Partners with Province of Manitoba, City of
Winnipeg, YES! Winnipeg and
Manitoba Hydro to Open Next Generation Computing and App Solution
Centre
TORONTO,
May 2, 2013 /CNW/ - Canadian Tire
Corporation, Limited (TSX:CTC) (TSX:CTC.a) today announced that it
is executing the next phase of its innovation strategy and will be
opening the 'Canadian Tire Cloud Computing Centre' in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the fall of 2013. One
of the most advanced centres of its kind in North America, the 28,000 square foot site
will house a digital content warehouse, application lab, testing
lab and high performance data centre. It will serve as the
core digital hub for the Canadian Tire Family of Companies.
Scheduled to be operational in October of this year, the new
centre will provide the Company - which includes Canadian Tire
Retail, Mark's, Sport Chek, Sports Experts, National Sports,
Atmosphere, Partsource, Gas+ and Financial Services - with 20-times
more computing power and 10-times more network bandwidth than its
existing technology infrastructure. The Canadian Tire Cloud
Computing Centre, which will add 50 new Winnipeg-based employees to the Canadian Tire
team in its first year, will be used to host the Company's new 'App
Factory,' where advanced digital solutions will be developed.
"The Centre is a foundational piece to the digital work we're
implementing across the Family of Companies. As retail
evolves into e-tail, the centre will accelerate this revolution,"
said Eugene Roman, Chief Technology
Officer, Canadian Tire Corporation. "The applications we are
developing will power improvements to back-end operations as well
as enhance the customers' in-store shopping experience and
turbo-charge their interaction with our brands online."
Canadian Tire selected Manitoba
because of the region's burgeoning technology community, which are
the result of significant government investments in the sector from
the Province of Manitoba and the
City of Winnipeg.
"Despite global economic uncertainty, Manitoba continues to grow and attract
investment that is creating jobs and building momentum in downtown
Winnipeg," said Manitoba Premier Greg
Selinger. "We are pleased to support Canadian Tire's
Advanced Cloud Computing Centre, and we look forward to attracting
further investment as a result of the new media and data processing
business incentives in Budget 2013."
"The opening of the Canadian Tire data centre will create
terrific opportunities in our technology sector and will
significantly advance the digital media industry in Winnipeg," said Mayor Sam Katz. "This announcement by one of
Canada's top retailers also
signals our success in making Winnipeg a city of choice for companies
looking to make considerable investments."
Canadian Tire Corporation turned to YES! Winnipeg, the city's business development team
within Economic Development Winnipeg, for support with a number of
critical program elements including sourcing local vendors and
partners as well as liaising with the Provincial and Municipal
governments. This work included playing a key role in facilitating
Canadian Tire's relationship with Manitoba Hydro and working to
ensure that the Canadian Tire Cloud Computing Centre meets the
latest energy efficiency and green computing standards.
Canadian Tire and its Family of Companies have recently made a
number of significant investments in agile technology solutions
that improve store operations and digitally power customer
interactions in-store and online. This year, FGL Sports opened a
state-of-the-art Sport Chek 'lab' store in Toronto and Canadian Tire Retail launched its
new interactive online catalogue. Additionally, in March the
Company became the first retail partner in Communitech with the
opening of a digital development lab in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, which will be
closely linked to the new data centre in Winnipeg.
About Canadian Tire Corporation
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (TSX:CTC.a) (TSX:CTC) is a
Family of Companies that includes Canadian Tire Retail, Partsource,
Gas+, FGL Sports (Sport Chek, Hockey Experts, Sports Experts,
National Sports, Intersport and Atmosphere), Mark's and Canadian
Tire Financial Services. With more than 1,700 retail and
gasoline outlets from coast-to-coast, our primary retail business
categories - Automotive, Living, Fixing, Playing and Apparel - are
supported and strengthened by our Financial Services division. Over
85,000 people are employed across the Canadian Tire enterprise,
which was founded in 1922 and remains one of Canada's most recognized and trusted brands.
For more information, visit Corp.CanadianTire.ca.
SOURCE CANADIAN TIRE CORPORATION, LIMITED
Image with caption: "Canadian Tire Corporation opens 'Cloud
Computing Centre' in Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Pictured (L-R) Winnipeg Mayor Sam
Katz; Eugene Roman, Chief
Technology Officer, Canadian Tire Corporation; Premier Greg Selinger; Bill
Morrissey, Leader, YES! Winnipeg. (CNW Group/CANADIAN TIRE
CORPORATION, LIMITED)". Image available at:
http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130502_C2523_PHOTO_EN_26284.jpg