Education
Carleton University; Imperial College London.
Carleton University; Imperial College London.
He worked for Bell Northern Research (later part of Nortel Networks) and then MicroSystems International. In 1973, Cowpland and Terry Matthews founded Networks, a company that developed and sold electronic Private Branch Exchange systems Initial success made both founders millionaires.
Sales peaked at $250 million, but over-expansion and development problems saw the company bought by British Telecom.
Both Cowpland and Matthews left the company in 1984 amid disagreements with the owners. Matthews went on to found Newbridge Networks while Cowpland launched Cowpland Research Laboratory (soon ) in Ottawa in 1985.
At first, the company sold DTP workstations, but success did not arrive until the launch of the graphics software DRAW in 1989. In 1996, he offered a challenge to Microsoft with a move into productivity software, acquiring WordPerfect from Novell for $158 million.
However this was unsuccessful as Microsoft managed to get many new computers loaded with Microsoft Word along with Windows.
The company also made unsuccessful forays into Computer-aided Design, videoconferencing, Java, Linux and other developments. He was investigated by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) in 1999-2000 into allegations that he had used insider information to sell $20 million in shares at $8/share shortly before the company posted disappointing results. The two sides settled the case in 2003, with Cowpland agreeing to pay $575,000.
Subsequent to Cowpland"s alleged insider sale at $8, shares hit a peak of $60/share around November 1999, during the height of the Linux boom when "s Desktop Linux was seen to be a potential rival to Microsoft Windows.
After an unsuccessful attempt to buy Borland with a view to creating a critical mass for Linux, Cowpland left in August 2000, and moved on to buy control of ZIM corporation, a database and mobile content company which is listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation bulletin board (ZIMCF).