Datacom is ‘company of the year’ in NZ Hi-Tech Awards

Compac Sorting and EROAD among leading technology innovators recognised.

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Datacom gets the 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers Company of the Year Award at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards. The judges described Datacom as “a company which over many years had thought deeply and carefully about its business model and customers. Its size, consistent growth and very significant offshore presence put Datacom in a class of its own. It’s the largest New Zealand-owned company in the sector, and a revenue and profit machine.”

Datacom, which has more than 3,000 employees across New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia, is number 43 in the MIS100 2009 report of the top ICT using companies in New Zealand. The ranking was based on revenue, staff and screen numbers.

Two new categories this year saw Microsoft take the Recruit IT Employer of Choice Award and Compac Sorting Equipment win the International Business Wales Exporter Award.

The awards recognise excellence by New Zealand's producers of high-technology products, services and software solutions.

EROAD won both the HIFX Innovative Service Product Award and the Dell Innovative Hardware Award. The NZX Emerging Company Award was won by TracMap, from Mosgiel, while the Duncan Cotterill Innovative Software Product Award went to Palmerston North-based Unlimited Realities.

Greg Cross won the TechNZ Inspiring Individual Award, and the MaxNet Young Achiever Award went to Anu Shrestha from Vodafone.

“The hi-tech sector has once again proved itself one of New Zealand’s great success stories. The industry continues to grow at twice the rate of the economy as a whole, and now accounts for more than $2 billion in export sales. We’ve been through tough economic times in the past year, but the sector is producing more world-beating winners than ever. Entrepreneurship and innovation are critical to global success and we’re seeing a new momentum in the companies entering the Awards that gives us every reason to be optimistic about the future of the industry,” says Wayne Norrie, chairman of the NZ Hi-Tech Trust.

At the awards ceremony, Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce's message is about the importance of Kiwis to discover their roots as innovators and traders "above all else, of things we're good at" in order to succeed in the 21st century.

There were 130 entries in this year’s awards, now in their 17th year.

The judging panel was made up of six international luminaries: Michael Dell, founder of Dell; Howard Charney, senior vice president of Cisco; Patrick Kenealy, IDG Ventures; Andy Lark, vice president global marketing, Dell; Richard Keyse, chair of NZTE's Europe Beachhead Board; and Vernon Turner, vice president, enterpriseinfrastructure, consumer and telecom research, IDC; and 35 high-profile local industry experts.

The 2010 New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards Winners

PricewaterhouseCoopers Company of the Year

Datacom

Datacom is an IT Services firm with over 3,000 employees across New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia and revenues of over $600 million. Datacom has 45 years of operation and a long and successful history of providing reliable, innovative industry leading IT solutions and services to business and government sectors.

www.datacom.co.nz

NZX Emerging Company Award

TracMap

TracMap develops and exports world-leading GPS-based systems designed to improve productivity and reporting for people operating vehicles in hazardous environments. Developed to ensure the accurate placement of fertiliser and spray on farms, TracMap has since developed systems for aviation, vineyards and companies providing vehicle-based services to councils.

www.tracmap.co.nz

International Business Wales Hi-Tech Exporter of the Year Award

Compac Sorting Equipment

Compac Sorting Equipment is a leading provider of packing and grading solutions to the horticultural industry around the world. Founded in 1984 by managing director Hamish Kennedy, Compac Sorting Equipment has many JV companies and subsidiaries based in Australasia, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Compac solutions are now widely used for sorting many types of produce in more than 30 countries.

www.compacsort.com

Dell Innovative Hardware Product Award

EROAD

EROAD is led by technology veteran Steven Newman, former CEO/COO of Navman. It was founded by economist Brian Michie to exploit the opportunity to modernise NZ’s manual and paper-based road user charge (RUC) regime. Engineered to deliver an end-to-end electronic RUC solution, EROAD’s product platform encompasses a secure electronic distance recorder, the Ehubo. It also incorporates a bank grade web-based payment gateway, the Depot, to purchase and manage RUC and monitor vehicle activity.

www.eroad.co.nz

Duncan Cotterill Innovative Software Product Award

Unlimited Realities

Unlimited Realities is a software development company focused on delivering products that create exciting user experiences for PCs. This year UR has been nominated for its Fingertapps product, which was the first multi-touch software product commercially available across the globe and is now sold worldwide through Dell Inc.

www.ur.co.nz

HiFX Innovative Service Product Award

EROAD

EROAD is dedicated to building an internationally respected technology company in the wireless tolling industry. When EROAD launched its innovative online eRUC (electronic road user charge) service in September 2009, it became the world’s first fully wireless tolling service provider. EROAD is in an excellent position to leverage off its local beachhead, as shown by the company’s successful participation in a government-sponsored eRUC trial now underway in Sweden.

www.eroad.co.nz

Maxnet Young Achiever Award

Anu Shrestha

Since joining Vodafone as a radio network design graduate engineer in November 2007, Anu’s multi-faceted skillset and inspirational attitude has seen her excel in all aspects of her job. Whether she is producing detailed design specifications for the cellular mobile network or preparing business cases, Anu demonstrates technical knowledge and maturity well above her years. She has also shown a strong sense of corporate responsibility and commitment to others by taking the lead technology role in projects such as Donatelive!

Recruit IT Employer of Choice

Microsoft

Microsoft New Zealand is predominantly a sales and marketing organisation. By being local, it can provide the best solutions and support for its partners and customers. Other business divisions with representation in NZ include MSN and entertainment (Xbox) and devices like keyboards and mice.

www.microsoft.co.nz

TechNZ Inspiring Individual Award

Greg Cross

Greg carved out an early successful career as an executive, gained offshore experience, spent time in the investment community and has used all that experience to assist NZ companies to grow. He is extremely active in the NZ tech community, in investment, training, governance, strategic planning and exporting. He was formerly MD of Microsoft NZ, director of Advantage Group and chairman of NZTE’s Beachheads programme. Greg is currently chairman of The ICEHOUSE, executive chairman at PowerbyProxi, chairman of SLI Systems, and director of Cross Ventures.

NZMEA Kiwi Hi-Tech World Beaters Awards

Celebrating hi-tech companies who have had their successes acknowledged by international awards programmes throughout the year: