Year in review: April 2011

jd speedy

13 years ago

Microsoft Corp. had two major releases on the software front in April. Not only did the company release Internet Explorer 10, a zippy new upgrade of their normally slow offering, and a Bing Search app for Apple Inc.’s iPad.

Telus Corp. announced it would begin construction on Canada’s first LTE network later in the year. The network was to offer download speeds of up to 150 Mbps under ideal conditions, though speeds one-quarter to one-third of that were more likely.

Blogging Idol, ComputerWorld Canada’s annual blogging competition, returned with for a fourth season. Judges for the contest included Season 3 winner Chris Lau and Social Media Group CE Maggie Fox.

After 10 months of negotiations, Russian telecom giant VimpelCom Ltd. agreed to purchase the parent company of Canada’s Wind Mobile, making it part of the sixth largest mobile telecom company in the world.

U.S. President Barrack Obama renewed his committment to broadband infrastructure in the States, aiming to provide next-generation broadband access to 98 per cent of the U.S. population within five years.

Google Inc. denied having improper certifications for its government apps and John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems Inc. (pictured), called for dramatic cuts at the company and a narrowed focus on five networking technoplogies.

Hackers at NSS Labs uncovered a handshake hole in firewalls that allows intruders to fool the firewall into believing an outside IP address is actually a trusted IP address within the firewall.

Closer to home, the Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance honoured one of its co-founders, wireless pioneer and tireless fundraiser George Fierheller, who helped raise more than $350 million for charitable causes. He was also named inaugural winner of IT World Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award.