I’m glad to announce that Q4 has been selected by the Branham Group and Backbone magazine as one of the Branham300 Top 25 Up and Comers. The list is composed of companies established within the past three years, no earlier than Jan. 1, 2004. These companies are not ranked; rather, they are showcased alphabetically as firms that show tremendous promise within Canada’s ICT industry.

You can download the full list here: http://www.backbonemag.com/files/PDF/Top_300_2008/top25-up_and_comers.pdf

As part of our ongoing effort to improve and upgrade our infrastructure I’m pleased to announce that the new Q4 data center is now fully redundant and SAS 70 TYPE II certified.

SAS 70 is an internationally recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Our data center’s SAS 70 certification enables us to further our expansion into the enterprise market by delivering certification of the controls needed for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

This certification deals with the controls related to service delivery, operations, infrastructure maintenance, change management, backup of programs and data files and logical and physical data center access.

Over the next couple of months we’ll be transitioning all clients over to the new data centre. Q4 has always provided a highly secure service delivery but now our customers will feel even more confident that our services are safe, secure, reliable and compliant with regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley.

Technorati Tags: Q4 Web Systems, Q4, Disclosure, Disclosure controls, Compliance, SAS 70, Sarbanes Oxley, Investor Relations, IR Web Sites

Earlier this week we announced the closing of latest round of funding. Here’s the full press release:

Financing to fund ongoing development of innovative workflow compliance and disclosure solutions and expanded sales and marketing efforts

Q4 Web Systems Inc. (“Q4 Web Systems” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has closed $1.8M CDN in private placement financing from investors including a Schedule A Canadian bank.  The proceeds of the financing will be used by the Company to expand sales and marketing activities and accelerate the development of Q4 Web System’s innovative suite of workflow and collaboration solutions for managing capital markets disclosure and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
“We’ve grown rapidly over the past year and are pleased with our investors’ confidence in our company, our products and our plans for expansion across North America,” says Darrell Heaps, President and CEO of Q4 Web Systems.  “Increased regulation has strained the resources of issuers who are challenged to balance Sarbanes-Oxley compliance with corporate disclosure and the expectations of real-time transparency “  said Mr. Heaps.  “Our suite of innovative solutions addresses the management, tracking and distribution of disclosure and automates many tasks, saving time and money while speeding the delivery of material information to the market. “

Q4 Web Systems’ products aid in the certification of disclosure controls and procedures as specified in Sarbanes-Oxley Act section 302 and Canadian Securities Administrators’ Multilateral Instrument 52-109 and streamline compliance with CEO/CFO certification and Bill 198.  They do so by automatically routing information upward and generating time-stamped, auditable records of all viewers, versions, comments, edits and approvals.

About Q4 Web Systems
Q4 Web Systems is a leading provider of end-to-end disclosure management software. help publicly-traded companies increase efficiency, reduce compliance risk and gain complete in-house control over their disclosure. Q4’s innovative solutions automate many of the manual tasks related to disclosure, saving issuers time and money while speeding the delivery of their material information to the market. Companies across North America rely on Q4Web Systems to manage their disclosure more efficiently, more effectively and with less risk.

For further information: please visit http://www.q4websystems.com/ or contact: Darrell Heaps, President and CEO, Q4 Web Systems Inc., darrellh@q4websystems.com, Tel: 1-877-426-7829, or (416) 626-7829 ext. 222

Technorati Tags: Q4 Web Systems, Q4, Venture Capital, Disclosure, Investor Relations, financing, software

Congratulations to all of the IR Magazine Canada Awards winners! The awards were held last Thursday. We were pleased to present the Lifetime Achievement award to Ron Blunn’s two sons. It was a privledge to present such a special award.

Best investor relations by a TSX Venture Exchange company
Shift Networks Inc

Best investor relations for an IPO
Tim Hortons

Best investor relations web site – small to large cap
ATI Technologies Inc

Best use of conferencing – small to large cap
Canadian Tire Corporation Limited
Gildan Activewear Inc

Best investment community meetings – small to large cap
ATI Technologies Inc

Best senior management communications – small to mid-cap
Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund

Best senior management communications – large cap
Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited

Best use of technology
RBC

Best annual report
PotashCorp

Best communications with the retail market
TELUS Corporation

Best disclosure policy
Inmet Mining Corporation
TD Bank Financial Group

Lifetime achievement in investor relations
Ron Blunn

Best M&A investor relations
Inco Limited

Best corporate governance
RBC

Best investor relations in the US market
CN

Most improved investor relations
Angiotech

Best investor relations officer – small to mid-cap
Isabelle Adjahi – Axcan Pharma Inc
Pat Marshall – Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund

Best investor relations officer – large cap
Janet Craig – Angiotech

Best investor relations officer – mega-cap
Bruce Mann – Rogers Communications

Best investor relations by a CEO
Hunter Harrison – CN

The CIRI grand prix for best overall investor relations – small cap
Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund

The CIRI grand prix for best overall investor relations – mid-cap
Axcan Pharma Inc

The CIRI grand prix for best overall investor relations – large cap
Canadian Tire Corporation Limited

The CIRI grand prix for best overall investor relations – mega-cap
CN

Technorati Tags: Investor Relations, IR Magazine, IR Magazine Awards, Q4 Web Systems

Here are the final categories for the IR Magazine Canada Awards. The awards are tomorrow night and we look forward to seeing many of you there. Congratulations again to all the companies and people nominated. Job well done!

Best disclosure policy
CN
Inmet Mining Corporation
TD Bank Financial Group

Most improved investor relations
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals
Canadian Pacific Railway
Nexen

Best M&A investor relations
ATI Technologies
Falconbridge 06
Inco

Best investor relations for an IPO*
Canada Cartage Diversified Income Fund
Teranet Income Fund
Tim Hortons
* New listings on TSX

Best investor relations by a TSX Venture Exchange company
Active Control Technology
Shift Networks
Sterling Resources
Titanium Corporation

Best investor relations in the US market
Canadian Natural Resources
CN
Nova Chemicals
Research in Motion

Best retail investor communications
RBC Financial Group
Rogers Communications
TD Bank Financial Group
Telus

Technorati Tags: Investor Relations, IR Magazine, IR Magazine Awards, Q4 Web Systems

Here are the IR Magazine Canada Awards nominees for Best Annual Report, Best Investment Community Meeting and The Best Use of Technology. Congratulations to these great companies!

Best Annual Report
CN
PotashCorp
Telus

Best Investment Community Meetings
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals
ATI Technologies
Cognos

Best Use of Technology
ATI Technologies
EnCana
RBC Financial Group

Technorati Tags: Investor Relations, IR Magazine, IR Magazine Awards, Q4 Web Systems

Here are the IR Magazine Canada Awards nominees for Best Investor Relations by a CEO and the Best Senior Management Communications. Congratulations to these impressive leaders.

Best Investor Relations by a CEO 

CN – Hunter Harrison
Shoppers Drug Mart – Glenn Murphy
Suncor Energy – Rick George
TD Bank Financial Group – Edmund Clark

Best Senior Management Communications

$1bn to $10 bn market cap
Agnico-Eagle Mines
Canadian Pacific Railway
Meridian Gold

Under $1bn market cap
Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund
FNX Mining Company
Savanna Energy Services Corporation

Technorati Tags: Investor Relations, IR Magazine, IR Magazine Awards, Q4 Web Systems

Here are the IR Magazine Canada Awards nominees for Best Investor Relations Officer 2006. Managing IR in today’s enviroment is a challenging endeavor. Our hat goes off to everyone below for a job well done in 2006.

Over $10 bn market cap
CN – Bob Noorigian 
Inco – Sandra Scott
Rogers Communications – Bruce Mann 
Suncor Energy – John Rogers

$1 bn to $10 bn market cap 
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals – Janet Craig
Magna International – Louis Tonelli 
Shoppers Drug Mart – John Caplice
TransAlta Corporation – Jennifer Pierce & Mardell van Nieuvenhuyse 

Under $1 bn market cap
Axcan Pharma – Isabelle Adjahi 
Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund – Pat Marshall
Draxis Health – Jerry Ormiston 
Harris Steel Group – Flora Wood

Coming next week: Best investor relations by a CEO

Technorati Tags: Investor Relations, IR Magazine, IR Magazine Awards, Q4 Web Systems

We’re pleased to be a sponsor of the upcoming IR Magazine Canada Awards on February 8th.  Here is the short list of nominees for award The CIRI Grand Prix for Overall Best Investor Relations.

Congratulations to all of the nominees!.

Over $10 bn market cap
Barrick Gold
CN
Manulife Financial
Telus

$1 bn to $10 bn market cap
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals
Canadian Tire
Cognos
Shoppers Drug Mart

$500 mn to $1 bn market cap
Aeroplan Income Fund
Axcan Pharma
Cascades
FNX Mining Company

Under $500 mn market cap
Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund
Dalsa Corporation
Gennum Corporation
 

Technorati Tags: Investor Relations, IR Magazine, IR Magazine Awards, Q4 Web Systems