| forAdaByErrolS |
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This is terribly sad news. Simply heartbreaking. There are so many things I could say about Ada – that she was gifted, generous, warm, irreverent, and inspirational – but right now no words seem sufficient.
Unfortunately I will be unable to make it to Toronto tomorrow to attend the funeral, but my heart and my thoughts will be with you and with Ada’s family.
I kept a bit of an archive from the old RLP / InfoHome 2000 days and have some great photos of Ada and the project, which I will share with you.
With much sadness, Errol
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My heart is breaking today and there are many, many people in Vancouver who feel the same way as me. I mentioned the sad news to a number of people, including David Fisher who works here in the building (you met him at one of the RIS dinners recently) and like me they were saddened and shocked. I’ve also received phone calls from old friends / acquaintances such as Brian Ellis who had heard the news and weren’t sure whether I had also heard.
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| InfoHome byErrols |
InfoHome 2000 was the result of an innovative project to redesign residential real estate database systems (aka MLSs) from the ground up. Key goals of the project included: (a) creating a user interface which was friendly and intuitive; (b) providing direct consumer access to real estate information (before the WWW); and (c) providing rich, deep data.
The software was initially launched in Ottawa in 1992 and was installed in 18 Royal LePage offices. The system downloaded the full MLS database from the Ottawa MLS and augmented this information with multiple color photos and maps (as part of this project, every home in Ottawa was photographed creating a visual database of the entire city). Royal LePage also created a retail store where consumers could use touch-screen kiosks to independently search for properties. The store also featured a large video-wall which combined graphics animation and real-time photos of properties for sale.
Plans to deploy the software nationwide were stalled as the real estate market experienced a downturn in Central Canada. The developers of the software, MPR Teltech (based in a Vancouver suburb) rebranded InfoHome 2000 as “T-III” and offered it for sale to brokers and MLSs throughout North America. The first U.S. purchaser of the software was Sibcy Cline REALTORS, a large regional broker in Cincinnati. The first MLS to install the software was the Maui Board of REALTORS in Hawaii. By 1995 the software had been selected for use by MRIS, the largest MLS in the world (serving the Baltimore-Washington Metro area). The T-III business was purchased by GTE Corp in 1997. While part of the GTE family, the software was rebranded as “System 4” and was deployed at a number of MLSs including sites at Tampa FL, Orlando FL, and Los Angeles CA. GTE sold the business to Interealty of Vienna, VA. in 1999. The Vancouver software development team went on to create MLXChange which is currently in use throughout the U.S. and Canada. Interealty and the MLXChange Software was sold to First American in late 2005.
– Errol Samuelson