Funding announced for marine information distribution center

One-stop Internet shopping for marine information has arrived. Compusult Limited's Marine Information Distribution Centre (MID-C) allows users to search for and order marine data, data products and services from worldwide data centres in a single Internet session. Funding of $614,745 for this prototype distribution centre for Newfoundland and Labrador was officially announced today by the Fred Mifflin, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Secretary of State for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), on behalf of the Ralph Goodale, Minister of Natural Resources Canada, with Judy Foote, Newfoundland and Labrador's Minister of Industry, Trade and Technology. ACOA will be involved in the administration of the funding.

"MID-C is a unique system that can provide one-stop shopping for earth science data," said Minister Mifflin. "This is a good example of a high-tech company finding a high-tech solution to meet a specific demand. At the same time, MID-C makes environmental information readily available to help Canada meet its international scientific commitments."

"This partnership is advantageous to Newfoundland and Labrador," noted Minister Foote. "Industries involved in fishing, and oil and mineral exploration and production will benefit, and the environmental industry can take advantage of business opportunities created by MID-C locally and abroad."

Compusult is a world-class software developer and information processing company based in Newfoundland. It offers advanced data products and services to private and public sector clients worldwide.

"It is encouraging to see innovative companies, such as Compusult, prepared to rise to the challenge and exploit high technology opportunities," Minister Mifflin noted. "The MID-C system will help Atlantic companies take part in the worldwide growth of environmental technologies, products and services."

"This is a perfect opportunity for Compusult Limited to provide a valuable resource," said Barry O'Rourke, Compusult's President. "With our data warehousing technology, MID-C will provide the ideal platform for making many of the industry's most useful data sets available." MID-C will be integrated with the Government of Canada's Canadian Earth Observation Network (CEONet) initiative, a national computer-network infrastructure designed to send, receive and manage large volumes of land and marine satellite data. This data is crucial for locating oil spills, tracking icebergs, and detecting and forecasting weather. The integration of MID-C with CEONet will make access easier to national and international data archives and, eventually, allow real-time access to remotely acquired data such as satellite imagery.

The funding for MID-C is part of a $1.2 million project to provide centralized access and distribution to vital marine information. It is provided under the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Development Fund which was established to help defray costs related to oil and gas development off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, allowing the province to benefit from offshore development activity.

The federal portion of the funding for this initiative was provided for in the February 1997 federal budget and is therefore built into the existing fiscal framework.

NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available on the Internet at //www.nrcan.gc.ca/

1998 03 02

10:50 a.m.

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