Since NASA’s Space Shuttle Program drew to a close late last month, there’s been a lot of discussion in the science and tech communities about next steps for the field of space exploration.

The program officially ended on July 21 when Shuttle Atlantis touched down at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre – the 135^th flight that started as an extraordinary dream 30 years ago.

Many have called the event “bittersweet” as the U.S. shifts its focus to Mars – an exciting, long-term goal, but one that leaves the country without manned spacecraft, effectively pushing some astronauts and scientists into early retirement.

So High Road was excited to hear that the shuttle’s grounding hasn’t lessened the high-flying future of Neptec Design Group, a prime NASA contractor.

The Ottawa-based company was clearly one to watch in the lead-up to Atlantis’s final flight, being sought out by a number of high-profile media outlets, including Canadian Press, CTV and the Montreal Gazette.

But Neptec proved its technology really is out of this world, announcing two major partnerships in recent weeks that will see its products still play a key role in space exploration:

• Neptec’s TriDAR docking system will be used on the capsules tasked with resupplying the International Space in a post-shuttle era.
• Neptec’s laser system will be an integral part of the Astro-H mission, which will see a telescopic satellite measure X-rays emitted from such objects as black holes and supernovae.

President Iain Christie spoke recently with Business Without Borders – a joint venture between Canadian Business and the Globe and Mail – about what it takes to stay successful in the rapidly changing space field.

“Our ability to make ourselves part of our customers’ teams and adopt their constraints, attitudes and goals is what keeps our customers coming back and staying very loyal to us,” Christie says of the 100-person firm. “A lot of large companies like the innovation they get from the small companies.”

Congrats Neptec! We can’t wait to see what’s waiting in the stars for you!

Just in time for the school bell chime, High Road worked with TELUS to invite media to a Back to School preview event showcasing the company’s exciting line-up of devices and services. From Facebook-centric phones like the HTC Status, to social-networking based music service Rdio, media were invited to see the many ways TELUS is curating the Internet to offer customers the services they know and love on smartphones built around social trends.

To kick-off the Back to School theme, media were sent invites in the form of college admission letters, encouraging one and all to take part in a freshman orientation at TELUS. 19 media spanning technology, lifestyle and online publications attended the Back to School preview event held at the TELUS tower in Toronto.

Technology reporters and bloggers were invited to an afternoon briefing at the TELUS Innovation Centre with VP of Mobility Solutions, Brent Johnston, who discussed TELUS’ smartphone and services strategy. A few hours later, a slew of lifestyle reporters and bloggers joined for the second half of the event, complete with fun and interactive demos from TELUS spokespeople. Media enjoyed a live DJ, bar service, appetizers and a “Glee”ful performance from the Etobicoke School of Arts club, SPLASH, who charmed the audience with foot-stompin’ renditions of classics like “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Lean on Me.”

Jen McNeeley, editor of SheDoestheCity, echoed everyone’s feelings about the Glee club performance, going so far as to tweet that the TELUS event was the highlight of her life: And the glee club did Journey. Who knew the @telus event would be the highlight of my life? Several others commented that the event’s look and feel creatively captured the “Back to School” theme.

Class may be dismissed, but one thing’s for sure: media are hard at work because the coverage is rolling in at record speed. From blog posts to tweets, this class is on their A game!

Long gone are the days when an office consisted of fixed real estate, a desk (and a desktop), boardrooms and cubicles. The new office reality of the 21^st century includes coffee shops, bedrooms, airport lounges…even taxis! Developments in technology are enabling an agile, flexible and connected workforce irrespective of a shared office space.  Today’s worker can remain productive and make fruitful contributions to any organization no matter where in the world they may be.

On Tuesday June 28^th, High Road worked with Microsoft Canada to host the launch of Office 365, a cloud productivity service targeted to small and medium sized businesses, at Atelier Café in downtown Toronto.  The upscale coffee shop provided the ideal backdrop for the event, representing the ever-expanding definition of “the office.” With Office 365, popular staples like Microsoft Word and Excel are now available as a cloud-based service. Because the software is accessed through the Internet – the “cloud” – and is stored on Microsoft’s computer servers, rather than a company’s own servers, it allows businesses to use popular programs and access files from just about anywhere. The service also brings incredible cost-savings, allowing businesses to follow a pay-as-you-go rent model rather than investing in expensive IT infrastructure.

To celebrate the arrival of Office 365 along with the successes of local businesses, High Road invited media to demo the service, interact with an expert panel of customers and enjoy 1:1 interviews following the event. With top tier media in attendance, the event showcased the voices of Canadian SMB beta users along with Bell Canada and Microsoft President Eric Gales to demonstrate the value Office 365 brings to the market.  The event was complemented by valuable research commissioned by Microsoft Canada which examined Canadian SMBs’ attitudes towards growth, technology and cloud adoption.

The end result? Widespread coverage in both national newspapers and industry trade magazines promoting cloud adoption, along with tremendous exposure for the local businesses involved.

There’s no doubt about it: High Road is on “cloud 9”!