What is Kanata, Ontario?
{{nosources|date=September 2009}} [[File:Kanata 417&MarchEagleson1.png|thumb|The Kanata sign along the Highway 417]] '''Kanata''' is a large [[suburban]] area in the western part of [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada]]. It has a population of 90,000 and is growing very fast. It is just west of the Greenbelt. It is an important area for [[Hi-tech]] Businesses. It was an independent town from 1978 to 2000. ==History== Kanata was originally part of the [[Township of March]]. It was settled by [[Europe]]ans in the early [[19th Century]]. It was mainly agricultural(Farms) until the 1960s when it became the site of a lot of construction. Modern Kanata is largely the creation of [[Bill Teron]], a developer and urban planner who purchased over 3,000 acres (12 km2) of rural land and set about building a model community. It was planned to have a mix of offices, residential(Housing) area, and green area. Kanata was divided into a number of communities. Each was intended to have its own Business Center and unique culture. These include Beaverbrook, Glen Cairn, Bridlewood, Katimavik, Hazeldean, Morgan's Grant, and Kanata Lakes. Kanata grew Rapidly. In 1978 the Province of [[Ontario]] made Kanata a city separate from the Township of March. Kanata remained a city intil 2001 when it was merged with the city of Ottawa, along with many other cities. The city became an important hi-tech centre. DEC was one of the pioneer technology companies in Kanata. The DEC campus has been successively Digital, Compaq, and is now HP. Kanata remains home to many of the major hi-tech employers of Ottawa, such as [[Mitel]], [[March Networks]], [[Alcatel-Lucent]], [[Dell Canada]], [[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Smart Technologies]], [[Norpak]], [[Nortel]], [[MDS Nordion]], [[Breconridge]], [[AMCC]], and [[Cisco Systems, Inc.]]. The hi-tech industry is clustered along March Road, in the Kanata North Business Park and Kanata Research Park, and along Eagleson Road, in the Kanata South Business Park. [[File:Kanata 2007-01-30.JPG|thumb|Aerial view of Kanat