Yukon software project finds support through Yukon Research Centre

Whitehorse – A small Yukon software company is bringing its novel product to the world, thanks to support from the Yukon Research Centre.

Subvert (http://www.subvert.ca) is just a small operation- two guys working out of an office in downtown Whitehorse doing software development. But sharing information between them could be a pain at times.

“We’d need to share files, send messages to one another, or links, or snippets of text,” says Geof Harries. “But email was onerous, Skype was overkill- there was no other simple way to send these small things.”

If only there was some simple way to “flick” these snippets of information to one another, they thought. And out of that idea, Flik was born.

Flik is a very small program that allows users on the same internal network, or LAN, to share information simply and securely. And it worked great. That gave them another idea- if Flik worked for them, maybe there were other people in small offices who could use it as well.

“We had put some time and money into building the prototype and we knew about Technology Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre,” says Harries. “So we decided to contact Rick Steele.”

That was in the summer of 2010, and Steele, TI’s co-ordinator, liked what he saw.

“It’s a sweet little app,” says Steele. “It is a no-brainer to install and use. And it’s plain in its simplicity and obvious utility.”

YRC’s Technology Innovation put up $20,000 to help Subvert refine the product and prepare it for market. The software was launched about a month ago, already has a high number of downloads and is generating a buzz on the Internet.

“One review from Australia sent us a lot of traffic,” says Harries. “ A blogger wrote a review and that generated a lot of installs.”

More companies are beginning to make inquiries now, and the Subvert coders may scale up their product for larger businesses. But it’s still at the very earliest stages, seems to be selling itself, and they’re thrilled at how the product is growing.

“We could maybe have done it without Technology Innovation support, but it would have taken us a lot more time, and we could have lost a lot of momentum,” says Harries. “But because of that push, the support offered from Rick in terms of ideas and feedback, we are moving a lot faster today.”

“This shows a local developer doesn’t need massive marketing backup to make things happen,” says Steele. “If you have a good idea, a good app, it will catch on. And this is an example of the kind of good work that can be developed in Yukon.”

Technology Innovation is one of six key programs that operate under YRC at Yukon College. The others are Cold Climate Innovation, Northern Climate ExChange, Science Adventures, Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic, and Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada.
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