ce tes ve a RR RRR sd EN I ne Clean, efficient, reliable and cost-effective. Natural gas could be the best business Centra Gas Get Comfortable. decision you'll ever make. The Internet is the fastest : growing sector of the marketplace today! ~ Have you heard about the success.of: “The Canadiana Gift Centre - - - www.canadiana.bc.ca” an online» : commercial web site selling art and gifts: We can speak from ~- experience when we say,"We » know justhowto | - 2 implement, operate and run -a successful online business”. ~ We have done it for ourselves . Gi ‘ ‘and now we want to show _ — f : 6 OES -you how. Our doors aren es garry always open: to discuss your online project. Beacon Books — _&c ollectables : ; 2372 Beacon Ave. 1655-4447 i => Let Beacon Books guide you. FromHamletto sf H has what you’re looking for. Located in the heart of 4 “TL Sidney, it's the perfect place to getlostinabook. | Sidney, BC. | epee cera , semitone cen tire rrt neater erteT eae Coons 7 _PROGRESS Slee: Welcome t to the future _. Wednesday, June 2, 1999 The coming. of the new millennium has made most of us look back to where we've been — and aliead to where’ we're going. . What will the Peninsula look like = von new W Century pete What i is Pappening that will ease our ‘transition fron i indus : Leh hina ones that will lLconpleareat wi whatever is to come. On top of that is the Smart Comh nities initiative a anne for the en- : -tire south Island. That is expected to- propel us into the information age well equipped for whatever changes in information-shar- ing we wil face i in the future. Read about some of them i in this special Progr 'eSs 8 calition: Rachel Goklsworthy Peninsula News Review The building may be local, but the busines is continen= tal. With the world-wide demand for more information, more and better internet services, there has been an ex-. ~ plosion in the need for the products that provide those things. SDL Optics in Central Saanich produces components that ~ make fibreoptic transmissions faster and more efficient. They do precision manufacturing ofa 2.5 cm laser pump module that attaches to hair-fine fibreoptic cable. The tiny © module has even tinier components, one of them called an erbium-doped fibre amplifier, that regenerate the light sig- / nal so. that. it can ronbniue along. the cable without losing os strength. . In fact, it does such a acca job that SDL has a hard time : keeping up with their customers’ demands. - Inthe past year, says Steve Neal, the general manager of a the Sidney plant, they’ ve increased their output by. more _. than 300 per cent... “We're constantly growing,” says Neal. The need for information and internet access is increas- - ing. and. clients like Pirelli, Corning, and Lucent require . more, faster, ever more efficient, and less costly products oe “In any high tech business that i is growing exponentially” | ounces says Neal, “There i is a: demand to decrease’ costs: We Have vt at RAUCHAOELLNT BFGocdrict VA Tires. ‘gore TIRES, We also do brakes, oil & lube, wheel alignmen | automotive repair, shock installation & wheel balancing. All done |. by Government Certified Mechanics. All work is guaranteed, oe as fee ee ae Quality products matched with quality service | Omelettes, second hand books oneverything; Beacon f | jammy pry WEE as well as in weet to.come CX) - to constantly engineer rthe products to be less costly to pro- duce.” ; So while sustaining quality assurance processes, SDL must enhance its products and its production. “We're going to be producing new evolutions of our prod- ~ ucts to improve performance and reduce costs,” Neal says. They've outgrown their present 21,000 square foot facil- -ity and are hoping to move into a new 40,000 square foot building on Keating Cross Road early this summer. ~ “We need a new. type of facility fort new ‘evolutions of prod- uct,” says. Neal... - They are ‘adding : shifts so that the factory \ will be pro- ducing. components all day, every day. -engineers and assemblers. But it’s hard to get engineers to move here, Neal'says. ‘Along with other firms in Canada, SDL finds it difficult to attract people, mostly’| because: of taxes and salaries. High- tech engineers can work in the US ~ for'a lot more money and pay lower -taxes. Also, they are more isolated from other high-tech businesses here. - Working in Silicon Valley in California, Neal points. out, live here their options are more limited. " their chosen fields, tee are growing exhaust, ~~ SHOCKS OIL & LUBE WHEEL, ALIGNMENT Wh CEL BAL. ANCING LOAD BOOSTER " Keeps yuna veliste inva Wale & gale ngewe che Isenticny be salely : EXTRA HEAVY TADS oy CEN THE fT ) A) 4 y a (uh) OUSIGNATED |: INSPECTION FACILITY OX Prone Mater Vahicie franen eg ' Of BiH Vaile inipac raneuiclle nl Cohimola vote: ‘ + ; ite eLe eee eee ee er Ce eee ee ge ee we | “PROFESSIONAL SERVICE WITH A z “PERSONAL TOUCH” |. | Be SERVING THE PENINSULA SINCE te ma 9817 Resthaven Dr.,. Sidney 8 a ar a 656- 5544 es eo wee woe With 220 staff, they are constantly hiring more, mostly employees are surrounded by job. opportunities, but if they But apparently those limitations don’t extend to the busi.” from. SDL, so the < ‘company focuses its esearch: energies ‘on. ness side of things. SDL is one of many. high tech firms OD is: Be ” ~ the Saanich Peninsula that 4 are not only. doing very well i in “those improvements. | : at ane ae WMA e |