News and Media
Northern Lights shine at Ireland’s ICT Oscars night
Wednesday 07 May 2008 Business and GovernmentKnown as the Oscars of the information communication technology sector in Ireland, the ICT Excellence awards, now in their eighth year, attracted 100's of entries from companies and organisations nationwide. The ICT Excellence Awards recognise professional standards in the ICT sector and the 2008 winners were announced at a Black Tie Gala Dinner in O'Reilly Hall, UCD, Dublin on 1st May 2008.
The awards' judging panel was chaired by Eoin O'Driscoll, chairman of Forfas, and managing director of technology consultancy Aderra. Among the other judges was Dr Jim Mountjoy, a director of the Science Foundation of Ireland and chairman of the ICT Ireland R&D Advisory Committee. Also on the judging panel were chairman of the Irish Software Association Pat Brazel; Dr Tom McCarthy; chief executive of the Irish Management Institute; and Jim OHara, Intel Ireland general manager.
Belfast-based Internet Solutions Company, Biznet IIS, was the big winner at the 2008 ICT Excellence awards, taking the honours in two categories. The business software firm won the first award on the night for IT Project of the Year (Private Sector) for its work for Dublin based Integrated Facilities Solutions (IFS). This award recognises a major ICT project in Ireland which demonstrates all the strategic and operational benefits of good technology at work in Irish enterprises. The judges commented:
"The system is now established as the standard service and solution for the handover of digital safety files in capital projects across the Construction Industry. Biznet's initiative and experience is adding value and is assisting IFS in its Product enhancement Road Map, this is leading to an increase in clients requesting a structured IFS Digital Project Manual™ solution. The solution can also be used retrospectively moving clients away from boxes of paper archives. The judges noted that the simple act of convincing a traditional industry to change its processes was a significant achievement in itself."
Award number two was Best Use of Technology in Education and Training for work carried out for the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA). The Judges commented:
"BiznetIIS created the Really Useful Guide to Words and Numbers to provide literacy skills for a broad and unidentified audience. The project constitutes a freephone support line, 24-part RTE series and 40,000 individually distributed workbooks - all in conjunction with RUG.ie, a specially developed website. This project will make a real difference to hundreds of thousands of adult literacy learners."
Adrian Bradley, Managing Director and Founder, said:
"Our success on the night was totally unexpected and unprecedented. We were the only N.Ireland based Company to win on the night never mind in two categories. It is great for the team at Biznet IIS and our Clients to receive recognition for innovation and commercial achievement. It just proves that a true partnership approach can achieve rewards for all parties involved."
Biznet was originally founded in November 1997 by two University friends Adrian Bradley (Native of Fermanagh) and Daryl Fullerton (Native of Donegal) the company has evolved from its humble beginnings in the back bedroom of Adrian's Belfast Flat to become a major North/South ICT success story and an international player in the Internet Solutions arena. Two independent companies now operate under the Biznet brand with a combined team of over 70+. A wide range of solutions are being developed and deployed from Performance Management Software Solutions, Enterprise Level CMS, Custom Built MIS, Online Booking and Product Management for Tour Operators to PDA/Tough book based mobile working and work force management solutions.