The iAwards were presented by the Australian Information Industry Association at CeBIT last night, with Senator Richard Alston, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, presenting the award for overall winner. The awards are intended to highlight the local industry's most progressive companies in the development and deployment of information and communication technology (ICT).
Integrated Research won the "International" category award to Australian ICT companies that have demonstrated excellent export performance. Integrated Research was established in 1988 and sells its Prognosis family of products through a series of partners around the world. It won the award for "earning 97 percent of its revenue last year from 43 countries".
Four awards were given to Australian companies and their clients who have effectively used ICT to improve business outcomes. The awards were:
- IT Services -- DIRS -- For DepressioNet, moderated message boards and chat rooms that reduce the impact of depression through communication
- Software -- Sienna Technologies, for Bill View Integrator, which provides electronic delivery and payment solutions to the financial services industry
- Telecommunications -- Foursticks, for Foursticks NP, a software platform that guarantees the performance of mission critical applications by allowing urgent data to be prioritised over less important information
- eBusiness & Internet -- TAFE NSW, for TAFE Online, an eBusiness interface and extensive elearning content using the Internet as a tool to enhance, support and extend traditional identify and delivery methods
Four awards were given to Australian companies that have designed "outstanding and innovative products that will revolutionise the ICT marketplace". These were:
- IT Service -- Australian Cricket Board and Accenture, for an innovative elearning solution for aspiring cricket coaches
- Software -- Seeing Machines, for faceLAB, a technology that will lead to the development of embedded fatigue monitoring products
- eBusiness & Internet -- YourAmigo, for Spider linker, a novel search architecture that can find information that is not currently searchable by existing search engines
- Telecommunications -- Nortel Networks Australia, for Mobile Location Centre which provides the coordinates of mobile subscribers.
The "Investment" award - given to an Australian registered ICT company with revenues under AU$5 million - was awarded to Shortcuts Software, for a centralised head office management of POS solutions for the hair and beauty industry.
Senator Alston also announced yesterday the second of what is intended to be an annual Secrets of Australian IT Innovation Competition, the winners of which will be showcased to participate in major Technology Australia sponsored ICT events both nationally and internationally.
