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18 . win-mm CHRONICLE - THURSDAY, omen s. 2015 Getting the hardware out ’ Q C U l . Accelerator Centre s hardware innovation lab helps startups build their business BYBOI VIIANAC Centre has put on student entrepreneurship, .. ' ‘ ‘ A :â€" - Chronicle Sufi you're now starting to see a more hardware ’ . f " ‘ mwflffffét a , ~ ‘ ”__-â€"â€"â€"â€" companies.'saidPereira. ~v"; the. i , T , . , ou wouldn't build a car in your dining The lntemet of Things, which is develop- ' 7”? '~ “in“ , ‘ i room. So why would you build a high ing devices to power smart homes, smart cars it re, » » 51g, . , tech device to monitor your water meter and other technology, 8 also giving way to the Q ‘ ' {Q A ‘ in the middle of pristine office space? Analytics of Things, which monitors and reports ’ ' f” 4 g '* ._ . , . v .' You need a garage or a hardware space back to users about how much water and natâ€" if ,- v 1 ' 7 .‘ where you can get your hands dirty and put the ural gas they're using, as well as the energy " 35 j ‘ fine touches on the project before hitting the they're losing from their homes, businesses or " if road. factories. ‘ That's what high tech hardware startup "Now you're getting this mix of hardware , Alertlabs was faced with when they were devel» and software integrating and companies pivot oping what is the equivalent of a ‘fitbit” for your ing towards that, and it's been a natural drift.” home water system that tells if your usage sud- said Pereira , -. denly spikes and sends an alert to your smart- it's exactly what inspired the engineers at g ” phone if it does AlertLabs who are veterans of companies like "" T r 4 . ' ~ “One of the problems of being a hardware BlackBerry and Christie Digital and are thinking ' 5 ’ startup is we actually need physiml space,“ said of devices that will power mat next revolution. f a George Tsintzouras, president and co-founder It might not be as sexy as some of the soft» .. "r: it v “ . ‘ of Alertlabs, which is also the first tenant in the ware out there, but there is tremendous poten- v f _. new space. "We need physical space to solder tial in AlertLabs range of products that include a; s};- our boards and space to build everything from water flow sensors, water softener sensors, fur- "6 ' ‘ prototypes to alpha and beta units. nace sensors and sump pump and flood detec- ,! "We couldn't do what we did, in the time tors. i frame we did it in, without that support" They all have the potential to improve your ‘v They are one of the first tenants in the Accel- home's efficiency and cut down on added con» f erator Centre's new hardware innovation lab at sumption costs, and the idea is also getting 44 Gaukel St. in downtown Kitchener. The lab interest from a lot of industrial users that are ' ‘ provides 10,000 square feet in the old post office seeing spikes in their water and energy bills. building which allows builders to use their tools "We hope to end energy and utility waste,“ said and provides them a loading dock to bring up Tsintznuras ' materials and shiptheir physical products. The sump pump and flood detectors are Mike Pereira. director of marketing and also getting a lot of interest from the insurance community development at the Accelera- industry worried about a rise in claims due to tor Centre. said more high tech hardware flood damage. Thedetectorscantell homeown- and advanced manufaduring companies are ers that something is wrong in their basement approaching the local high tech incubator for before the damage gets out of hand. support, but they also need a physical space to 'We make direct to cloud conneded devices _ _ . . build their products. so that people can install them in their base (merge ismtzouras, president and coâ€"founder of AlertLabs, demonstrates how easy it is to "We've been more and more hardware comâ€" ments and people can protect themselves install h" (WWW‘ sump pump sensor. "°'““""“ W“) panies coming to the Accelerator Centre before against leaks and floods," said Tsintmuras. who able had somebody known there was a prob- want 100 to 1.000 pans and we can do that with they could finally come up here,“ said Pereira, was a homeowner himself facing a similar situa~ Iem.’ no tooling costs,” said Qmith, “We have “(my)“. about the hardware lab that officially opened don and decided to find a workable solution to One of the other companies who really ity. speed. and have married mass customizaâ€" 0" TUCSdBY» “The nature Of the 5mm”)5 in me 8 common problem. needed the new space was lnkSmith, a full- donwithmassproducn'on.’ 79850" has changed." The ‘eChHOIOKY has impressed insurance service bureau for JD printing that has plans The company has the potential to scale up Of the lit) companies that the Accelerator providers so much that they’re talking about to expand its service across Canada with MET fast and needed the launch pad to do it before Centre works with to get off the ground, one giving rebates to homeowners who install the pn-mjns Group to provide their advanced man- moving on to other future maker spaces like third of them are hardware companies. easyâ€"rouse devices and sign up for the active “haulâ€"ins services, leremy Hedges, president Catalysti37 that isstill in development. “When the AC started out in 2006 tech monitoring componentofAlertLabs program, of the company, said they needed the space to 'lt's beautiful being here because there meant YOU were mostly building apps and W9h "The Canadian insurance paid out ‘5 billion work. and finally found it in the new Accelerator are hardware companies all throughout this sites and software platforms, but with the rise in claims last year, of that 40 per cent was in space. building, and I can't tell you how many cusâ€" lfl the “$0ch Pmeam' [QC (at the University basement floods.” said Tslntzouras. "They said "We're basically a microfaaory.‘ said Smith. tomers we've gotten just sitting here,” said of Waterloo) and the emphasis Quantum Nano 90 per cent of what they've paid out is prevent» “Somebody could come to u ‘ and they could Smith. _ (sat aKlTCHENER - WATERLOO Q'@ (41 \\Q l“ ' muaEnl ES I I “Q j" < ' ~ ‘ . . 0 ' J , “\Q (..1li.ltl\l\ ( mum-w lmurmn l’L.‘\l|\;ll Q6 4 \' , OCTOBER 7 - A 2016 WWW.OKTOBERFEST.CA FOR TICKETS \ A / ~ " - em. , i» , ~l ' U 3 a