Waterloo - Open Text Corporation and Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning are working together to meet each other’s expansion needs.

Open Text, a world leader in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, has generously donated 375 relatively new workstations to Conestoga College. Open Text’s plan to grow its local workforce has necessitated a change in the company’s office configuration, and Conestoga, because of its current and future growth plans, is a ready recipient of this furniture. This donation provides a considerable savings for Conestoga, because the cost to purchase a similar number of stations new would exceed $800,000.

The Open Text donation will provide the company with the flexibility it requires to accommodate its growing workforce while helping Conestoga make more efficient use of the space it has, enhance its employee work environment and prepare Conestoga for the first phase of its new Cambridge campus.

Open Text, Canada’s largest software company, is working urgently to fill more than 200 research and development, business and finance jobs at its Waterloo headquarters over the next few months.

“As the fastest growing public college in Ontario, this is a very timely and appreciated gift,” says Dr. John Tibbits, President of Conestoga. “Our growth brings challenges and expenses. This generous gift allows us to accommodate employee growth more effectively. More important, it allows us to reduce expenses in this area, so that operational funding we receive in the next few years can be applied towards meeting our mandate to create and maintain excellent programs and services for our students, preparing them for the new economy and strengthening the community.”

The College has already installed several of the 375 donated workstations that constitute this gift and plans to deploy more over the coming two years at its new Cambridge campus. The remaining workstations will come on-stream once subsequent building phases are implemented for the new Cambridge site.

“We value what Conestoga has achieved and how it works in partnership with business and industry to benefit the local economy,” says Open Text President and CEO John Shackleton. “Our own growth and prosperity owes a great deal to highly skilled and motivated employees prepared to take advantage of the opportunities offered by new technologies. Conestoga is an important source of these employees.”

Open Text, which has grown quickly over the last few years, is the largest independent software company in the world that develops ECM software. ECM helps companies and government agencies organize documents, email, videos and other content to manage business processes and compliance rules. About 50 million people in 114 countries use Open Text’s software.

Open Text and Conestoga College wish to thank Peter Boak, President of Prestige Business Interiors of Waterloo, for his part in facilitating this generous gift.