreciate! And something only possible from a veteran in this local ecosystem. Really appreciate the huge effort you put into giving us a timeline of progression, key players, key successes, and insights into the messy political aspects of funding and the business of bureaucratic payrolls (i.e. book enough meetings to keep my job, results and ROI be damned). For those of us less connected, it's validating to know that some of the political sketchiness that appeared as blips on the radar over the years wasn't just a few ghosts. And there are still some big blips even to this day that don't go unnoticed, but it's best to keep those filed away in the dark, securely encrypted, password protected vault of Dropbox. :P In this time of Social Media dominance, now there is a vastly greater platform for various groups to get their message out, create some alignment/cohesiveness/synergy amongst them, and also to keep a watchful eye. Likewise, this new startup community has the advantage of better technology components to build on top of, so let's hope that everyone can keep up the hustle on par with the old (and continuing) guard - who had to do so against more adverse conditions. I get concerned sometimes when there appears to be more economic dev groups forming than startups, and more money put into those groups. IMO, less speakers, more doers needed. ;)

Very interesting read. Thanks a bunch of sharing it. It's nice to see it all put to paper this way and to have some insight about recent historical events, which have undeniably shaped the current experiences of everyone working in the modern tech sector, from someone who was a big part of it all. I totally mirror Joe's view below that transparency and having "more doers and less speakers" is the way to go, and I personally feel that a lot of the fairly negative historical issues mentioned in this article could have been avoided, or their negative impact could have been mitigated, had those elements been present. Regarding the foreword included at the end of the article, I don't personally view the fact that it's still relevant as being indicative of some sort of failing. Had things turned around in the past decade to a significant extent, had tech become the dominant industry in Cape Breton and had all our hopes and dreams regarding a bright, economically prosperous future come to fruition: many of the views expressed there would still hold true. It's not about doing the best. It's about doing the best you can... and you can always do better than you have. Progress has been made, and is being made. Could more have been made? That's irrelevant. All we can do is try to learn, work to adapt and continue trying to do the best we can.

Wow...great read, and definitely brought me back! Chatsubo was acquired by Knowledge House. They maintained the web hosting business from Chatsubo (they hosted Rita MacNeil's website, Celtic Colours, Owen Fitzgerald's, etc.). My husband was at Chatsubo, and then moved to Halifax to work with Knowledge House. He was a casualty when KHI went down, but was lucky enough to get a job with CrossOff. When KHI went under, the web server was saved and Mike Slaven and Harry Doyle founded locals.ca and maintained most of the same clients. Harry created the cblocals.com website, which was a portal, similar to this for the underground music and skate scene in Cape Breton. He expanded that framework to allow for other communities to build their own 'locals' communities (Halifax, Moncton, PEI, etc.) using the same engine/framework. I did work terms with AG Research - it was founded by Eric Whyte (and possibly John MacKinnon). We moved back to Sydney in 2007 to work at AG during those Lonely Years. With a young family, and not much going on, we left CB for better job security in 2012. The Silicon Island days inspired me to take Computer Science. There was so much excitement and optimism.

I went to see Jurasic World today and was reminded of one missing piece when they showed a preview for the latest FIFA game. Back in the day VMP housed an early model motion capture machine and were contracted to do the motion capture and animation for one of EA Sports original FIFA Soccer games.

Matt: As one of the the “three musketeers”, since I’ve long forgotten the story of the “three musketeers” I’m not so sure that is complimentary. However, we could have been labeled the ; “three stooges” and I guess curly would befall to me. In any event you’ve done an excellent job in capturing the essence of that period of Cape Breton History. I’m not so sure that “Epic” quite captures the period but I’ll leave that up to others to judge. Your recall and coverage of the period far exceeds what I can remember and your capture of the tension between bureaucrats and the start-ups does strike a familiar cord as it did during that time. My time at ECBC was short lived but under the tutelage of Mike Kelly and Pat Bates much interesting work was taking place. I often look back at that period with a certain sadness, because collectively, we had a chance to really make things happen. With Pat’s early departure from ECBC to care for his family, much of the energy was sucked out of the place by the replacement team. And from your story, this has continued unabated for a good period of time. I do sense your on-going angst with bureaucrats and their roll in how the upstarts played in those days and in later years. I can only speak for the time I worked at ECBC and without question, the team in place, including Pat Bates, Francis Mullins, Jim Addicott, Cecil Smith, Mike Kelly, the Marketing gang and in general, all the staff I knew and worked with had a common vision. The Board of Directors also backed the initiatives, that more or less arose from the working staff and in corporation with the clients; that being entrepreneurs like yourself and the others who came for financial support. It is unfortunate that the good work that was started back then by many faltered. to be continued ...

On another point, after leaving ECBC in ’95, I spent time with Erick & Jean White, at Atlantic Geomatics and subsequently spent several years working with Harry Woodman who was general manger of Seaside Cable. It was at that time that Will Hickie & Murray Heggie came to visit and showcase what was then the promise of a video streaming technology coupled with image detection to service the security market. It’s important to note that a good deal of private sector money for Packetware came from the late Irving Schwartz. A real gentleman and a huge entrepreneurial fan. He not only opened his wallet but brought significant influence to the table on this project and a good number of others I might ad. This project stood on its own merit and ECBC supported the project through its various programs. I understand, after Heggie and the other company leaders moved to Halifax, Chubb Canada awarded a multi-million dollar contract. Although it was early stage technology, my sense is there wasn’t sufficient back office support to sustain the client base and the business case faltered. I need close out for now but before doing so I need to give a shout out to Dave Martell of the National Research Council. What a wonderful man who walked the talk in funding a good number of projects s that were presented to him.

What a fun blast from the past! I worked for Paul Patterson at the MOTC (TAG! I vaguely recall possibly making the website for TAG?! - I also worked on the first websites for the Fortress and the Library) and later for Weldon Bona way back in the day, and also for Ken & Donnie @ Silicon Island / Knowledgehouse... Oh man Knowledgehouse was supposed to make us all rich, remember?! ... I'm still at Centre for Distance Education (ps you spelled it wrong ;) Thanks for this!

Well done Matt. It sure brings back a lot of good memories. There is one other person I think played a big role in the TAG and the activities at CBU and that was the late Dr Bob Morgan. He was instrumental in getting the MOU going with ECBC and even won a Conference Board of Canada award for government / University cooperation. He also helped establish many of the Tech Labs and Centres at CBU as well getting the Chairs in the Management of Technology Change established and renewed.. Although primarily a historian, Bob was a great friend of the tech sector and a regular participant of the post-TAG meetings at the pub, where the real work got done! Thanks again Matt

What is micro and soft and desired by nerds? Those in the IT sector with an interest in certifications should check out the Dr. StrangeJob blog below for the answer. Also, your epic history did not mention the CBU BTI degree. As for the relevance of BTI, I would note that one of its many prosperous alumni is Gavin Uhma of UIT. https://drstrangejob.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/what-is-micro-and-soft-and-desired-by-nerds/

Excellent article Matthew. I really enjoyed this read. Brought back many memories of watching this industry unfold from a local media standpoint. I have had to the pleasure of working sporadically, and sometimes collaborating on an ongoing basis, with many of the people mentioned in your piece. Thank you for taking the time to write this. Lawrence Clarke

Hello Mathew, I realize this article is 7 months old now but I thought I should mention another Tech Industry that existed in Cape Breton for about 7 years which employed upwards of several hundred and perhaps over a thousand workers for a period of time. General Instruments. "General Instruments established a factory in Sydney in 1967 and stayed until 1974. There was controversy when it came, and controversy when it went. By the end, there were close to 8000 badge numbers, representing around 5000 workers, through the General Instruments plant." I do not have any personal knowledge of this industry but I can provide a reference to a two part Cape Breton's Magazine" article here: http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=2795 http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=2826 The story behind this industry sounds familiar once you start reading some of the accounts: "(Why did they come to Cape Breton?) Well they came--just as now, there is an incentive, with a tax rebate--they came for that purpose. They were desirous of setting up a plant. And maybe they had so much production to make. And if they could make it here, they would get a real royalty back, because of the fact of the tax rebate." http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=2800