A telecom equipment maker with strong roots in Saskatoon has set up shop in Ottawa and secured $18 million in second-round financing. Critical Telecom Corp., founded 16 years ago in Saskatoon as Critical Control, has developed a next-generation DSL technology called Full Rate Extended DSL, or FRED for short. FRED is meant to allow telecom service providers to better compete with high-speed cable Internet services from firms such as Rogers and Shaw. The technology allows for high-speed data services to be delivered over normal telephone lines to customers up to 25 kilometres from their service provider's central office, much further than existing technology. (full article here)