VoIPshield Systems Inc., which is developing security technology to protect voice traffic over IP networks, has received $2 million in seed financing from Brightspark Ventures. The cash will be used to complete work on software that is slated to be released later this year. VoIPshield claims it's the first company to focus entirely on security issues specific to IP voice. It's encouraging to see Canadian venture capital firms invest in Internet telephony - actually, it's heartening to see Canadian VCs invest in any technology company after sitting on the sidelines for several years after the dot-com boom. Brightspark thrust itself into the spotlight a couple of years ago when it sold ThinkDynamics - an internally created software maker, to IBM for $50-million. It was brought to my attention that Brightspark also has an investment in Iotum Corp., which is developing software to route and manage Internet telephony calls. (Note: Iotum needs to update its Web site because it is nearly impossible to get a handle on what they're actually doing. Perhaps they want it that way.)