it@cork

The Excellence in Education Award was the first to be presented and the winner was Scoil Chlochair Mhuire, Carrigtwohill. William Oppermann, CEO, MPSTOR and chair of the Excellence in Education Judging panel explained: “The George Boole School Computer Laboratory Project was developed through collaboration between Scoil Chlochair Mhuire, its Parents' Association and Department of Computer Science at UCC (Dr. Barry O'Sullivan). A 25 seat computer laboratory was installed along with 2-4 in-class computers in each classroom. Child safe access to broadband is available at each computer bringing the full educational benefits of the internet and IT to every child's fingertips. Teachers can monitor the use of each computer through a class management system. All software in this programme is free and open-source, available for download from the internet. IT is now in use throughout each subject on the curriculum in all classes as pupils and teachers have immediate access to websites, webcam links, educational games, word processing programmes, extra teaching resources, modern languages programmes etc. Presently the school is acquiring extra digital whiteboards so that all classrooms will be equipped with this resource and this year we will be running some IT courses for parents. The project has become a very positive focal point for the entire school community”

 The winner of the Green Technology Award was ManageCO2. Tim Murphy, CEO, Strencom and chair of the Green Technology Judging panel explains why they won. “The winner of the 2010 Green Technology Award has shown great innovation in their application of reducing carbon footprint. They have truly demonstrated that they have the potential to have a global impact on reducing energy consumption through the application of their "software as a service" model in large multi-site organisations, and have already done so in many large companies to date. While all three finalists showed great innovation and initiative in their projects, the judges felt that this company stood out, and the decision was a unanimous one. The initial concept took over 2 months of research and preparation, and that was just to prove out that the idea was worth pursuing. The SaaS (Software as a Service) model used by ManageCO2 allows them to rapidly deploy their solution to multi-site organisations, across multiple jurisdictions and accurately measure, report and reduce their carbon footprint, and do all this in real time. It can be integrated into existing systems (such as ERP), or can work as a stand-alone service, and almost single-handedly can help a company meet its compliance and regulatory requirements. This is definitely a company to watch for the future”

 McAfee won the Sustained Excellence Award. Ray O’Connor, Regional Manager, IDA Ireland and Chair of the Sustained Excellence Judging panel said: “Based on the judge’s assessment of employment growth, innovation, use of IT and contribution to the regional economy, the judges selected McAfee as the overall winner for the Sustained Excellence Award for 2010. McAfee, Inc., is the world's largest dedicated security technology company offering a comprehensive set of security solutions. Over the years, the company has continued to grow its presence in Cork with added functions beyond its original mandate and now employs 278 positions as McAfee’s European Headquarters. Today the functions include Research & development, Localisation, Finance, Operations, Inside sales and Logistics. “There were many worthy nominations for the Sustained Excellence Award, however McAfee was selected as the winner for 2010 as the company has demonstrated its sustained commitment to the region in relocating to a larger office facility, adding over 100 staff over the past 12 months and growing the range of activities and functions serviced out of Cork”

Abtran/4C scooped this year’s Research & Innovation Project Award. Declan O’Mahony, CEO, Firecomms Ltd and chair of the Research & Innovation Judging panel said: "The judges were very impressed by the range of projects presented, both in the content and in the presentation of the candidates. The winner tackled a problem with significant business impact - the decision as to which customer calls to analyse for quality of service - and applied a highly innovative and scientific approach in creating a solution. Their new technology identifies calls likely to require further analysis and intervention whereas previously the call sampling method was essentially random. A phased project development promises to deliver further meaningful innovation and service improvement. Working closely with the local 3rd level research institute (UCC's 4C) shows how collaboration can be effected with real commercial gains."

Lincor Solutions won the High Growth Category Award. Marcus McCarthy, Business Development Director, Trimble Utilities Field Solutions and chair of the High Growth Judging panel said: “Overall in the high growth category the competition was very tough, any one of the shortlisted candidates, Lincor, Compliance and Risks and VoiceSage would have been a worthy winner. We chose Lincor as the winner of the category for several reasons, excellent growth through recent times, strategic vision, solid management and really ambitious growth targets in terms for the next few years.”

This year’s IT Dept Award went to the QUINN-Healthcare. Ruairi Roddy, CTO of TCH and chair of the IT Department judging panel said: “The shortlisted candidates were very impressive in their grasp of the key role of the IT Department in being an agent of change, of innovation and of control in their organisations; IT done right. Following our interview process, it was clear to us that from very large projects with considerable complexity carried out over extended periods, to relatively small projects with stratospheric returns on investment, the fundamentals of good governance and of careful project control as well as technical nous were present in all of the candidates. To those that did not win, we would like to specifically commend them as being within a hair's breadth of being selected. We wish them to know that any of them would be a worthy winner, and it was simply an exceptional consistency in innovation; in people, organisation and process change; in project management and in the auditing of the success criteria that lead us to conclude that the winner of the 2010 award for it@cork IT Department of the Year should be QUINN-Healthcare"

The High Potential Start-Up Award went to Goshido. Shemas Eivers, Avnet Client Solutions and chair of the High Potential Start-Up judging panel said: “ We chose Goshido because they have gained significant traction in the numbers of organisations already using their software and they have managed to attract equity investment in a relatively short time. They have a highly charged and dynamic management team Ger Hartnett steering the ship in his capacity as COO and serial entrepreneur Frank Hannigan focused on delivering sales while continuing to seek further investment and they did a really good sales presentation!”