FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1997-10-14

New service will help Canadian businesses surf past the competition

OTTAWA, October 14, 1997 -- The Standards Council of Canada celebrated World Standards Day today by taking a slice out of one of the world's biggest remaining obstacles to trade.

Canadian companies can now use a new World Wide Web service called SCC.CA (http://www.scc.ca) to quickly, easily and inexpensively determine which standards apply to their products and services in given target markets. Previously, finding this information required telephone calls and trips to libraries that cost money and slowed down product development and marketing.

"SCC.CA has just made Canadian businesses swifter, smarter and more competitive by turning every Web-enabled computer in Canada into a powerful standards information tool," said Michael McSweeney, Executive Director of the Standards Council of Canada.

In addition to its information component, SCC.CA features an extranet that will let Canadians use the Internet to collaborate on the development of national and international standards. An estimated 14,000 Canadians from industry, government and non-governmental organizations currently participate in standards development committees. Industry Minister John Manley estimated that the impact on the Canadian economy of the extranet could be substantial.

"If SCC.CA were able to eliminate only one day of travel for each of those 14,000 people, this would amount to a total of 38 years saved - time that could be used to develop new products and open up new markets," said Mr. Manley. "The biggest beneficiaries of SCC.CA will be Canada's small businesses. It will enable them to learn about and influence international standards to ensure that they are competitive in the global marketplace."

Whether it's a question of exporting environmental technology to Australia or gaining a foothold for a new building product in Europe, SCC.CA can pinpoint the applicable standards. In all, an estimated 300,000 pages of standards-related information is searchable.

This information includes the full texts of federal regulations as well as bibliographic entries on standards of the International Organization for Standardization, the International Electrotechnical Commission and national standards from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Australia.

SCC.CA can also identify which of the 237 facilities accredited by the Standards Council are equipped to provide testing, certification or registration to a given standard.

In November, SCC.CA will be equipped to let users order copies of standards. Also planned for the near future is an Alert service, which will notify companies when emerging standards of interest have reached developmental milestones.

The development of SCC.CA was made possible through funding by Industry Canada, under the Building a More Innovative Economy action plan. SCC.CA was developed through a national collaboration led by the Standards Council and involving a variety of organizations with an interest in standardization.

SCC.CA's document management, search and workflow were provided by Canadian firm Open Text Corporation, located in Waterloo, Ontario. Open Text's flagship product, Livelink Intranet, has provided knowledge management solutions to leading Global 2000 companies such as Bell Canada, United Airlines, Lockheed-Martin, Motorola, Qualcomm, TRW and TransCanada Pipelines.

Tom Jenkins, Open Text's chief executive officer, said the company considered this a particularly important project because of its broad national implications. "Open Text is proud to have played such a key role in this important endeavor," he said. "As a Canadian company, we understand the importance of keeping abreast of international standards and are proud that our product, Livelink Intranet, is helping other Canadian companies remain competitive."

The launch of SCC.CA took place on World Standards Day, a day set aside by the major international standards development bodies to recognize the importance of standards.

There are consensus standards for most products and services traded worldwide, as well as standards for quality management systems (the ISO 9000 series) and environmental management systems (the ISO 14000 series). These documents, developed with input from producers, users and regulatory authorities, deal with such issues as safety, performance and technological compatibility. They are widely referenced in purchasing contracts and regulations around the world.

The Standards Council of Canada is a Crown corporation with the mandate to promote efficient and effective standardization. The Standards Council oversees the activities of the National Standards System, which includes some 14,000 individuals and 237 organizations.

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