Ottawa-based Magor Communications Corp. went public today and is trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “MCC,” the firm announced this morning.
The public offering brings in $5.9 million for the company to grow its sales and marketing efforts, according to Ken Davison, Magor’s chief marketing officer. “We’ve been able to bring in this funding because we’ve been able to demonstrate we’re in a high growth market with a differentiated product.”
Magor offers a peer-to-peer video-conferencing solution that targets the small business segment. Its software is designed to provide clear, HD video conferencing that is more akin to Cisco’s Telepresence solutions than a Skype call, and works over conventional broadband Internet. Unlike other videoconferencing solutions that rely on a multipoint control unit or conference bridge, Magor gives each client control over their experience in terms of determining quality settings and who is being displayed on the screen.
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Unlike a dedicated hardware unit for teleconferencing, Magor’s software can be installed on a commercial PC or tablet that at minimum runs on an Intel Core i7 processor. It also can’t be installed to run like an application, Skype style, alongside others on a multi-use computer. The end result for clients is a fairly low-cost, high-quality, dedicated video collaboration unit.
“The general consensus is that high-end telepresence rooms are a saturated market,” Davison says. “The key thing we think we have is a unique proposition that allows people to work the way they work, without having to meet on predefined bridge sessions.”
While Magor’s early clients do include Fortune 500 companies, the lower cost of its solutions means its product is also an option for small businesses. Law firms and construction contractors are among the first adopters of the “visual collaboration workspace” offered by Magor.
With its public offering, Magor is hoping to see its business scale up to the next level, Davison says. “We’d like to try and build another high-tech company in Ottawa.”