I was informed that I could write you about the possible venture business opportunity.
CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) is an emerging technology that promises to hold vast amount of data on optical discs. Its application allows a book, a dictionary and even an encyclopedia to be published electronically on a Compact Disc. Already, there are more than a dozen companies in North America starting to publish various information in this new media, and I firmly believe that the timing is right to get into this business. For example, Info-Globe has just published the entire Globe & Mail newspaper for a full year (1985) in a CD-ROM format, which sells for $500 CAD.
This technology is best suited for things that require a lot of searching. There is a clear academic evidence that the search time is significantly reduced if the electronic means is used. I am thinking of applying the CD-ROM technology to the legal profession. With an exclusive source agreement with the Parliament of Canada and the Ministry of Justice, we could publish the entire Statutes of Canada in a CD-ROM format. This would lead to a drastic productivity enhancement for the lawyers, and they wouldn't be able to afford not to convert to the electronic search system in their office and/or home.
Considering that the paper version of the Canadian Statutes costs $675 CAD for the basic set alone and is updated only once in 15 years or so (the latest edition is 1985, while the previous edition was 1970), the CD-ROM version ("Hyper-Statute Canada") which could be updated every year may be priced $999 CAD per disc. If one multiplies this by the number of lawyers and libraries in Canada, we are looking at a $100M CAD-market. This great opportunity to exploit the emerging technology, however, requires significant amount of development time as well as initial capital investment in equipment setup, a risk associated with any venture-business company.
If the Hyper-Statute Canada turns successful, putting the provincial statutes, government regulations and publications on the CD-ROM would be a natural step to follow. The wide range of publications by Québecor, a giant BCE-owned company, is also a potential resources to tap. A New-Brunswick start-up company called Lexi-Tech Inc. has recently won a $21.9M CAD contract with the Department of National Defence to translate 100,000 pages of technical manuals from English to French. Here, I see an opportunity to co-operate with them to store these manuals on a CD-ROM. Keeping close relationship with the governments and other BCE-related companies, I am envisioning that the federally-incorporated start-up company HYPERMEDIA INDUSTRIES CANADA LTD/LTEE would contribute to the productivity increase for Canada.
I am currently employed by Bell-Northern Research Ltd. in Ottawa as an Integrated Circuit design engineer. Although I am fairly content with the Research & Development job, I feel that my discipline, organizing skills and passion for perfection could be more effectively used in undertaking this kind of challenge. Incidentally, I have no business experience whatsoever... just philosophy and enthusiasm to contribute to the development of information-based Third-Wave society. I hope to have a chance to discuss the business plan further.
