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Series New Brunswick technology companies to watch in 2008 DAVID SHIPLEY Telegraph-Journal Published Monday January 7th, 2008 Appeared on page B1 Tim Workman is the kind of person who has big ideas. Workman, a retired army major, has traded in his uniform for a shirt and tie and is hoping some of his notions about advanced simulation technologies can translate into economic opportunities for New Brunswick. His aim is to transform his experience leading the training technology's branch of the Army Individual Training Authority at CFB Gagetown into new opportunities for his new private-sector employer, Acron Capability Engineering. Acron, a small Ottawa-based high-tech firm specializing in developing the kinds of immersive, simulation-based serious gaming that the Canadian Forces is increasingly interested in, lured Workman from the army in the fall to run its Fredericton office. Acron's entry into the advanced training technology sector in New Brunswick is notable because the firm has established a track record of meeting the advanced training needs of the Canadian military. In May, the company was able to integrate two different simulation software programs into a single training environment. The project involved linking Virtual BattleSpace Version One from Bohemia Interactive to the Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation, or JCATS, program used by the Land Force Quebec Area Simulation Centre at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, Que. Integrating the two programs allowed soldiers using the Virtual Battlespace first-person shooter to be coordinated by military officers using the JCATS software. Acron's work also included the development of several new 3-D models of for use in training soldiers. Researchers at CFB Gagetown have also been working on linking different kinds of simulators together to create virtual battlefields. Workman, now the vice-president of strategic initiatives for Acron, is hoping to link the private company with the Army's research and development teams at CFB Gagetown. Those research efforts have so far led to the Canadian Forces' first in-house video game development effort called Canadian Forces: Direct Action. Infantry soldiers at the base now use Direct Action, a first-person shooter based on Vivendi Universal's popular SWAT 4 game, as part of their training. The software has also garnered the attention of police forces across North America. Workman said much of the research and development effort at CFB Gagetown is geared towards two goals: creating new technologies and helping create cultural changes that would help soldiers and officers embrace new advanced learning tools. He said he hopes that through his work with Acron and with the provincial e-learning association, LearnNB, he can help further both goals. "My intent through working with Acron is to help foster the technical development (at CFB Gagetown), in collaboration with folks like the National Research Council labs, the University of New Brunswick, the Universite de Moncton and other entities throughout the province," he said. Workman said he's also hoping to continue to help bring the about cultural changes needed for advanced training technologies to succeed through his role as a director of LearnNB. The 39-year-old is also hoping that through LearnNB, Acron will be able to work on other, non-military advanced training opportunities with other New Brunswick firms. Workman said his new role in the private sector allows him to operate without the constraints imposed by rules governing the public service that limited how much he could work with industry. "By shifting out of uniform I can now have a much greater degree of collaboration with the private-sector areas than I could before," he said. Still, he said, there are downsides to leaving the Canadian Forces. "The resources that a federal government department like (national defence) has that can be brought to bear are significant," he said. "(But) we're trying to foster closer relationships between private-sector companies like Acron and (the Department of National Defence)." While the military brings a great deal of in-house research and development expertise to the table, Acron is hoping to leverage its relationship with Microsoft Corp. to bring new technologies and opportunities to the Canadian Forces. If officials within the department and within the Canadian Forces are open to working closely with Acron and other private-sector companies, such collaboration could help turn the provincial government's goal of creating an advanced training technologies cluster in the province into a reality. Such a cluster would see the military, universities, private-sector companies and the provincial government work together, creating new technologies, which in turn will lure existing advanced training companies to the province and foster homegrown start-ups. One benefit to New Brunswick of the development of an advanced training cluster is access to next-generation technologies such as Microsoft's new simulation creating tool called ESP. As a Microsoft partner, Acron has access to ESP and other advancements, he noted. This year will be an important year for developing advanced training technology sector in New Brunswick, Workman said. A number of federal government request for proposals for advanced training technology sector are expected to be released in the next 18 months, providing opportunities for New Brunswick-based IT companies, he said. "In terms of posturing New Brunswick companies for growth, we think 2008 is going to be a very significant year," he said. This is the first of an occasional series of stories on up-and-coming technology companies in New Brunswick. |
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