Central Region

i-Valley’s Ontario Model

The i-VALLEY Intelligent Community Association (i-VALLEY) has announced the “best practices” model for Ontario communities to use, to enable communities to start now in creating their networks, instead of waiting for government funding!

i-VALLEY is the proponent of choice to partner with Ontario communities in the creation of a community-owned network. It is not only the most experienced community network organization in Canada, but it brings independent financing to launch and construct the network immediately.

Many companies can create networks. i-Valley is the only organization in Canada with an eight-fold combination of the earned expertise needed by Ontario regions,

  • Including:
    1. Community-owned network delivery, with hands-on experience centered on community values, contrasted with a review of other options such as Private Sector Ownership;
    2. Community governance of the network, using practical experience over the years in projects such as the Valley Community Fibre Network;
    3. True open-access network operation, avoiding private-interest ownership and operation;
    4. Turnkey Management of the implementation and operation of the network;
    5. Community revenue generation;
    6. “Utility Model” ROI structure with long-term concession;
    7. Successful track record of securing public funding; and
    8. Public-Private Partnership (P3) financial partner ready to assist with the structuring and securing of private capital under a P3 model.

i-Valley has partnered with exemplary P3 organizations which specialize in financing infrastructures. Together they will build the business plan to provide the funding that regions require  —  a combination that will act as a powerful lever in obtaining any available Public Sector funding.

Unlike other applicants, i-Valley has actually created award-winning community networks, and can run them.  It brings financing, so the network will be built – regardless of the whims of Public funding.

This makes i-Valley is the partner of choice for the Broadband Network connectivity. I-VALLEY looks forward to helping make every Regional vision a reality!

i-VALLEY’s Ontario Leadership

i-VALLEY is represented in Ontario by some of the industry’s most senior and experienced executives:

Terry Dalton, President of i-VALLEY

Terry Dalton has been in charge of a substantial number of public-sector projects with the Federal Government, including:

  • Co-founder, architect, project management of the National Research Council of Canada Canadian Bioinformatics Resource, International Centre of Excellence in Distributed Bioinformatics, a network of seventeen high-performance computing datacentre operations across Canada;
  • Executive Director, Atlantic Canada Organization of Research Networks – Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia partner in Canada’s National Research and Education Network
    • Optical network interconnecting Nova Scotia universities, NSCC campuses, hospitals, Atlantic Canada’s First Nations Help Desk, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Valley Community Fibre Network, Nova Scotia Department of Education
    • Development, project management of Valley Community Fibre Network
    • Successful at bringing in over $10M in advanced network infrastructure funding into Nova Scotia, including over $1M for VCFN, funding, and support for the original FundyWeb fibre infrastructure, and Halifax Metro Dark Fibre Network 
  • Co-chair, Canada’s National Research and Education Network Technical Committee
  • NRC Coordinator, Canadian Advanced Network Operations
  • He provides leadership in the development and operation of advanced research and education network infrastructure and services, including community-owned fibre infrastructure, engaging others to discover relationships and opportunity through digital infrastructure and services that lead to collaborations in the development of applications, programs, and research, development and industrial activities
  • Member i-Canada Governors Council, Co-Chair of i-Atlantic, and Principal and President of i-Valley Intelligent Community Association
  • Terry is a 42-year member of IEEE, 39-year Member of TechNova, recipient of two national NRC Outstanding Achievement Awards for contributions to science, technology, and innovation in Canada, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient in recognition for contributions to Canada, CANARIE 20th Anniversary Award as a Visionary Builder of Canada’s Research and Education Network, and recipient of the IEEE 2013 Outstanding Industrial Contribution Award in Communications and Informatics.

Barry Gander, Co-Founder of i-Valley

Barry Gander, from the Brockville area, is Co-Founder of i-VALLEY.  Barry has dedicated his life to the advocacy and adoption of communications technologies by communities and economic sectors:

  • He has co-directed the awarding of the world’s first ISO Certification for Smart Rural Region  –  a gold medal for the Annapolis Valley.
  • He has helped lead the drive to successfully obtain millions of dollars in funding for broadband network development in rural regions.
  • He led Canada’s largest high-tech organization  –  the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance  –  through the years of its most rapid growth.
  • He is a leader and published author in the creation of Smart or Intelligent Communities, where all citizens enjoy the proven benefits of sustainable employment, a competitive community, high educational standards, exemplary health care, and the total ecosystem of a supportive culture
  • He created a “Best Practices” program to unite Mayors of major cities and have them share their Smart City expertise. As a result, Canada is the world leader in Intelligent Community competitions
  • He pulled together industry leaders and academics to develop a new way of analyzing Smart Cities that would accelerate their development and unify them in solution-sharing.  This work led to the adoption of the message that Smart Communities are 90% about social development and 10% about technology – a fundamental understanding of socio-economic activity within communities
  • Barry has experience in some 50 cities as well as several countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.
  • As the Executive Vice President of Canada’s largest information technology organization, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA), Barry makes continuing access possible to a network of some 30,000 business leaders.
  • Barry co-founded i-VALLEY with Terry Dalton to focus on bringing the rural and remote regions of Canada into the global broadband age, by establishing networks as essential utilities with the same 2-year ROI as bridges, roads, and electrical systems.

Grant Street, CIRA Internet Performance Test (IPT) Product Manager

Grant Street has created numerous Lander Pages and other projects with CIRA for different communities across Canada.  CIRA is a partner in identifying both local Internet conditions as well as available infrastructure for potential projects. Grant Street has more than 35 years’ experience building multi-discipline telecommunication networks, both internationally in 61 different countries as well as in numerous Canadian locations.

His roles included Project and Contract Management, detailed Proposal Writing, Contract Writing, and Negotiation, locating and negotiating Funding Agreements with both government and private entities including the World Bank, Project and Construction Planning, Location Surveying and analysis, Mapping and Plotting of tower and point-of-presence locations, and numerous other functions related to the provision of services.

Currently, Grant is CIRA’s Internet Performance Test (IPT) Product Manager responsible for working with Municipalities across Canada to measure real-world Internet performance, analyzing and reporting on the data, informing government organizations about the state of the Internet in Canada, helping municipalities understand test results and assisting in the planning of Funding applications as they relate to the IPT data.