laureates 2007 - The Computerworld Honors Program

Transcription

Journal of the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation
A SEARCH FOR NEW HEROES
T
he Computerworld Honors Program and the Chairmen’s Committee
congratulate the program’s 2007 Laureates, Finalists, 21st Century
Achievement Award recipients and Leadership Award recipients.
THE COMPUTERWORLD
HONORS PROGRAM
Honoring Those Who Use
Information Technology
to Benefit Society
THE CHAIRMEN’S COMMITTEE:
Bob Carrigan, President, IDG Communications;
Chairman, Chairmen’s Committee, The Computerworld
Honors Program
Matt Sweeney, President, Publisher and CEO,
Computerworld
Ron Milton, Executive Vice President, Computerworld;
Chairman, Board of Trustees, The Computerworld
Honors Program
Sybase Congratulates Our 2007
Computerworld Honors Laureates
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Administrative Office of Pennylvania Courts
American Physicians Insurance
Bosch Security Projects
Bridge Mobile
Bulgarian National Electric Company
Colonial Life and Accident Insurance
Cox Communications
Grant Thornton
Hong Kong Housing Society
ICPA
IRS
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Loan Performance
Ministry of Health, Brazil
Passport Canada
Raytheon
Russian Economic Academy
Simbex
State of Michigan
Ten Thousand Villages
Trial Stat
TxT 4
Copyright ©2007 Sybase, Inc. All Rights Reserved. All product and company names are trademarks of their respective owners.
MEMBER COMPANIES:
3Com
Accenture
Adobe Systems
ADTRAN
Agilent
Alcatel-Lucent
America Online
Apple
AT&T
Autonomy
Avaya
BEA
BearingPoint
BMC
Booz Allen Hamilton
Borland
Broadcom
Business Objects
CA
Capgemini
CDW
Cincom
Cisco
Cognizant
Compuware
Dell
Deloitte
Eclipsys
EDS
EMC
Epicor Software
Extreme Networks
F5 Networks
Forsythe Solutions
Fujitsu
Getronics
HCL Technologies
HP
Hitachi
Hyperion
i2
IBM
Informatica
Information Builders
Intel
InterSystems
Juniper Networks
Keane
Lawson Software
Microsoft
MicroStrategy
Morgan Stanley
Motorola
NCR
NEC
Network Appliance
Nortel
Novell
Open Text
Oracle
Overland Storage
Palm
Patni Computer Systems
Polycom
Progress Software
Qualcomm
Quantum
Quest Software
RAD Data
Research in Motion
SAIC
SAP
Sapient
SAS
Seagate
SGI
Siemens
Software AG
Sprint Nextel Corp.
Sun Microsystems
Sybase
Symantec
Tandberg
Tech Data
TIBCO
Toshiba
Unisys
VeriSign
Verizon
Wyse
Xerox
Yahoo!
This 2007 edition of The Laureate commemorates the contributions these
people and organizations have made to the betterment of society through
the exceptional — if not heroic — use of information technology.
Established in 1988, The Computerworld Honors Program is dedicated to
a singular and ongoing mission: “A Search for New Heroes.” This search
annually identifies and records the accomplishments of the men and women,
organizations and institutions that are creating the global best practices in
leading the world’s ongoing IT revolution.
The annual “Search for New Heroes” is a daunting task:
• Each year, members of the Chairmen’s Committee identify the
organizations whose use of information technology has been especially
noteworthy for the originality of its conception, the breadth of its
vision and the significance of its benefit to society. These nominated
organizations must meet established standards and are then asked to
contribute a case study to the program’s collection.
• Each case study submission must meet 10 criteria to be designated
Laureate status. The recognition of these case studies that meet Laureate
status is celebrated with a formal medal ceremony where a Laureate
from each case study organization is publicly recognized.
• From the Laureates in each of 10 categories, a distinguished panel of 38
CIO-level judges selects finalists in each category. In June, the program
honors these finalists with a special ceremony. At this ceremony, the
Chairmen’s Committee presents the 21st Century Achievement Awards
to the 10 organizations selected by the judges as first among their peers
within the Finalists.
• Independent of the Laureate recognition, The Computerworld Honors
Program also annually presents its Leadership Awards, each designed
to honor the extraordinary lifetime achievements of selected individuals whose positive contributions to the IT revolution have left an
indelible mark on the world.
Primary source materials related to all of the above (including case studies,
oral histories, conference proceedings, publications, video tapes/DVDs
and other records generated by this ongoing “Search for New Heroes”)
are preserved, protected and made available to scholars and the general
public on the Internet at www.cwhonors.org and through source and
license donations to some 350 affiliated universities, libraries and research
institutions around the world.
With great respect and celebration, we commend all of those recognized
by The Computerworld Honors Program’s 2007 “Search for New Heroes.”
The Chairmen’s Committee
The Computerworld Honors Program
The Board of Trustees
Computerworld Information Technology Award Foundation, Inc.
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CONTENTS
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“A Search for New Heroes” - a message from the Program’s Chairmen’s Committee
and Board of Trustees
THE 2007 LAUREATES BY CATEGORY
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SPECIAL COMMENTARY
105 Education
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113 Environment, Energy & Agriculture
“An ‘Aha!’ Moment” by Don Tennant, Vice President, Editor in Chief, Computerworld
117 Finance, Insurance & Real Estate
THE LEADERSHIP AWARDS
The Computer world Honors Program • The Laureate, June 2007
Business and Related Services
125 Government
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The 2007 Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce
141 Healthcare
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Oral History Excerpts: John W. Thompson
157 Manufacturing
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The 2007 EMC Information Leadership Award
163 Media, Arts & Entertainment
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Oral History Excerpts: Laura E. Campbell
169 Non-Profit Organizations
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The 2007 IBM Global Public Sector Innovation Excellence Leadership Award
177 Transportation
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The Leadership Award Recipients, 1990 - 2006
THE PROGRAM ARCHIVES
FEATURED CASE STUDIES
184 The Global Archives and Academic Council
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Department of Interior, Navajo Nation: Internet to the Hogan
186 The Official Archives Online
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The Danish National eHealth Portal: Sundhed.dk
187 The Oral History Archives
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Defense Acquisition University: DAU Data Mart
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BP: Hurricane Management System
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Medical Missions for Children: Transferring Medical Knowledge From Those Who
Have It to Those Who Need It Using Technology
190 The 2007 Chairmen’s Committee
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East-West Gateway: STARRS ... Improving Emergency Response with Patient Tracking!
192 The 2007 Program Sponsors
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Advance America: Advance America Grows with Oracle Enterprise Grid
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
191 The 2007 Program Search Directors Committee
THE 21ST CENTURY ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
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The 2007 21st Century Achievement Award Recipients
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The 2007 Finalists
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The 21st Century Achievement Award Recipients, 1989 - 2006
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The 2007 Program Judges
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SPECIAL COMMENTARY
An ‘Aha!’ Moment
Don Tennant
Vice President, Editor in Chief
Computerworld
A year ago, when I had the honor of contributing the Special Commentary to the 2006 edition of The
Laureate, I was comfortable that I fully understood and appreciated the significance of the Computerworld
Honors Program. I shouldn’t have been. I didn’t.
I wrote about persistence in that commentary, and I closed it with these words: “Exemplifying that persistence
is the gift that our Laureates have selflessly bestowed upon us. We at Computerworld are grateful for the
opportunity to thank them.”
Looking back on it, I indeed saw the program as a means of recognizing and thanking these outstanding
individuals for the contributions they had made to benefit society through the use of information technology.
Clearly, that’s an important and worthy dimension of it. But the significance of the Computerworld
Honors Program is immeasurably greater than that single dimension.
My “aha! moment” came shortly after my recent interview with Laura Campbell, Associate Librarian for
Strategic Initiatives and Director of the National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress in
Washington. The interview was conducted in a stately room just off the Great Hall in the Library’s Thomas
Jefferson building. As I walked through that majestic hall, it hit me. Ms. Campbell, the recipient of the
2007 EMC Information Leadership Award, had conveyed the true significance of the Computerworld
Honors Program in that interview.
She had spoken eloquently, and with great humility, about the overwhelmingly daunting task not only of
digitizing the unfathomable repository of information available in physical form, but of preserving “born
digital” content—information that exists only online—for generations to come. “What’s important for
Congress to have?” she asked. “What’s important for researchers and students to have now, and what’s
important for your great, great grandchildren to have?”
When I asked her who makes those judgments, she smiled.
“That’s the beauty of the National Digital Preservation Program,” she said. The plan “distributes the
responsibility among a set of trusted partners … to help share in the responsibility and the cost of collecting
and preserving very fragile, at risk-content,” she said. “It’s content that may in some cases be vital because if
we don’t get it, no one’s going to get it. It won’t be there. It will – poof – be gone.”
“It will – poof – be gone.” That’s the line I kept hearing as I gazed up at the ceiling of the Great Hall.
That’s why we’re doing this, I thought. Sure, it’s important that we acknowledge and thank these Laureates
for what they’ve accomplished. But what’s far more critical is that we ensure that those contributions are
recorded, and that the record is preserved. Our children’s children deserve to know.
What also dawned on me is how much the Computerworld Honors Program has in common with the
National Digital Preservation Program. We, too, work inseparably with a set of trusted partners whose
daunting task it is to identify the new heroes who will emerge as the story of the information technology
revolution unfolds, and to ensure that their stories are told and preserved.
Ms. Campbell closed our interview with a touching expression of hope that is worth recounting here.
“I fervently hope that the Library and its partners are remembered by some in the future as being a positive
force in providing access to information,” she said, “and for making sure it’s there for future generations.”
It is my hope that the work of the Computerworld Honors Program is remembered the very same way.
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THE 2007 MORGAN STANLEY LEADERSHIP
AWARD FOR GLOBAL COMMERCE
J OHN W. T HOMPSON
Chairman of the Board & CEO, Symantec Corporation
“There is a certain desire that one has to have to create and innovate if you’re going to be
an effective leader. Whether you call it entrepreneurship or not is up to you, but I think it is all
about what leadership is. Leadership is about creating something different, getting people
excited about what the possibilities are, and moving ahead on those ideas.”
John W. Thompson from April 13, 2007 Oral History
John W. Thompson is chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Symantec
Corporation. Under Thompson’s leadership, Symantec has grown from a small consumer software
publisher to a global leader in infrastructure software, enabling businesses and consumers to have
confidence in a connected world.
Thompson and his team have grown the company by building new solutions internally, making strategic
acquisitions and establishing relationships with key technology partners. With global operations in 40
countries, the company helps customers protect their infrastructure, information and interactions by
delivering software and services that address risks to security, availability, compliance and performance.
In September 2002, President George W. Bush appointed Thompson to the National Infrastructure
Advisory Committee (NIAC), to make recommendations regarding the security of the critical infrastructure
of the United States. In addition, Thompson has served as the chair of the Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon
Task Force on Aviation Security and Technology to identify and evaluate technology-driven solutions to
improve the security and efficiency of national and local aviation.
Prior to joining Symantec, Thompson had a distinguished career with the IBM Corporation where he
held senior executive positions in sales, marketing and software development. In his last assignment, he
was general manager of IBM Americas and a member of the company’s Worldwide Management Council.
He is a member of the board of directors of UPS, Seagate and Teach for America. Thompson also serves
as the chairman of the board for the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the only advocacy group dedicated
exclusively to ensuring the privacy, reliability and integrity of information systems through public policy,
technology, education and awareness. He completed his undergraduate studies at Florida A&M
University and holds a master’s degree in management science from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Nominating Committee for the the 2007 Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce:
Marv Adams, Chief Information Officer, Citi
Cristobal I. Conde, President & CEO, SunGard
Fred Matteson, Managing Director, Counterpoint Advisors
Dan Morrow, Co-Founder & Principal, Jamestown Exploration Company
Stratton Sclavos, Chairman, President & CEO, VeriSign Inc.
Steven L. Sheinheit, Executive Vice President & CIO, MetLife
Jon Shirley, Board Director, Microsoft
Matthew J. Szulik, Chairman, CEO & President, Red Hat
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ORAL HISTORY EXCERPT
are using. And I think strategically those thoughts are still spot on. We have got to pick up our execution
a little bit, but on the main I’m quite satisfied.
John W. Thompson
JOHN W. THOMPSON
Excerpts from the transcript of a Video History Interview with
John W. Thompson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Symantec Corporation, recipient of the 2007 Morgan Stanley
Leadership Award for Global Commerce.
The interview was conducted by Ron Milton, Chairman, Board of
Trustees, Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation on
April 13, 2007 at the Symantec Headquarters in Curpertino, California.
2007 LEADERSHIP
AWARD RECIPIENT
The Laureate: What are some of your greatest successes at IBM?
Thompson: I don’t know; 27-years, 9-months and 13 days, survival perhaps. I had a wonderful career, and
the thing about my IBM career was that over the span of 28 years it was so diverse. I got to do lots of
different things. I got to work in finance. I got to sit at the right hand of the Vice Chairman of the
Board for a period of time as his assistant. I got to work in Sales and Marketing. I got to work in
Engineering. And so I think the diversity of the experiences that I had there would clearly be the hallmark
of what I would call a successful IBM career.
But I can’t point to any one thing that I did that I said, Gee I’m so proud of that. I’m more proud of
that than anything else, because the teams that I worked with, we accomplished a lot and I think it set
me up to have a great career there.
The Laureate: Were there challenges that you dealt with that had a meaningful part of your career later on?
Thompson: I think all people are shaped by the experiences that you have. Clearly the early 90s for IBM
were very, very trying times. I can remember going into the mid-west operation to run it as its General
Manager. On day one, I had 9-thousand people. Three-and-a-half years later, I had 41-hundred people,
and the revenue target hadn’t changed. So the whole dynamic of dealing with right-sizing a business,
and getting a business more focused on how it was going to execute in a more competitive market, I
would have to say for all of us who lived through that period of time, it was very shaping.
The Laureate: Lets fast forward to Symantec. With so many acquisitions in the early days at Symantec,
how were these the right moves for a growing company under your leadership?
Thompson: Symantec has been an acquisitive company forever. Long before I arrived here my predecessors
used acquisitions as part of their growth strategy. For us, our focus has been more narrow. Rather than
focusing on titles that can be distributed through the channel, it was technologies that we could integrate
more tightly to solve a specific business or technology problem for a customer, hence, security.
As we learned more about the security markets we became more aware of the fact that it was about
managing the process of security, not the security technologies themselves. And that led us to a different
set of acquisitions. So along the way we probably have done 30 or 35 transactions, all of which have not
worked. I will be the first to admit that. But enough of them have worked that we have emerged as the
fourth-largest independent software company in the world.
The Laureate: Veritas being the biggest acquisition?
Thompson: Yes.
The Laureate: Looking back are you pleased with that decision and the stage you are at now with them?
Thompson: Clearly the decision was the right one for our company. The execution has not been as good as
I would have liked. But strategically it was about taking security technologies and moving them closer
and closer and closer to where information or data is being managed, or making sure that the knowledge
of security exposures or vulnerabilities are thought through in the systems environment that large enterprises
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The Laureate: What do you see as your biggest successes at Symantec?
Thompson: Oh, I don’t know. I think when my tombstone is finally etched, they’ll probably say that he
took a sleepy little consumer oriented software company and made it relevant, not just to consumers,
but corporate users alike. And I think that is indicative of where the markets are going.
If you think about where the markets are going, if you think about any company today, what it’s trying
to figure out is, how can I open my electronic doors to more and more customers, and let customers
into my environment, as opposed to just my employees and business partners? And I think this marriage
of our consumer business and our corporate focus, is very much supportive of how large corporate users
have to think about technology today. And hopefully when the tombstone is finally etched, it will say
that were able to demonstrate the real value of linking consumers into a corporate world in a way that is
seamless, in a way that that is secure, and delivers a level of confidence that consumers have to have.
The Laureate: My Chairman has a favorite saying: “The biggest room in the world is the room for
improvement.” Is there room in the Thompson legacy for improvement?
Thompson: (laughter) Well, everyday we could do a better job of execution. I often am asked, what keeps
you awake at night? And my answer is our ability to execute on the ideas that we have. And I think to
the extent that we are effective at learning from our mistakes and cycling those learnings back into the
next set of decisions that we make, I think we can become a better team.
The notion of continuous improvement or self-improvement is something that is somewhat foreign to
the software business quite frankly. It’s not foreign to manufacturing companies, technology companies
that have a hardware manufacturer agenda. But I think in the software business we have to think a lot
more about continuous improvement, and how we improve all parts of our business, not just innovating
in our software, but innovating in our business processes that touch customers and partners every day.
The Laureate: In a keynote speech at Storage Networking World two years ago today, you passionately
talked about the revolution happening in information technology specifically with a vision towards a
resilient infrastructure. Where do you think we are two years later in that revolution?
Thompson: I think if you take a look at what’s gone on around the world, regardless of whether you are a
consumer or a corporate user, more digital content is being created every day. And with that comes a
responsibility by the individual consumer or the corporate user to manage it effectively, to protect it, to
ensure that it has the integrity that you want it to have when it’s used as part of a decision making process,
or as it’s shared with friends and family. Who would want to distribute to a family member a photograph
that has been defaced in some way? That may be defaced in a way that is not particularly enhancing if you
will, to your family relationships. And I won’t go any further than that, but that would be a horrible,
horrible thing to do. So I think for us, our job here is about can we make this process of storing and
managing and protecting digital content easier for every single person who is now adapted to a digital
lifestyle? Very few of us live back in the analog world of many, many years ago. We all live in a digital
world, and we all want these assets that we’ve created to be shared and managed. And that’s our job here.
The Laureate: So at that time of your speech, two years ago today, you were in the middle of SEC approval
for Veritas acquisition. The company you were acquiring had significant history and capabilities in the
storage sector that allowed you to somewhat verticalize, if you will. With your view toward a resilient
infrastructure, do you have the same thinking today?
Thompson: Well I think if you look at what companies like Morgan Stanley are trying to do is a case in
point. They want to make sure that systems are always available. This notion of resiliency is real for
them; any minute, any second of down time is a lost opportunity, is lost money. And so the concept of
resiliency is alive and well everywhere we go.
Continued
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John W. Thompson
John W. Thompson
Think about the connected experience for a consumer. If I am using my Blackberry-like device as I
travel around the world, that’s as important to me from its resiliency and its connectivity as the large
mainframe or Unix environment might be for some large corporate user. So this concept of resiliency,
and always on, or always available is the world in which we live. And fortunately for Symantec, we are
very well positioned to be able to help, either individual consumers, or very large corporate and government
users create that sense of resiliency.
There’s a simple notion of the elevator pitch about what you’re trying to do at your company, and heck,
we only have a three floor building here so the pitch has got to be real short and real simple. And that
concept works. That if you simplify what it is that you’re trying to do to the point where people can
understand it in a few short catchy phrases - not clever little phrases that rhyme or things like that - I’m
no Jesse Jackson by any stretch of the imagination - but things that make people want to be a part of
the team. That’s what leadership’s all about.
The Laureate: So developing new products, sets of capabilities, the expression, “no risk, no reward,” comes
out. Tell me from your perspective what that means.
The Laureate: Any one factor in your earlier life that you felt was very shaping for where you are today John?
Thompson: Well, or, “no guts, no glory.” Actually for us, every line of code we write has some risk associated with it, that it may not work. Or every acquisition that we do has the inherent risks that are associated
with those things. So there is a notion around here that we have to be thoughtful about what investments
we make. We have to be thoughtful about the code that we build. We need to test it thoroughly,
because if you look at what goes on around the world, many of the largest commercial and government
users in the world use our technologies to either keep their systems up and running, or to keep bad
traffic and bad people out of their networks. And that responsibility we don’t take lightly. It is a huge,
huge obligation on our part, and fortunately our team rises to the occasion more often than not.
The Laureate: I’m going to shift to a couple of questions about your views on leadership. If you will John,
values and ethics that you pass on to your children and family, and to your employees at Symantec…
Tell us a little about that.
Thompson: Well, integrity is everything. It starts with and ends with and ends with that for me; that people have to know that you have a compass that drives you day in and day out, and that you don’t stray
from, if you will, that moral compass. For me, it’s about doing what I say and saying what I do with a
degree of integrity that is visible to everyone. I won’t compromise that for anything. And I think as
people see that and experience that, they know what kind of leader I want to be, and what kind of team
we want to create here at Symantec.
The Laureate: Those are great words, so I’m going to take you to something softer for a moment. As a
wine lover I am curious, and just have to ask you a question about Bordeaux and barbeque.
Thompson: (laughter) Well that was actually my good friend Doug Elix from IBM, whom I absolutely adore. He
is a wonderful guy. We were at our home in Westport, Connecticut, this was many years ago, and we were
having a barbeque to celebrate the work that a team had done for the two of us. And as we wound down the
barbeque, I said to Doug, “How about a good bottle of wine?” And he says, “Sure.” And I said, “Okay, go
downstairs and open up the cellar and you can take out one bottle of anything that you want.” And I should
have known better, but Doug chose an ‘82 Bordeaux, and we had a wonderful evening, and it didn’t stop with
that first bottle of wine. We decided that if one went good with the barbeque, maybe two would as well.
Doug’s a great friend, and to be able to share that bottle of wine with him was a wonderful, wonderful memory.
The Laureate: I thought you might mention Doug, and he said a few things about you over the years, and
all complimentary of course.
Thompson: I fooled another one. (laughter)
The Laureate: You fooled him a number of times by the look of the quotes. Doug had said about you
John, that, “He has a way of making things simple. He has a clever and calm way of getting people to
focus on the big picture and get everyone on board.”
Thompson: Well those are kind words. I don’t know. I think what you have to do as a leader is get people
to see your view of the world. Get people not just to see it, but become excited about it. And it’s not
about complex, intergalactic things. It’s about making concepts simple enough for everyone to embrace
and to want to get on board.
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Thompson: Early on when I joined IBM, I joined as a sales rep in Tampa, Florida. And there was an incident that occurred, because this was back in 1971, where an account that I called on was not sure they
wanted to have me as their rep. The end result was that IBM said, “Well gee, if you don’t want to do
business with him, we don’t want to do business with you.” And ultimately that led to a different territory assignment for me, and a whole new set of experiences that probably came earlier in my IBM
career than they might have otherwise had that incident not occurred. So I am forever somewhat grateful if you will, for this individual’s perhaps biased view of the world and how it ultimately impacted my
IBM career. It got my career launched on a faster pace quite frankly than it might have otherwise.
The Laureate: That must have been a point of pride in IBM for their support of you as part of the team.
Thompson: We had a great leadership team in Florida back many, many years ago. As a matter of fact one
of the interesting things about my early days at IBM is that there was a colleague of mine whose name
was Dave Thomas. Dave and I joined IBM essentially at the same time in Tampa, Florida, and we rose
through the company together. At one point were members of the worldwide management council
together, on and on and on. And it was somewhat rare that in a company of IBM’s size that you had
two guys that started essentially at the same time, in the same little branch office in Tampa, Florida, to
reach a pretty good level within a company of that size.
The Laureate: I’m going to take you back to Phoenix two years ago today at that Storage Networking
World speech. Another statement that you made struck me, and I quote you, “Information is the
currency of our age, and as such it has become invaluable.” How do you feel about that today, and in
relation to what a CIO’s challenge is?
Thompson: Well if you think about it, most businesses are more information intensive today than they are
cash intensive. Now it’s hard for us perhaps to grasp that, but the reality is, every business decision that
gets made here and almost every company around the world, is influenced in some significant way by
the insights that we glean from the information that we use to facilitate that process, and so it is in fact
the new currency of the day.
Competitive strategies, success or failure in the market, is based more upon information, not just capital.
And I think our company and its customers who take advantage of that concept are very, very well
served in today’s global market. Think about it. You can’t compete anywhere in the world today without
having intelligence and insight about what’s going on in those markets, and how your company can
adapt or adjust to the changing market conditions. And you can have all the riches in the world, but the
absence of effective insight and intelligence about the market won’t allow you to be successful.
The Laureate: There are lots of books and conversations about information technology, but there’s little
about leadership in IT. What does leadership at the CIO level mean to you?
Thompson: Well I think the most effective CIOs today are the ones who are very well aligned with the
overall goals of the business, and that IT is there to facilitate the business processes of the organization,
not to perpetuate the technology and the technology infrastructure.
Continued
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John W. Thompson
And those who make sure that the technology infrastructure is aligned with the business strategy of the
company, and therefore they’re very application focused, are the ones who tended to do the best job,
and are the most well respected in the industry. And there are lots of examples of that for sure.
The Laureate: You mentioned innovation before in the context of entrepreneurship. Where do you think
innovation comes from?
Thompson: Well it comes from people being willing to take risk. People being willing to step out on the
edge of conventional thinking; to say, gee there is a different way to pursue our goal, or a different way
to think about this problem. And every innovative company has a process by which it allows its people
to think differently. It does not punish them for their mistakes. It rewards them for their mistakes as
long as it’s not the same mistake repetitively. If that occurs that’s just bad management. Fundamentally
though, every company has to have an environment that encourages a degree of risk taking because it’s
only in that that you can create true innovative breakthroughs.
The Laureate: What do you see as the traits and qualities of an innovator?
Thompson: Well, clearly someone who is willing to live on the edge, someone who’s willing to admit that
they made a mistake. It’s a little bit like selling in my mind, where if you’re a very good salesperson you’ve
learned how to accept rejection. You’ve learned how to accept people saying no and pick yourself up and
go back and try again and again and again. And while some might argue that that’s not innovation, I
would argue it is because innovation is about failure and learning from the mistakes that you’ve made,
getting back up and getting back in the game. And the most innovative companies in this valley, the most
innovative companies around the world, have as many failures if not more so, than they do successes.
The Laureate: So at Symantec, you just had your major sales kick-off week of the year. In that context that
you just gave us, how do you best encourage that innovation?
Thompson: For us, it’s all about winning. I can remember a few weeks ago I was up in Toronto, Canada,
and one of the questions that came from the audience was, “Gee John, are you having fun? How are
you going to make sure that we are having fun at what we do?” I told him, “Look, my job is not to
make sure that you have fun. My job is to help you win. And guess what? If we’re winning, I bet we’re
having a whole boatload of fun.”
The Laureate: Jack Welch in his book entitled “Winning,” said, “Leaders make sure that people not only
see the vision, they live and breathe it.” How do you feel about that?
Thompson: I’ve been at this now for almost 8 years, and we started out with a real simple idea, that we
would take our little company and turn it into something that was more relevant in a world where people
were more and more connected. That simple little idea has expanded to what Symantec is today, and I
couldn’t be more proud of this team, and I’m pleased with my little role here. I liken myself however,
to the drum major of a marching band. I went to Florida A&M as I told you, and they had one of the
most world renowned bands in the Marching 100. They have two or three drum majors out front,
but a 175 people in the band behind them. I tell people all the time, “Listen to and pay attention to the
band, not the drum major, because that’s where all the beautiful music is coming from.”
The Laureate: You talk a lot about innovation. Are there innovators out there that you admire as role models?
Thompson: There are lots of people in this industry and around the world that are doing just remarkable,
remarkable things. There are leaders in the technology industry that I admire for some of their traits or
their strengths. I think the degree of customer focus and commitment that is embodied in John Chambers
at Cisco is a wonderful thing. I think the competitive intensity that you see in Steve Ballmer at Microsoft
is a marvel. I don’t know how he keeps it up all the time but it is certainly is a marvel. I think the technical
leadership that has been embodied in a guy like Bill Coleman who’s built multiple companies that have
really done great things in the industry, those are all things that you can look at and admire. There’s no
one person in my mind, but there are wonderful people out there who truly do inspire me.
14
John W. Thompson
The Laureate: Is there any point where the term “innovate forever,” isn’t the first mantra?
Thompson: Historically, companies have always thought you grow or you die. And in the tech industry I
think the mantra is more like you innovate or you die because you’re as good as the next great idea that
your team is able to bring to the marketplace.
Not bring out of the lab, but bring to the marketplace where it can in fact be a success. And I think
there are great examples of companies in this industry that have been able to keep a steady stream of
innovation going, and therefore keep a steady revenue growth and earnings profile growing as well.
Hopefully Symantec will be one of those forever.
The Laureate: Geoff Moore, in his recent book “Dealing with Darwin,” talked about learning from the
past and transforming your internal dynamics to overcome the inertia that threatens every bold innovation. Is this applicable for you as a leader and for Symantec going forward?
Thompson: Well I think every leader has got to every now and then check his or her hold card that says,
gee am I just doing things the old rote way that I have always done them? Am I really learning myself?
Am I reinventing myself? And if the answer to those questions is no, it’s time for you to move on quite
frankly. I argue that effective leaders certainly in the role of CEO, probably have a life cycle of about 8
to 10 years. And if they don’t reinvent themselves and reinvent the company in the process, boy they
probably ought to move on because they’re not serving that company very well.
The Laureate: Do you see information management as lying at the center of strategy and competitive
advantage? Do you agree with this?
Thompson: Absolutely. I can’t think of any company today, any business organization, commercial or
government that isn’t influenced significantly by their ability to share information. It’s becoming more
important, not less so. And therefore it’s at the core of everything that those organizations do, from
financial services to healthcare, to telecommunications to retail.
Think about the retail experience. Retailing has gotten far more targeted because they use information
about what you bought. You go into Amazon today and you buy this book, and Amazon says that others
who have bought this book also have been interested in these books. That’s information based, and
they’re hopeful that by directing you toward what others have purchased, you too might purchase that.
So the information intensity of our economy is driving higher and higher every day, and hopefully as a
result of that, businesses are seeing more value in that information as well.
The Laureate: I’m going to take you back 20 years to a quote from Edwards Demming. He said, “It is not
necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” How do you interpret that warning some 20 years
later? What does it mean for today and the future?
Thompson: Well I don’t think any of us build businesses or organizations with an eye toward sun-setting
them. We build these businesses with an eye toward them having some sustaining quality about them.
I’m on the board of UPS, and UPS this year is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary. My goodness,
Symantec is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and I know how challenging it has been to get us
to 25 years. Think about the vision that Casey, the founder of UPS had to create an organization that
can sustain itself for a hundred years. And I think that’s about change. It’s about adapting to changing
market conditions, because what started out in their case is a little parcel delivery company in Seattle,
Washington, to what now is a global facilitator of commerce. That is a markedly different view of the
world than what they were a hundred years ago.
I think every organization has to think about that, that is, how am I making myself more relevant today
to the problems that my customers and partners are dealing with today, that sustains the franchise? And
if you can’t come up with an effective answer to that, you will die.
Continued
15
John W. Thompson
The Laureate: What will it take for Symantec to be that 100-year company?
Thompson: We have to be forever adaptable. We have to be willing to change with the changing market
conditions and changing environment around us. Fortunately because of the security component in our
business, we know that we have no choice but to change, because the threats change about every 18
months. But that’s not quite the same as changing your business model, or changing your strategy to
deal with changing market conditions. And I think if we are true to ourselves, and true to the needs of
our customers, we will adapt and therefore the franchise can be sustained.
The Laureate: John, a few questions about your philosophy going forward. Your hopes and desires in a
visionary sense. What are your hopes for humankind in terms of what this IT revolution can achieve?
Thompson: Well I hope right now that we can apply the learnings and knowledge of technology to deal
with things like the global healthcare crisis, or the global warming crisis. These are two issues that are of
paramount importance to mankind that we ought to do something about, and if anything technology
can facilitate us solving those problems for sure. Boy if we did that, mankind can sustain itself for many
more years to come.
John W. Thompson
We have a sixth sense about the physical world in which we live. We know where we should and
should not go. We know what we should and should not do, but I don’t think we have that same sixth
sense about technology. Simple case - people are duped into opening an email thinking that they had
just won 500-dollars. Well we know that that’s not likely. We know that when junk mail comes in our
mailboxes we just throw it away. We’re forever hopeful I guess in the technology world that perhaps that
one lightning strike will occur and we will be the one to win the 500-dollars. Well there is a certain
naiveté perhaps and we have to get over that. We have to learn or create that sixth sense in this digital
world, and I think when we do, we’ll have even more fun than we are having today.
The Laureate: What message would you like to leave for the vendor side of the global technology industry?
Thompson: I think we all owe our customers more than what we’re giving them today. We have to think
more holistically about the problems that they’re trying to solve, and how our solutions must interoperate in their environment. While we’ve known for many, many years in this industry that profits follow
architectural control, we also need to recognize that profits follow customer deployment and simplicity.
So if we do a better job of ensuring interoperability, open industry standards, complexity reduction, cost
benefit analysis, I think we will see this industry continue to thrive for many, many years to come. But
it starts with a willingness to embrace an open architecture, one that our customers are screaming for.
The Laureate: The President of the United States honored you with being involved in some of the most
critical decisions in terms of our nation’s infrastructure. How do you feel about that? What should we
be doing more than we are doing now?
The Laureate: And the message to that enterprise user audience that invests in and deploys technology?
Thompson: First off it’s quite an honor to be asked to serve, and I think any of us who is asked to serve our
country should quickly and readily be willing to jump in. That was certainly the attitude I had when
the opportunity came along.
Thompson: Keep pushing us. We are as good as the last request, and candidly I think we can do a lot more as
an industry to serve your needs. But the most demanding customers are the ones who really, really do push
the envelope on the use of technology, and push us as a vendor community to do a better job for them.
If you think about the world in which we live, you cannot separate the digital infrastructure of our
country from the physical infrastructure. So the roads, the water supply, the electric energy grid, all of
those things are connected by the digital information that flows to make them effective. So the thought
that we would bring together leaders from the physical and digital infrastructure of the country to think
about what more can we do to protect it, that’s a profound thought.
The Laureate: How would John Thompson like to be remembered in this IT revolution?
Thompson: Just a country boy who wants to win, that’s all.
And I think over the last two or three years the group has done some really, really interesting work. I’ve
been honored to be a part of it. Candidly many of the team members of Symantec, like Rob Clyde and
others, have been very actively involved. They’re the smart people. I’m just the drum major here kind of
holding the baton.
The Laureate: It’s all about that band behind the drum major again?
Thompson: Right. That’s right.
The Laureate: So in that kind of a role where we’re protecting the critical infrastructure of the United
States, at the same time we’re restricting access to it globally. How do you feel about that?
Thompson: I think there are some parts of the world that certainly have restrictions on how you use this
infrastructure, or what access you might be able to make to the infrastructure. But I think we’re on a
course where it’s inevitable that information will flow freely around the world, even in countries like
China where they would like to control where people go and what people see.
Ultimately, the democracy in which we live around the world will force us to open up more and more
and more and information technology, and information sharing will be at the core of creating bigger,
broader democracies around the world.
The Laureate: What are the greatest obstacles ahead? Are they technical, social or something else?
Thompson: I don’t think any of us 25 years ago would have ever envisioned a life influenced by
technology like the ones that we live today, and I think we have to develop as a human being,
a sixth sense about technology.
16
17
As an Information Technology leader, Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley congratulates the winner of
recognizes the importance of innovation and excellence
this year’s Information Technology Leadership Award
and is proud to sponsor the
for Global Commerce
Information Technology
John W. Thompson
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Symantec Corporation
Leadership Award for
Global Commerce
Morgan Stanley congratulates our Computerworld Innovation
Award Nominees for the acceptance of their works into the
Worldwide Archives of the Computerworld Honors Foundation.
and the
Computerworld Honors Laureate Medal
Recipients for Technology Innovation
Alfresco Software, Inc.
Managed Objects
BioPassword
Novalux
Bit9
QlikTech
CT Space
Varonis
Logical Information Machines, Inc.
THE 2007 EMC
INFORMATION LEADERSHIP AWARD
L AURA E. C AMPBELL
Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives, Library of Congress
“Innovation is the process of creative collaboration. Many a brilliant idea has faltered at the
execution stage. Successful innovators really understand the value of a well-conceived strategy
for execution. They involve others in the development of that strategy.
They understand the strength in divergent ideas and thinking.”
Laura E. Campbell, Oral History
On Oct. 2, 2000, Laura E. Campbell was appointed by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington as
Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives, a new Library of Congress position.
Creation of the position responds to a recommendation contained in the July 26, 2000, National
Academy of Sciences report, “LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress.”
Ms. Campbell is responsible for the overall strategic planning for the Library, which includes development of a
national strategy, in cooperation with other institutions, for the collection, access and preservation of digital
materials. This collaborative effort is formally called the National Digital Information Infrastructure and
Preservation Program. Ms. Campbell also oversees the Information Technology Services directorate at the Library.
Ms. Campbell is also the Director of the National Digital Library (NDL) Program, which she has led since
1994 at the Library. In this capacity she led a cooperative national effort to digitize and make available online
important and unique materials of America’s history and culture from the Library and other repositories
throughout the country. The flagship of the NDL Program is the award-winning American Memory
Web site, which makes freely available more than 10 million historical primary source materials.
Ms. Campbell assumed responsibility for the American Memory Program in 1993 and began co-chairing
the Digital Futures Group of the Library in late 1998.
Ms. Campbell joined the Library in April 1992 as director of Library Distribution Services, a directorate
that included all the commercial functions of the Library.
Before joining the Library, Ms. Campbell was vice president of QueTel Corp., a business and systemsintegration consulting firm, from 1989 to 1992, where she directed consulting engagements in strategic
planning and financial systems, including work for the Library of Congress.
From 1984 to1989, she was a staff consultant, manager and then principal with Arthur Young & Co.
(now Ernst and Young), directing projects for industry and government. She served as project manager
for the strategic planning review of the Library of Congress in 1988-89.
Ms. Campbell is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (B.A., 1973), the University of Maine (M.A.
in management, 1979) and Georgetown University (M.S. in accounting, 1983).
The Nominating Committee for the 2007 EMC Information Leadership Award:
Michael Dell, Chairman & CEO, Dell
William D. Green, Chairman & CEO, Accenture
John J. Garstka, Assistant Director, Concepts & Office of Force Transformation, The Pentagon
Douglas Greenburg, President & CEO, The Shoah Visual History Foundation
John Kerry, Senator, United States Senate
Geoffrey Moore, Managing Director, TCAG Advisors LLC
20
Laura E. Campbell
LAURA E. CAMPBELL
Excerpts from the transcript of a Video History Interview with Laura
Campbell, Associate Librarian for Strategic Initiatives and Director
of the National Digital Library Program at the Library of Congress,
recipient of the 2007 EMC Information Leadership Award.
The interviewed was conducted by Don Tennant, Editor in Chief
of Computerworld, May 9, 2007 at the Library of Congress in
Washington, DC.
2007 LEADERSHIP
AWARD RECIPIENT
The Laureate: What values and ethics did your parents most strongly instill in you?
Campbell: I think kindness is something my mother brought to our family. She has a great big heart,
and she has always been very generous in spirit and deed. She imbued in me honesty and certainly
directness, which has been an asset in my professional life, and sometimes not an asset. But she taught
me about directness, and honesty, and hard work, lots of hard work pays off.
The Laureate: As a child, did you have any role models?
Campbell: I think my father in particular was my major mentor and role model growing up.
The Laureate: Why?
Campbell: He was exciting, with a fantastic sense of humor. He had a marvelous way with people. He
loved people. We always had people in and out of our house. He was generous. He took in any stray
that needed a place to be for a holiday, or a place to stay. He was very wise. He could see things, and
often he would say things to me that would make me think for days. He was a good conversationalist, a
great listener, and he promoted being all that you could be. He was the kind of person who didn’t care
what you decided to do, just be the best you could be at it.
The Laureate: Are there any grammar school or high school teachers that were mentors, or anyone in that
part of your life that shaped the direction of what you are today?
Campbell: I had teachers in Germany that I remember especially well. We were fortunate where we were in
Wiesbaden to have attracted some remarkable educators. It was the embassy school as well. The embassy
was in Bonn, but students traveled to Wiesbaden to go to school. It was a great, solid education with lots
of exciting experiences and pretty remarkable professors, many that had come from university settings.
The Laureate: You received a B.A. in Political Science from Penn State, an M.A. in Public management
from the University of Maine, and an M.S. in Accounting from Georgetown University. Of all your
degrees, which one do you think has proven to be the most valuable to you in your career?
Campbell: I would say the Public Management degree, and the degree from Georgetown. I was interested in
both organizational change and finance, and I ended up working as a consultant with what was then one of
the big eight accounting firms. Now it’s Ernst & Young, but at that time it was Arthur Young. So both those
degrees were very practical for me in the consulting world. I was able to combine both the organizational
emphasis with the financial training. I also had a great interest in systems, and was an early adopter of
technology, and had an opportunity to build some interesting systems working at Arthur Young.
The Laureate: How did you make the original connection with the Library of Congress?
Campbell: Dr. Jim Billington was appointed Librarian of Congress in 1987. He is a brilliant scholar, a
Russian historian, and the first thing he wanted to do was a management review of the Library. I
worked with him and his leadership team on that management review, and spent a lot of time looking
at the Library’s finances and how they were going to manage those finances into the future.
Through that experience I met a number of interesting people who were working at the Library and
people Dr. Billington had brought with him into the organization. For about five years I worked on
different projects. They were usually trouble spots that needed some sort of clean up, so I would be
assigned to go in there and fix something, analyze something and make recommendations about change.
22
In 1992, three colleagues at the Library and I were asked to go to Prague, Czechoslovakia, right after
it had been freed from Communist rule. We were to look at the National Library and the condition of
the library. As you can imagine, the communists were not particularly interested in access, wide access
to knowledge and information, and there was some concern about the disrepair of the beautiful
National Library Clementine. The Rockefeller Foundation funded our trip so we went over to assess
the condition of the library and make some recommendations.
I’ll never forget being in the top floor of this gorgeous building, seeing pigeons freely flying around over
these rare, illuminated manuscripts. There were broken windows. It took your breath away. It just hit
me in the most obvious way, how could you possibly have kept people from access to this incredible
body of material? Isn’t access to information and knowledge a basic responsibility?
We had the opportunity to go to President Vaclav Havel’s castle on this trip and meet his staff and see the
rare castle treasures. The castle librarians took us into what appeared to be a large cedar closet and from
these cabinets and drawers, they pulled out manuscripts with stones, jewels the size of the Hope Diamond
on the covers of them, beautiful Medieval things. That was quite an experience, meeting Havel’s staff, being
in the presence of such a courageous leader, seeing the cultural artifacts that tell such an incredible story.
So I came back from that trip thinking, maybe it’s time to take a job at the Library of Congress. There
was something that really gave me pause for thought after that trip. I had fallen in love with the Library
and its mission, and it was time for me to try to make a public contribution.
The Laureate: The next year, interestingly enough, you met David Packard. Tell us about that.
Campbell: Shortly after I took the job here at the Library, Dr. Billington, said to me, “Laura, you’re a
consultant. We need a business plan and a strategy for how we’re going to make the unique treasures of
the Library of Congress available to the taxpayers, citizens who have paid to acquire store, organize and
preserve this material. We’ve got these fabulous one-of-a-kind items, and everybody should see them.”
So he gave me two weeks to come up with a business plan, and I’ll never forget thinking, okay, well, he’s
obviously in a hurry about this. Now keep in mind that this is a genius, a scholar, who is not actively
using a computer himself, but wanted these materials digitized because he was going to make them
broadly available. This was before widespread distribution of CD ROMS, and well before public access
to the Internet. He could see the future.
I took those two weeks and I talked to the staff that had been digitizing a sample set of items. Then
I worked up the courage to go in and tell Dr. Billington that I saw a number of issues with moving
forward. I wanted to know who he thought the market was for this material. Then I asked him if he
had any thoughts about the distribution channel, and a few other questions.
And I remember getting a 55-minute lecture about this being our ‘moral imperative’. I sat there fairly
outclassed in this conversation, and I realized then that we were going to do this! It didn’t matter that
we didn’t have a distribution channel, or that we didn’t have the money for it, we were going to raise the
money. So from that day forward I had a new job, and that was the beginning of building a digital
library. It was a thrilling time.
The Laureate: How did meeting David Packard fit into that?
Campbell: In 1993, after we had our business plan and strategy put together, Dr. Billington and I went to
Palo Alto to meet with the late Dave Packard at his foundation. We presented our idea, and Mr.
Packard was very interested in the possibilities. He appreciated the historical significance of these unique
items. He had served in government himself so he understood the bureaucracy as well as what we had to
offer, and clearly what some of our challenges would be.
We made an hour and a half presentation, and keep in mind in those days we hauled out boxes of desktop computers and all this stuff to do a presentation. We had lots of wonderful examples of the things
we wanted to make available, as well as a business presentation to go with it. David Packard said, “Well,
I only have one question.” And I thought, just one question? I hope I can answer it. And he said, “Are
you going to do this with union labor?” I’ll never forget that. I thought, here we are in the presence of
one of the world’s biggest business icons, he gets right to the point!
Continued
23
Laura E. Campbell
So with that Mr. Packard wrote us our first check for five million dollars to build what we called then
the “American Memory Program,” an online historical archive. He encouraged us to make this a national
program. He understood intuitively the power of the material at the Library—the Civil War diaries and
photographs, the presidents’ papers, the story of the common man at any time in our history—a real
treasure trove of the American story. He completely understood that this could be the beginning of
something very important. Keep in mind we still didn’t have public access to the Internet at this point.
About two months later, John Kluge of Metromedia gave us a five million dollar personal check. So
now we have ten million dollars. I’ll never forget that check, I’d never seen so many zeros on a check. I
think we photo copied it. Mr. Kluge is very generous and said, “This is a good cause.”
A few weeks later we received $3 million from the Kellogg Foundation to test some of the digitized
material, these primary sources of history in the classroom. These materials were seemingly exciting for
not just researchers, but young people. In just three months we had raised thirteen million dollars. So
we were feeling pretty good.
Newt Gingrich, who was then Speaker of the House and also a history professor, came to us and said, “If
you can raise this kind of money ($13 million in just a few months) I think that the Congress can give you
money to help digitize this material.” So he encouraged us to develop a figure—what was it going to cost
for us to do this work? We said it would cost 60 million dollars, and we would deliver five million items
by the turn of the century. This was in 1994 that we made this promise, and he committed 15 million
dollars and we were to raise the other two-thirds. We ended up raising 48 million dollars well before the
five-year period was up, and we digitized the five million items before the target date of 2000.
It seems remarkable to me now when I talk about this. At the time it was somewhat daunting. We
weren’t in a production environment. And we didn’t have staff to do this. We still didn’t have that
distribution facility. We weren’t certain who was going to use the material, but we were building that
field of dreams and we knew they would come somehow.
In time we hired 110 people—the most talented, enthusiastic young people who were just getting
involved in digitizing and beginning to work on the Web. We hired them on five-year contracts, which
was very unusual for the government. In other words, when the job was done, potentially their tenure
was done. So we had a workforce motivated in a different way, interestingly. When I look back on it
there were lots of elements of change that were very important, and I don’t think we fully appreciated
that at the time. But, we hired these great young people and we were off and running with digitizing all
kinds of material. Most of this talented staff is with us today. They wanted to make a difference and
they continue to make a difference.
We had many early challenges including getting Library curators to let us even touch their materials. But
when they saw the power of their prized collections online—thinking changed. One of our biggest
challenges early on was displaying maps, because we didn’t have the compression technology to make
them available, and you know how popular maps are. So within a couple years we had some new innovative
tools to allow us to put maps online, and now we routinely add maps and other challenging formats.
The Laureate: Can you talk about how things changed in 1994 when you did finally get that distribution channel?
Campbell: Thanks to Bob Kahn, Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee and hundreds of other really talented scientists,
we had access to the Internet, and soon thereafter the World Wide Web. That’s what we needed. We had
our distribution channel. It was just remarkable the difference that made, and we started putting collections
online as fast as we could. We hired a group of designers who would do the interfaces. These are all young
people who at that time could have gone to work at AOL or other places, but they came here because they
wanted to make a difference, and they believed that access to this content was really important.
There’s a special camaraderie among this group, which made the work a real joy even though we didn’t
have a road map, and we got plenty of bruises along the way. The team is really passionate.
The Laureate: So that road took you to the National Digital Library Information and Infrastructure
Preservation Program. Can you talk about that for a bit?
24
Laura E. Campbell
Campbell: We went from “American Memory” to adding material for teachers, because of the acceptance and
enthusiasm across the country for access to these primary sources in the Social Studies, History programs,
and Language Arts programs. We built a [complementary] site for educators called the “Learning Page”
where we have lesson plans and activities, road-tested work that teachers can use in the classroom. We also
built a site using the historical material for younger children. We call it “America’s Library.” We have lots of
other special offerings on the Library’s site that have built up around online exhibitions, teaching materials
and more original historical items. So we went from “American Memory” to what we now call the
“National Digital Library,” the story of America essentially through our documentary record.
The Library has 134 million items. Two-thirds of that collection is in these special format areas, it’s 19
million photographs, 56 million manuscripts, 6 million maps—a football field of maps—the world’s
largest recorded sound and movie collection, 1.5 million rare books. We have more to choose from than
we’ll ever be able to digitize and place online. We carefully continue to choose the collections to digitize
so that they map to the school program and support the state standards of learning. We did that in
concert with experts who helped us build a framework for how we would match these digitized
collections to the standards, so teachers can teach to those standards using these materials.
After we had good traction on digitizing, working with teachers, and a growing audience, we turned our
attention to the amount of material that was being produced only in digital form, “born digital” content.
In the late 1990s two important things happened. The first was when Dr. Billington commissioned a
study by the National Academy of Sciences to look at whether the Library of Congress was ready for the
21st century. They delivered a report called, “LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress.”
The second important thing was that I pulled together our senior managers, and we had a number of
strategic planning sessions, looking at future scenarios for the Library in an increasingly digital environment.
We talked about what the most important areas were for us to tackle and focus on. We all agreed addressing
the born digital material, things that are only being produced in digital form, was important. What’s most
important to collect? Who is going to do it? How are we going to do it? Who’s going to pay for it?
So simultaneously we have two things going on. We have some internal planning going on, but we also have
this distinguished body of people writing a report with recommendations to Dr. Billington about what we
should do. That report turned out to be constructively critical about the Library’s need to get outside of our
immediate community, and to really think and listen broadly to the content creators, distributors, owners in
all fields of creativity, because the Library’s mission is to collect in all fields broadly, a universal collection, a
comprehensive collection. We understood that there was a synergy here between these two messages. In the
fall of 2000, we went to Congress and talked about the need to build a national strategy for born digital
material. We didn’t know what that strategy would be, but we knew we needed to do something serious
about it. We needed to get outside the box we were in. We needed to get out there and talk and think and
listen and work with others to really collaborate with the stakeholders to develop a national strategy for how
we put a national collection for the future together—before it is lost forever.
Campbell: Again, I’m not certain we really understood the magnitude of what we were undertaking at the
time. With digitized material it was easier for us to explain what we were doing for education. We’re
having a big impact on young people who want to be able to use high quality educational material
online. That message was easier to understand than one that says we need to save the born digital content—and we weren’t even certain of the scale at first. In 2000, when we were making this pitch about
building a “born digital” collection for the nation, we knew a lot of material was being created in digital
form. We had no idea how fast that growth would happen.
This year, it is estimated that 161 exabytes of digital content will be produced. It’s estimated by the year
2010, 988 exabytes of digital content would be produced. Obviously you’re not going to collect all of
that, nor would you want to collect all of it. Some material is important and interesting, some is just
interesting! Part of what librarians and archivists bring to this process is developing an approach for
what you select, the collection development part and curating what is brought into the collection.
What’s important for Congress to have? What’s important for researchers and students to have now, and
what’s important for your great, great grand children to have?
Continued
25
Laura E. Campbell
The Laureate: Who makes these judgments?
Campbell: That’s a good question, and that’s the beauty about the National Digital Preservation Program
that Congress so generously funded in 2000 at 100 million dollars to develop a strategy for a national
digital preservation program. This program distributes the responsibility for selecting among a set of
trusted partners, trusted agents if you will for the Library, to help share in the responsibility and the cost
of collecting and preserving very fragile “at-risk” content; content that’s both interesting and important
to have. It’s content that may in some cases be vital and if we don’t get it, no one’s going to get it. It
won’t be there. It will, poof, be gone.
We have taken a collaborative approach, as agreed to during our planning process. No one thought
there should be a centralized approach because no one institution could do all that needs to be done.
Everyone realized that was absolutely out of the question. We have identified special subject experts and
people who have specialized skills in various formats, geospatial material, social science data sets, web
sites, digital television, foreign news broadcasts, blogs, podcasts, social networking sites, all kinds of
material. We are relying on subject experts, people who have real knowledge of what’s important to save
and to curate. We’re doing this with the help of a lot of smart people including the Library’s 450
“recommenders.” The Library has many experts; we just can’t do this monumental job all by ourselves.
The Laureate: Last summer, in testimony before the House Committee on Administration you spoke of
collaboration with other government agencies and noted that there is no duplication of effort. What’s
the secret to your success in that regard?
Campbell: What’s really interesting is that everybody thinks if you’re doing something in the digital world
you’re duplicating one another. GPO as you know is responsible for government documents. The
National Archives is responsible for federal records, the output of the federal government, and they both
have big digital challenges as well. The Library of Congress, we deal in all the other material. We deal
with copyrighted material, with what is published as well as unpublished works. It’s the human record
of creativity in all formats: audio, visual, maps, graphical material, music, TV, oral histories, papers of
famous people, books, pamphlets, newspapers, serials, and more. We have the Copyright Office of the
United States, and that has been an enormous source of content for the national collection, along with
donations of great historical and literary significance and materials from the Library’s overseas offices.
We are talking to each other to ensure collaboration, not duplication.
The Laureate: What will the program look like 10 years from now?
Campbell: Ten years from now we’ll have a lot more partners. We will have solved some of the problems
around access to copyrighted or restricted materials. We’ll be better at knowing what agreements we
should be negotiating. We will be continuing to track and address standards because technology is not
going to stand still. This is a dynamic, moving target. It’s not like paper or the physical world where you
could say, this is the best edition of a book and put it on a shelf. The preservation standard for physical
material was static. Now, whether it’s a digital book, pamphlet, journal, or newspaper—they can be
changed in any way.
The Laureate: You’ve written about the importance of anticipating the needs of the 22nd century user,
which is a mind-boggling concept. How do you approach that challenge?
Campbell: It’s time for us to listen to the next generation. I think getting ready for the user of the future
we’ve got to be thinking about all types of remote delivery. We have to be making certain that the next
generation of researchers, leaders and/or national legislators are involved in helping shape the direction,
our environment is going to change fast. If you can’t get it online, and you can’t get it fast, and it isn’t
easy, people aren’t going to use it.
So 10 years from now I think we’ll have a mature network of very specialized expertise that will be sharing content in an interoperable way across a large network, and services that are provided for the network
will help you locate the content. There will be such technical services as format registries that will help
you keep track of old and obsolete formats so that you know when to migrate or emulate content and
move it to new technical environments. And you’ll know how to preserve and move content because
26
Laura E. Campbell
somebody has bothered to save the software and the rules of the road for that old format. If I went back
and took that old “portable” computer I used to lug around that weighed 55 pounds, what would I do
with those old floppies? You can’t work with that material today. There will be a growing distributed
network with defined roles and responsibilities for stewardship, with certain services provided to the
network by partners in the network.
The Laureate: What do you think society 200 years from now is going to think about us, our culture and
our technological expertise?
Campbell: I think they will know that there was a beginning with the Internet, yet I don’t think it’s going
to matter. I think the world’s going to be so dramatically different that this will be like us looking back
at the invention of the printing press.
The Laureate: How would you define leadership, is it learned or innate?
Campbell: I think leadership is innate, and empowered by the environment within which one works. It is the
ability to conceptualize a vision or embrace a vision and then take responsibility for it. I think that a good
leader starts first by listening so that they gain understanding from whomever they need to, and then
communicating that understanding so that the people involved will be clear about the end result. I think it’s a
collaborative process where communication doesn’t just happen by announcing a vision or developing strategy.
I think there’s a great deal of attention paid to communication during the execution of the strategy.
And I think that’s particularly where vision breaks down, or communication breaks down is when you’re
executing a strategy. I think leadership is understanding that communication throughout all three steps:
envisioning, strategy development, and execution. A good leader is paying attention to realigning the
work and adjusting the strategy. I do think optimism is a crucial attribute of a talented leader, one who
is a “dealer in hope,” as Napoleon is reputed to have called it.
The Laureate: Can you talk a little bit about how that approach and your management style has worked
here at the Library?
Campbell: I would say I’ve been very fortunate being able to create a start-up in government, to have hired
many talented people. This was a risk perhaps, for them, given they didn’t have permanent jobs. They
were younger in their career than I was and they were challenged by the notion that they could be here
at the beginning and make a difference in something that was brand new. There was no road map. We
made it up. We made it up together, and they were enthusiastic about it. So I would say it’s been a very
happy experience. There have been some challenges, but I don’t think any of us thought of it as a big
risk, rather an honor.
The Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in America. We collect in 450 languages.
There isn’t any subject that Congress may not be in need of.
The mission of the Library is to collect, preserve and provide access to knowledge and information, to make
content widely accessible, in the hopes that users turn information into knowledge and then wisdom. If we
don’t have the material that is being produced in digital form today, we won’t have access to the human
record of our time. There would be a big void. What was it like at the beginning of the Internet? How did
it change business and advertising? What did it mean for education? What did we learn from the digital
revolution, so we can make those important decisions about the future of education?
At the heart of the revolution that we’re in, we are providing high quality educational information that
makes people think critically makes sound decision-makers and allows them to be informed citizens.
The Laureate: And in what ways are you working with other national libraries around the world to
preserve this?
Campbell: We are working with others in lots of really new ways. One of our partnerships on the National
Digital Preservation Program is something that we founded with the French National Library and the
British Library. It’s called the International Internet Preservation Coalition.
Continued
27
Laura E. Campbell
There were 12 of us originally, 12 national libraries, who got together and said, “We all have to preserve
important websites now.” Whether you’re preserving materials about Katrina, or 9/11, or the presidential
elections, or prescription drugs, or whatever the issue, event, subject, or social experience is, all countries
are trying to tackle this preservation challenge. We thought instead of each of us doing it alone let’s get
together and build the tools that are necessary to harvest from the Web; to perform more advanced
harvesting to make our job easier; to share in the development of the software that we need to use to do
this job. Out of the 12 countries, we probably have a group of about 30 technologists collectively from
these institutions who are working together. The tools we develop will allow us to share the material.
Consequently, we won’t necessarily have to collect websites from some of these countries because they
are doing it for us, and we will share that material.
The Laureate: How would you define innovation, and where would you say it comes from?
Campbell: Innovation is the process of creative collaboration. Many a brilliant idea has faltered at the execution
stage. Successful innovators really understand the value of well-conceived strategy for execution. They
involve others in the development of that strategy. They look for diversity of ideas. They understand the
strength in divergent ideas and values. Innovation is resident in the work that we’re doing, I think because
none of us alone had the skills to make this happen, but together we could do so much more.
When information
The Laureate: How do you encourage innovation?
comes together,
Campbell: Let me tell you a story about an example of encouraging innovation. I had the great fortune to
spend a little time with the late Dave Packard. He was a real role model for me, and just a wonderful,
wonderful man. He and Bill Hewlett built Hewlett Packard and it has been one of the most innovative
companies for many, many, many years. Why? Because they adopted the style of walk-around management.
They listened to their engineers. They encouraged experimentation and testing. They gave people an
opportunity to get their new product ideas into prototype. Maybe not all ideas came to fruition, but
they fostered an atmosphere of innovation, creative collaboration. I think they were brilliant. They were
brilliant leaders and great innovators.
inspiration lights
the way.
Google, another wonderfully innovative company, has its employees spend at least one day a week on
some creative experiment or innovation of their own thinking—great idea. The atmosphere that you
provide for experimentation goes a long way toward innovation.
The Laureate: What are your hopes for the future of the information revolution that’s unfolding?
Campbell: My hopes are really pretty simple. When you think about how far we’ve come, but how far we
still need to go, the technology today enables us to share information about cultures and people. And
I hope that if we are able to do a good job, that we will have a body of content that helps people
understand one another better than we do today.
The Laureate: What are the greatest obstacles in the path ahead? Are they technical or social?
Campbell: The obstacles are social. I used to think that technical problems were the tough part, but it’s the
human element.
The Laureate: How would you like your role in this revolution to be remembered?
Campbell: I fervently hope that the Library and its partners are remembered by some in the future as being
a positive force in providing access to information, and for making sure it’s there for future generations.
My role is a very, very small part of it. I am just humbled to be here to make a contribution.
Congratulations to the 2007 Computerworld Honors Program Laureates. You have
transformed information into a force for innovation, growth, and understanding.
Your accomplishments inspire us all—and prove that when information comes
together, the world wins.
Learn more about EMC at www.EMC.com
EMC 2, EMC, and where information lives are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation. © Copyright 2007 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
28
THE 2007 IBM GLOBAL PUBLIC SECTOR
INNOVATION EXCELLENCE
LEADERSHIP AWARD
M ICHAEL R. B LOOMBERG
Mayor, City of New York
Michael R. Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York. He was born on February 14, 1942
and raised in Medford, Massachusetts, where his father was the bookkeeper at a local dairy. Mayor
Bloomberg’s thirst for information and fascination with technology was evident at an early age, and led
him to Johns Hopkins University, where he parked cars and took out loans to finance his education.
After his college graduation, he gained an M.B.A. from Harvard and in the summer of 1966, he was
hired by Salomon Brothers to work on Wall Street.
He quickly advanced through the ranks, and became a partner in 1972. Soon after, he was supervising
all of Salomon’s stock trading, sales and later, its information systems. He was fired in 1981 after another
company acquired Salomon. Michael Bloomberg used his stake from the Salomon sale to start his own
company, an endeavor that would revolutionize the way that Wall Street does business. As a young trader,
he had been amazed at the archaic nature in which information was stored. When he needed to see how
a stock had been trading three weeks ago, he had to find a copy of the Wall Street Journal from the date
in question, and the records system consisted of clerks penciling trades in oversize ledgers. So, he created
a financial information computer that would collect and analyze different combinations of past and
present securities data and deliver it immediately to the user.
In 1982, Bloomberg L.P. sold 20 subscriptions to its service; 20 years later, Bloomberg L.P. has over
165,000 subscribers worldwide. As the business proved its viability, the company branched out and in
1990 Bloomberg L.P. entered the media business, launching a news service, and then radio, television,
Internet, and publishing operations.
Nearly 20 years after its founding, Bloomberg L.P. now employs more than 8,000 people—including
2,500 in New York City—in more than 100 offices worldwide. As the company enjoyed tremendous
growth, he dedicated more of his time and energy to philanthropy and civic affairs. His desire to improve
education, advance medical research and increase access to the arts, has provided the motivation for
much of his philanthropy.
He funded relief programs for victims of domestic violence in New York City, sponsored the Children’s
Health Fund’s Mobile Medical Unit which serves the children of homeless families, and supported
construction of new athletic fields at city high schools throughout the five boroughs. He also served on
the boards of 20 different civic, cultural, educational and medical institutions, including: the High
School for Economics and Finance, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Benefit Fund, S.L.E. (Lupus) Foundation, and Prep for Prep.
The Nominating Committee for the 2007 IBM Global Public Sector Innovation Excellence Leadership Award:
Scot Rourke, President & CEO, One Community
Joseph Tufano, Chief Information Officer, St. John’s University
Nicole Gardner, Vice President, Social Services, IBM Public Sector Global Business Services
30
LEADERSHIP AWARD RECIPIENTS, 1989-2006
2006
2003
LINDA M. DILLMAN, Executive Vice President
of Risk Management & Benefits Administration,
Wal-Mart Stores
JOE FOREHAND, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, Accenture
Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce
The EMC Information Leadership Award
PAUL OTELLINI, President and Chief Operating
Officer, Intel Corporation
HECTOR DE J. RUIZ, PH.D., Chairman & Chief
Executive Officer, Advanced Micro Devices
The Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce
JEFF HAWKINS, Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief
Product Officer, Handspring
J.D. Edwards Leadership Award for Collaborative Innovation
2005
CRAIG BARRETT, Chief Executive Officer,
Intel Corporation
MATTHEW J. SZULIK, Chairman, Chief Executive
Officer & President, Red Hat
The Morgan Stanley Leadership Award for Global Commerce
RALPH SZYGENDA, Group Vice President & Chief
Information Officer, General Motors
2001
1999
TIM BERNERS-LEE, Chair, MIT Laboratory for
Computer Science, Director, W3C
ANDREAS BECHTOLSHIEM, Vice President of
Gigabit Switching Group, Cisco Systems
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Leadership Award for Global
Integration
MCI WorldCom Leadership Award for Innovation
PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for Lifetime Achievement
MICHAEL DELL, Chairman & Chief Executive
Officer, Dell Computer Corporation
STRATTON SCLAVOS, Chief Executive Officer,
VeriSign Inc.
JOHN GAGE, Director, Science Office,
Sun Microsystems
Toshiba America Leadership Award for Education
2000
Integration
BILL BASS, Senior Vice President,
e-Commerce & International, Lands’ End
LINUS TORVALDS, Software Engineer,
Transmeta Corporation, and Creator of Linux
eLoyalty Award for Leadership in the Relationship Revolution
Integration
J. CRAIG VENTER, President and Chairman,
The Institute for Geonomic Research
JOHN CHAMBERS, Chief Executive Officer,
Cisco Systems
RAY LANE, General Partner, Kleiner, Perkins,
Caulfield & Byers
IRWIN MARK JACOBS, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Qualcomm Inc.
Integration
BILL JOY, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder,
Sun Microsystems
STEVE CASE, Chairman, AOL Time Warner
CARLY FIORINA, President & Chief Executive
Officer, Hewlett-Packard
Integration
1998
MAX HOPPER, Principal, Max D. Hopper Associates
SCOTT ECKERT, Dell
2002
Technology Solutions Company/Relationship Revolution 21st
Century Pioneer Award
JOHN HAMMERGREN, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, McKesson Corporation
CRAIG CONWAY, President & Chief Executive
Officer, PeopleSoft, Inc.
Integration
Integration
KENNETH D. LEWIS, Chief Executive Officer,
Bank of America
EDWARD C. JOHNSON 3D, Chairman of the
Board and Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Investments
EMC Information Leadership Award
2004
EMC Information Leadership Award
JOSEPH M. TUCCI, President and Chief
Operating Officer, EMC Corporation
GORDON MOORE, Chairman Emeritus, Intel
JAY W. FORRESTER, Sloan School of Management,
MIT
ANN VESPERMAN OLSON, Vice President,
Customer Service, Lands’ End
ALBERT GORE, JR., Vice President,
United States of America
eLoyalty Award for Leadership in the Relationship Revolution
Toshiba America Leadership Award for Education
SCOTT MCNEALY, Chairman & Chief Executive
Officer, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
VINTON G. CERF, SR., Vice President of Internet
Architecture & Technology, MCI
Integration
J. D. Edwards Leadership Award for Collaborative Innovation
ROBERT METCALFE, Founder, 3COM
STEVE BALMER, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft
Corporation
JOHN A. POPLE, Northwestern University
Silicon Graphics Inc. Leadership Award for Breakthrough Science
32
33
LEADERSHIP AWARD RECIPIENTS, 1989-2006
1997
1995
1993
1991
SHARON MCCOY BELL, Director of the
Information Technology Department, New Orleans
Public School System
ERICH BLOCH, Distinguished Fellow,
Council on Competitiveness
ANDREW GROVE, Former Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Intel Corporation
MARC ANDREESEN, Co-founder, Netscape
Communications Corporation
Computerworld Smithsonian Leadership Award for Education
Price Waterhouse Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement
SAIC Leadership Award for Global Integration
FREDERICK HAUSHEER, Founder, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer, BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
C. GORDON BELL, Minicomputer Developer
Silicon Graphics/Cray Leadership Award for Breakthrough Science
TIM BERNERS-LEE, Inventor of the World Wide
Web and Director, WWW Consortium, MIT
MCI Leadership Award for Innovation
ROBERT CHERVIN, Naval Postgraduate School
GAIL MORSE, Christa McAuliffe Educator and
Science Teacher, Zebulon Middle School
Cray Research Leadership Award for Breakthrough Science
Siemen’s Leadership Award for Education
WILLIAM H. GATES, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation
ROBERT N. NOYCE, Co-founder, Fairchild and
Intel Corporation
WILLIAM R. HEWLETT, Co-founder,
Hewlett-Packard Company
Price Waterhouse Award for Lifetime Achievement
R.E. TURNER, Founding Chairman and President,
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
J. ANDREW MCCAMMON, Pioneer in Theoretical
and Computational Chemistry, University of San Diego
1990
ALBERT SEMTNER, National Center for
Atmospheric Research
H. ROSS PEROT, Founder, EDS
HASSO PLATTNER, Co-founder, SAP AG
DAVID PACKARD, Co-founder,
Hewlett-Packard Company
Ernst & Young Leadership Award for Global Integration
GORDON E. MOORE, Chairman of the Board,
Intel Corporation
LINDA ROBERTS, Director, Office of Educational
Technology, U.S. Department of Education
SEYMOUR PAPERT, LEGO Professor of Learning
Research, MIT Media Lab
NEC Leadership Award for Education
1996
ROBERT TINKER, Developer of the Technical
Education Research Center
Siemen’s Leadership Award for Education
Zenith Data Systems Leadership Award for Education
1992
GASTON CAPERTON, Former Governor of the
State of West Virginia
1994
Zenith Data Systems Leadership Award for Education
VINTON CERF, Senior Vice President of Internet
Architecture and Engineering, MCI
SEYMOUR CRAY, Founder, Cray Research
DAVID EVANS, Founder, Evans and Sutherland
LAWRENCE J. ELLISON, Co-founder, Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer, Oracle Corporation
ROBERT KAHN, Founder and President,
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
DOUGLAS ENGLEBART, President, Bootstrap
Institute, Stanford University
JOHN MCDONALD, Chairman, Department of
Anesthesiology, Ohio State University
DAVID MCQUEEN, Professor, Courant Institute of
Mathematical Sciences, New York University
DON STREDNEY, Senior Research Scientist, Ohio
State University
INABETH MILLER, Vice President of Affiliate
Programs, Curriculum Television Corporation
Computerworld Smithsonian/C.E. Stone Foundation Leadership
Award for Education
IVAN SUTHERLAND, Founder, Evans and Sutherland
KENNETH H. OLSEN, Founder, Digital Equipment
Corporation
RONALD K. THORNTON, Director of the Center
for Science and Mathematics Teaching, Tufts University
Computerworld Smithsonian Leadership Award for Education
THOMAS J. WATSON, JR., Chairman, IBM
Corporation
Price Waterhouse Award for Lifetime Achievement
CHARLES PESKIN, Professor, Courant Institute
of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
34
35
FEATURED CASE STUDY
FEATURED CASE STUDY
offices. This allowed residents to speak with other Chapter Houses at no cost. In addition, the DIT installed
videoconferencing systems that enabled residents to receive telemedicine services through the Arizona
Telemedicine Project.
Internet to the Hogan
A CASE STUDY PRESENTED BY:
Department of Interior, Navajo Nation
SUMMARY
Imagine driving three hours for basic social, health, educational and informational services. While that may
sound outrageous given the technological advancements in our society, for many residents of the Navajo
Nation—a tribal sovereign nation with more than 250,000 citizens spread across 27,000 square miles, spanning New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah—that scenario had been a reality until recently.
To stimulate economic development, ensure that government services were readily available to its citizens,
and enrich their quality of life, the central government of the Navajo Nation resolved to build an integrated
network that would enable any government division, school or library to communicate seamlessly via voice,
video and data. The objective was to connect the 110 Chapter Houses that serve as central community
centers so citizens could access a Web portal for e-government, e-commerce, job searching, medical support,
training, voting, distance learning and video broadcasts. It would provide connectivity to families in remote
areas through networked Chapter Houses and traditional Navajo dwellings called the Hogan. In other
words, this initiative is designed to bring the Navajo Nation into the modern world.
“We wanted to bring the network to Chapter Houses to enable our citizens to apply for government services
using the Web and to conveniently access other services such as IP telephony, telemedicine and distance
learning,” said Harold Skow, director of the Department of Information Technology for the Navajo Nation.
OVERVIEW
The Navajo Nation’s central government in Window Rock, Arizona strives to provide citizens with convenient
government services, enrich quality of life, and stimulate economic development. But the sheer size and remote
nature of the Navajo Nation presents daunting challenges for delivering government services. The simple task of
acquiring telephone service required separate negotiations with each state, which required long trips. Until
recently, Centrex phone service, which cost $250,000 per month, was limited to certain schools, governmental
entities and businesses. Individual government agencies had to independently arrange for point-to-point data
connections with other agencies with whom they collaborated. Therefore, an entity such as the Division of
Social Services that wanted to communicate with three other entities needed to pay for three T1 lines.
Established in 2003, the Navajo Nation Department of Information Technology (DIT) resolved to build an
integrated network infrastructure that would enable any government division, school or library to communicate
with all others—using voice, video and data. A major element of the strategy was connecting each of the Navajo
Nation’s 110 Chapter Houses so citizens could receive government services from a nearby location rather than
drive up to six hours to the central government offices.
The DIT arranged for a local exchange carrier to provide high-speed access using existing radio towers, thus
providing the Chapter Houses, government divisions, schools and libraries with access to the Internet and easy
communication with one another. Once this connection was completed, the Navajo Nation provided Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication by using a suite of services located in each of the central government
38
Internet connectivity is enabling the Navajo Nation to achieve its clearly stated mission of stimulating economic
development in several ways. These include delivering efficient government services to citizens, providing educational
opportunities through distance learning, retaining the Navajo culture and language, communicating with other
residents and Chapter Houses, offering telemedicine capabilities and emergency preparedness information, and
providing access to services that residents were previously unable to use.
Specifically, the integrated, connected network is enabling:
• Distance learning via teleconferences with classes from major universities near the Navajo Nation, including
Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, the University of New Mexico and the University of Utah.
• Telemedicine-based access to doctors in large, urban medical facilities. This provides superior healthcare.
• After-hours Internet access for school children who travel up to four hours daily on a bus to attend school to
complete homework assignments. This ensures that they keep pace with students in more populous areas.
• Access to information on agriculture for the elderly Navajo in their native language, as many of them only
speak the Navajo dialect.
• Locating central government services, such as housing, children’s health insurance, e-government, job listings
and voting as close as the nearest chapter House. This is highly valuable to citizens who live several hours
away or have no access to vehicles.
• Expanded communications so residents can make free phone calls to any other Chapter House in the entire
three-state Navajo Nation. This is a direct benefit of the VoIP network.
BENEFITS
The freedom the new network has given the citizens and government of the Navajo Nation cannot be
overstated. “E-government is one of the most important benefits of our IP network,” said Skow. “Imagine if
someone drove six hours to the central government offices to apply for a service only to discover that the
appropriate employee had not come to work that day. The Navajo Nation Web portal avoids that frustration
while saving time and money.” The network also helps government organizations operate more efficiently
through better connection, communication and collaboration. The Division of Social Services, for example,
sometimes conducts meetings with employees in its far-flung agencies using the Cisco Unity
Videoconferencing system, avoiding long drives and the hazards of driving in bad weather. “We can add an
IP phone whenever we want instead of waiting two to four weeks for the phone company to bring in a new
line,” said Sam Nomoki, IT program supervisor for the Division of Social Services.
One of the biggest benefits of the new system is its ability to provide information to Navajo Nation citizens
bilingually, in English and Navajo. Currently, many citizens are elderly and do not speak English. Programs
offered via the network contain important information that is disseminated to the Chapter Houses. This
includes information on grazing and disaster recovery planning. Previously, this information could only be
understood by a select group of individuals, who would have to take the time to translate it at each Chapter
House. Now, the information can be sent in English and Navajo simultaneously, to the benefit of everyone.
The Navajo Nation and other Pueblo tribes are also working with the United Nations to set up a program
for disseminating disaster information over the Internet.
Continued
39
FEATURED CASE STUDY
Moreover, citizens can use the Web portal to access content and services offered by non-profit entities and
schools, such as presentations on healthy eating and diabetes prevention. Publishing information on the
Web bilingually is increasing the number of people who benefit from presentations.
In addition, the deployment of new technology supports economic growth and opportunities beyond the
Navajo Nation. Citizens are now examining new means to generate revenue at the local Chapter Houses as
a way to make each a self-sustaining community. For example, there are many craftsmen that make jewelry
and artisans who weave and sell rugs. Previously, they would take their products to local cities near the
reservation and sell them for about $200 a rug. The purchaser would then turn around and sell the rugs for
three or four times that amount. So giving artisans a wider pool of buyers via the Internet provides new
opportunities and communications with the world, in addition to creating a direct link between cultures.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY
The Navajo Nation Department of IT arranged for a local exchange carrier to provide a T1 connection to
the Chapter Houses using existing radio towers. Now the Chapter Houses, government divisions, schools
and libraries have Internet access and can communicate with each other. The Department of IT is developing
a Navajo Nation Web portal that residents can access from any Chapter House for convenient access to
e-government, e-commerce, job searching, training, voting, distance learning and video broadcasts.
In February 2006, the Navajo Nation began providing VoIP services over the IP network in the central
government offices in Window Rock. Each Chapter House received six VoIP phones, which enables
residents to make free phone calls to any other Chapter House in the entire three-state Navajo Nation.
Videoconferencing systems now enable telemedicine services. Citizens visit the Indian Health Services office
in Window Rock, which is part of the Arizona Telemedicine Project. A registered nurse determines the type
of care needed and then uses the system to establish a videoconference with a doctor at one of more than
40 hospitals. The doctor and patient can converse while the doctor asks the nurse to direct the video camera
as needed. The Department of IT plans to offer telemedicine services from other Chapter Houses as well.
With sponsorship from New Mexico State Senator Leonard Tsosie, the Navajo Nation is planning to provide
wireless connectivity from the Chapter Houses to nearby residences, called Hogans (pronounced ho-GAHNs),
many of which lack electricity. Home-based Internet access will help Navajo students bridge the digital divide.
“Given a wireless-enabled laptop and two extra batteries, Navajo students living in Hogans will be able to
access the same Internet resources as students living in urban areas,” said Senator Tsosie. The senator also
envisions an Internet mentoring program that would connect schoolchildren with Navajo university students.
The Navajo Nation intends to take advantage of its network infrastructure to create new employment
opportunities, such as call centers. Employees will be able to work either from their local Chapter House or,
when the Internet-to-the-Hogans project is complete, from home, using wireless IP phones. Similarly, the
Navajo Nation Web portal will help stimulate the local economy by providing tourism information and
enabling Navajo craftsmen to eliminate trading posts and sell their items directly to consumers.
Further economic development is expected when the Department of IT creates a Navajo Nation technology
complex, including a data center and network point of presence (POP). By inviting large telecommunications companies to utilize the POP, the Navajo Nation will create additional jobs for Navajo people who are
trained in IT but until now had to leave the reservation to find jobs.
“IT must be viewed by all as a resource asset such as land, water and minerals,” Skow declared. “The
Navajo Nation is capitalizing on the resource to increase our efficiency and effectiveness.”
40
FEATURED CASE STUDY
ORIGINALITY
Skow considers the impact of Internet connectivity to the Navajo Nation equally momentous as the impact
of the automobile. “When automobiles arrived in the Navajo Nation, we had to adapt,” he said. “Now that
the Internet age has arrived, we have to learn how to use it to our best advantage. The network is improving
quality of life by enhancing educational opportunities, enabling better health through telemedicine, and
creating opportunities to stimulate the economy.”
The Web can also help retain the Navajo culture and language. “When Navajo people migrate off the reservation
for work or educational opportunities, they often ask where they can obtain information on the Navajo language
because they want to teach their children,” said Elrena Mitchell, project manager for the department of IT.
“Providing referrals to schools and programs on our Web site will help to keep the language and culture alive.”
The Navajo Nation is in the process of offering distance-learning courses at Chapter Houses. Potential
partners include local public universities as well as Dine College, which is run by the Navajo Nation, and
Crown Point Institute of Technology. Distance learning will help students on the reservation overcome
barriers to their success in school, such as hours-long bus trips and no Internet access.
“When our students move away to pursue their education, many have difficulty adjusting to city life and
therefore return to the reservation,” said Skow. “Our network will help them complete their educations.”
Teachers, too, can keep their skills current with distance-learning classes.
Prior to IP communication, the citizens of the Navajo Nation were stuck using LAN-based communication, which
was limited and did not meet the goals of the DIT. By deploying an IP-based system, the DIT has created the first
and most effective application of its kind for a sovereign nation within the United States, improving the quality of
life for Navajo citizens and opening doors for longer-term technological advancements. The system has exceeded the
expectations of both the DIT and citizens, while overcoming many challenges unique to the Navajo Nation.
SUCCESS
The Navajo Nation is reducing telecommunications costs by $250,000 monthly—a 75 percent savings—
since replacing its previous service with a Unified Communications system. As a result, the Navajo Nation
expects to achieve a one-year ROI. “The money we saved by eliminating the Centrex service paid for the
Cisco Unified Communications solution and Cisco Unified IP phones,” says Skow.
The success of the new technology has directly benefited the Navajo Nation in terms of education.
Compared with other groups, New Mexico’s Native American student population has a greater drop-out
rate and a limited number college graduates. Disparities have been created, in part, due to high turnover in
teaching staffs, the lack of professional development opportunities, and the limited availability of science
and technology resources to rural and tribal schools.
Students previously traveled up to four hours a day to and from school. Once they arrived home, they had
very limited resources to help them with their homework. As a result, they would continually fall behind.
Students who did graduate and move off the reservation to further their education in other states, found it
difficult to return to a place where they did not have access to technology and communications systems.
This made it difficult to maintain Navajo heritage and traditions.
The new telecommunications system has changed all of that.
Continued
41
FEATURED CASE STUDY
Now students can keep up by studying and researching from home. They can also take online courses for
continuing education. This nurturing environment encourages individuals to stay in the Navajo Nation,
where they can still have access to the outside world.
The Navajo Nation completed the first phase of the installation of VoIP phones at its major site at the
White Rock Chapter Project in early 2005, and rolled-out an additional 660 VoIP phones by February
2007. Citizens were immediately trained on the technology and have since incorporated it into their daily
lives. VoIP has increased the ability of citizens to communicate with the outside world, and most importantly,
to quickly address their medical needs. No longer do the citizens of the Navajo Nation have to travel six
hours to see a doctor. Being able to receive medical attention, or a medical assessment immediately online,
has stimulated an overwhelming uptake in use of the system.
DIFFICULTY
A major part of the technology effort involved installing large structures throughout the dispersed landscape
of the Navajo Nation. These large structures represented major changes for the citizens of the Navajo
Nation. The DIT worked continuously to communicate to Chapter Houses the benefits that these large
satellite antennas would deliver to their citizens.
As a part of this effort, Senator Tsosie began convening Internet-to-the-Hogan meetings with interested
parties. These parties include Navajo and non-Navajo engineers, broadcasters, doctors, educators, information
technology specialists and providers who represent Crownpoint Institute of Technology (CIT), Navajo
Nation Department of Information Technology (NNDIT), Navajo Nation Division of Community
Development (NNDCD), and more than 20 other organizations. By keeping these groups engaged, the
technology providers were able to place the structures in appropriate locations within the lands of the
Navajo Nation and to create more opportunities via communications services for citizens.
During the series of Internet-to-the-Hogan meetings, which were held from June to December 2005,
participants worked together to identify shared resources and cost savings in order to construct a robust and
reliable wireless telecommunication grid system for Northwestern New Mexico.
Another challenge was the sprawl of the Navajo Nation—its land base covers 27,000 square miles across
three states: Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Individuals from the Navajo Nation had to travel long
distances and partake in countless meetings with each of these state governments—as well as individual
county officials—to ensure their telecommunications systems were being constructed appropriately. Even to
accomplish a minor task, officials from the Navajo Nations would have to take long drives (including three
hours to New Mexico and eight hours to Utah) so that all of the laws and regulations, which differed from
state to state, were met.
The biggest challenge faced by the Navajo Nation was identifying government entities that would be willing
to allocate funds to support the program. Through collaborative initiatives with federal and state government
entities, as well as the private sector, the Navajo Nation was able to pass important legislation that provided
additional means of funding. The Navajo Nation coordinated its efforts with state officials from New Mexico
under the premise of a common goal for expansion of telecommunications capabilities to remote areas.
42
NEC Corporation of America
Applauds the Nashville Police Department
for Serving the Community &
Achieving Laureate Distinction within
The 2007 Computerworld Honors Program.
Instituting a Leading Automated Fingerprint Identification System
to Protect the Citizens of Nashville, Tennessee.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
can order medication from pharmacies and renew prescription drugs. Moreover, they can monitor their
own drug compliance. Other options include surveying the shortest waiting lists for operations and quality
ratings of hospitals, registering as organ donors, and gaining access to local disease management systems in
out-patient clinics.
Sundhed.dk
The Danish National eHealth Portal
SUMMARY
Global health care is at a crossroads. The litany of critical issues includes rising costs due to increasingly
expensive disease treatments, emerging medical technologies and treatments, ageing and obesity, chronic illness
among increasingly younger people, and an obsolete health care system. Taken as a whole, these issues are
exerting unprecedented pressure on health care providers to optimize their delivery of services.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
By gaining access to their own health information and supporting a pathway approach, patients are now
encouraged to participate actively in their own treatment, which realizes the vision of shared care. For
example, sundhed.dk allows diabetes patients and health care professionals in one region to access the
diabetes management solution DiaLog Shared Care, which is integrated into existing lab systems, hospital
information systems and electronic health records (EHRs). In a questionnaire study from 2006, more than
90% of the diabetes patients indicated that by means of the DiaLog solution they are better able to follow
the development in their diabetes, intervene in the process and exercise self-care. 70-80% of the health care
professionals say that direct patient access means more problem-oriented interviews, increased co-responsibility,
improved self-care and higher patient satisfaction.
Health care systems must be improved in order to provide higher quality service to more people. The complex
factors at play have created an urgent need to break down industry silos, establish partnerships, increase
collaboration and drive progress towards a more patient-centric, cost-effective model. This transformation
will require more than technology; it will require innovation and a shift to a more open, collaborative, and
integrated system.
The portal provides the 150,000 Danish health care professionals with a better foundation for decision-making.
By gaining easy access to the latest patient information from most hospitals and laboratories in the country via
the secure portal, they get the opportunity to make quick and well-founded decisions in specific situations during
treatment. In this way, patients experience much more coherent interaction with health care services.
The Danish National e-Health Portal named sundhed.dk (sundhed means health) helps drive the optimization
of the Danish health care sector by providing a shared infrastructure that enables all parties to collaborate
across professional and IT-related boundaries with individual patients.
Sundhed.dk is an important supplement to the local EHR systems at the individual hospitals and GP
offices. These EHR systems contain their own patient data, but not data from other hospitals or laboratories.
However, this data can be found via sundhed.dk, which gives the health care professionals access to important
knowledge outside their organizations and professional disciplines.
Sundhed.dk has transformed the Danish health care sector from a silo-oriented structure towards a
patient-centric structure. This shift in orientation has been achieved by an approach that places emphasis
on optimizing work routines, preventing diseases, reacting quickly, supporting the right treatment, using
the patient’s capacity, and collaborating within the sector.
In a testimony presented to the U.S. Congress in January 2007, the president of The Commonwealth Fund, Karen
Davis, stated, “Public satisfaction with the health system is higher in Denmark than in any other country in Europe.
This is related to the emphasis Denmark places on patient-centered primary care, which is highly accessible and
supported by an outstanding information system that assists primary care physicians in coordinating care.”
OVERVIEW
Health care professionals need to exchange information with other health care professionals across geographical,
organizational, and technical borders. During the course of a treatment, they must be able to take into
account previous examinations, lab tests, medication, compliance, and conclusions in order to provide
optimal treatment and avoid repeating work. Sundhed.dk gives the health care professional an opportunity
to find out what other professionals have examined and concluded.
In January 2007, a reform was implemented in Denmark. 15 counties were merged into five regions, and
271 municipalities were consolidated to 98. Sundhed.dk supported the reform by tying the former counties
together and allowing them to communicate as one region from Day 1.
BENEFITS
Denmark has been first mover on many IT initiatives within health services. The majority of these initiatives
are based on a common infrastructure, which has helped put Denmark in leadership position and create a
patient-centric health sector. Sundhed.dk is a public, Internet-based portal that collects and distributes
health care information among citizens and health care professionals. It is unique in bringing the entire
Danish health care sector together and providing an accessible setting for citizens and health care professionals
to meet and efficiently exchange information.
All Danish citizens have access to sundhed.dk. This enables patients and their families to get an overview of
updated health care information. It also makes health care services appear close-by, open and familiar.
Additionally, every citizen has his own personal page (available upon identification), which reflects pertinent
health care information. On this page, citizens can find accurate and updated health care information, e.g.
view treatments and diagnoses from their own hospital patient records. They can also book appointments
with their general practitioners (GPs) and send secure e-mails to health care authorities. In addition, they
44
Various parties within the Danish health care sector benefit from sundhed.dk—ranging from individual
citizens and health care professionals to the Danish society as a whole. Examples include:
Traditionally, doctors’ and pharmacies’ handling of prescriptions took place manually, Now, through the
Prescription Server at sundhed.dk, a large part of this handling is effected electronically. Calculations based
on a MedCom survey and the Danish Medicines Agency’s own calculations show that substantial economic
savings have been obtained. In Denmark alone, with a population of 5.3 million, about 1.5 million prescriptions
are issued electronically every month, which leads to annual savings of more than 12 million Euros.
The Medicine Profile on sundhed.dk automatically registers all purchases of prescribed medication in
Denmark as individual, personal medicine profiles to help improve the quality of drug therapy.
Continued
45
FEATURED CASE STUDY
FEATURED CASE STUDY
In the annual 2003-2004 report from the Danish Pharmaceutical Association, a reference is made to Danish
and international studies which show that 6-14% of all hospitalization cases in medical wards is due to medicinerelated problems. This corresponds to between 68,000 and 158,000 annual hospitalization cases. Obviously,
even a small reduction in medication errors has a great impact on both the economy and quality of life.
Presentation management is supported by a role-based, personalized, and customizable portal environment.
The portal must provide information to a large range of user groups, including physicians, GPs, pharmacists,
dentists, the chronically ill, frequent users and occasional users, among others. Every user group has its own
special requirements with regard to the information it needs and how it is presented. In order to handle all
these special and sometimes personal requirements, along with an ever-expanding number of applications,
it is crucial to have technology handling presentation management.
Improved quality of life is also key for the approximately 50,000 Danes who are currently having AC therapy.
The Center for Selfmanaged Oral Anticoagulant Therapy is working on a pilot project with a group of
these patients who as part of the study make measurements themselves and enter the results on sundhed.dk.
Algorithms then calculate whether the patient’s medication dosage has to be adjusted. Normally, patients
having AC therapy must go to the local hospital at regular intervals, but with web-based decision support,
they can now avoid frequent visits.
Sundhed.dk is the result of a joint national effort to support IT-based interactions between health care
professionals and citizens. A comparatively modest investment in infrastructure and a shared system have
resulted in the development of services that are used across municipalities and regions all over Denmark.
As a result, they have helped regional and local parts of the health service avoid massive investments in
proprietary regional and local solutions.
One of the fundamental drivers behind sundhed.dk is providing access to all IT systems currently residing
in hospitals, out-patient clinics, labs, GP offices, national databases, etc. In the process of integration, there
are a host of IT systems that require information access. Some provide online access directly to the information
and some only to their graphical user interface. Others will not be able to meet the high availability
requirements for online access and will have to provide the information asynchronously.
Integration challenges can be a major obstacle. To overcome them, the technology stack must support a
range of different ready-to-use, low-cost, short-time-to-market integration packages. The Health Portal’s
integration framework supports such packages and is based on a service-oriented architecture providing
integration to nationwide IT systems via web services, remote portlet concepts, and single sign-on.
The portal’s range of information and services has proven that it is possible to work across sector borders and
specialist fields to present users with a single point of entry that provides a general view and guides them to
the relevant information and relevant services. Thus, sundhed.dk integrates systems that are specific to the
Danish health service. However, other regional or national health services—or completely different sectors or
industries—will be able to obtain similar benefits by making use of the experience gained from sundhed.dk.
More than 800 health care professionals provide information to the portal related to medicine, diseases,
treatments, guidelines etc. To help end users find that information, every document must be tagged and
categorized by the editors. To ensure this, it is crucial that some of the tagging is provided automatically.
The portal information architecture supports technology based on content management, automated
meta-tagging and a thesaurus-based search engine.
Other organizations and communities can also benefit from sundhed.dk’s approach to employing a shared
basis and platform so that new services/solutions developed for one region or one purpose can also be used
elsewhere as organizations and workflows are adjusted to the new electronic possibilities.
In order to provide emergency access to critical patient information such as medical histories, allergies to
medicine, etc., the portal must be available 24/7/365. Accordingly, the Health Portal’s hosting environment
is based on high-availability technology through a full mirrored environment combined with a complete
matching standby environment.
Sundhed.dk has demonstrated the benefits of integrating all new self-service solutions on the same portal,
and with the same security solution, thus allowing users to get easy access to all the solutions in one session.
Experience shows that many users make use of several of the offers when they visit the portal, a fact that
underlines the value of gathering an entire sector in a single place.
Sundhed.dk is based on the IBM WebSphere Portal Server, the IBM WebSphere Application Server, IBM
DB2, and IBM Tivoli Access Manager.
ORIGINALITY
The challenges of the project included providing a patient-centric, cross-sector health care infrastructure with the
ability to collaborate and share highly sensitive information. The goal was to enable general access for citizens,
health care professionals and IT systems. The infrastructure had to support high availability, while providing new
functionality and access to pertinent information. This had to be accomplished economically and rolled out quickly.
These challenges were met by providing an abstraction layer on top of existing platforms and applications,
which made it possible to make software functionality available as agile, reusable services in a secure, private
and confidential manner. Through an Internet-based, service-oriented portal environment supported by a
range of standard integration packages, the project has built a national common infrastructure.
The information shared and accessed via sundhed.dk is highly sensitive and personal. It is also highly
available via the Internet to designated health care professionals and citizens. This calls for strong security
and privacy safeguards. The Sundhed.dk security and privacy infrastructure is based on user identification
through digital certificates, portal user management, and network and database encryption.
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Sundhed.dk is a peaceful revolution of communication and collaboration within the Danish health care
sector. While most public sector websites must adjust to current requirements and expectations, sundhed.dk
was developed from the outset to enable all parties within the Danish health sector—including patients—to
communicate and collaborate via a single, shared web interface based on a shared infrastructure.
The portal provides a high return on investment on the solutions that are developed. Advisor Thomas Weis
Moeller from Danish Regions said, “We started posting all available health care jobs in certain professions
in public hospitals on the portal and eliminated print advertising. This allowed us to save 6.5 million euros
a year. I have never seen this kind of immediate return of investment.”
The ability of users to develop solutions and services based on local needs is another contributor to quick
investment returns. Solutions made available via sundhed.dk can be reused by other parties as need arises,
or they become able to digitalize their processes and data. This way, sundhed.dk helps promote the general
digitalization process in the Danish health service.
Continued
47
FEATURED CASE STUDY
FEATURED CASE STUDY
A Gartner Industry Research Report from May 2006 concludes, “Through careful use of IT, the Danish health
system has saved money, improved efficiency and laid the foundations for improvements in the quality of care.”
The high degree of use was vividly demonstrated in mid-September 2005 when information on all cases of
hospitalization in Denmark recorded during the past 30 years in the National Register of Patients was made
available on the portal. Normally, there have been between five and 10 requests a year from patients who
wanted access to their own diagnoses and treatments. but in just one month, 41,000 Danes accessed their
own hospital treatments on sundhed.dk.
SUCCESS
The idea behind sundhed.dk was to create a single point of access to the Danish health service for citizens
and health care professionals by centralizing information and enhancing communication. Behind the
user-friendly interface of the portal lies a complex infrastructure of connected networks and databases from
many health care participants. This infrastructure was created economically by using existing data, connecting
disparate databases, and supporting an efficient and structured exchange of data among relevant parties.
Based on MedCom’s (Denmark’s coordinating organization for health care IT) existing infrastructure, sundhed.dk has transformed the Danish health service from multiple islands of independent solutions and databases, into a structure that employs standard solutions and shared data.
With this structure it is possible to economically implement new ways of using existing solutions and include
new groups of users in solutions that could previously not be shared. An example of this is the ongoing
development of the so-called “Agreement Book”. Patients missing appointments for interviews or surgery costs
the Danish health service a significant amount of money. This amount can be reduced significantly through
an automatic transfer of e-mail and before long, text messages containing information on appointments.
Sundhed.dk integrates many independent, proprietary solutions. Examples from sundhed.dk newsletters include:
E-Journal on sundhed.dk gives access to hospital records for GPs, thus enabling them to read details and
relevant information from hospitalizations as soon as the hospital has put them in their EHR systems. GP
Joergen Damsgaard said, “It always takes some days to get a discharge letter, and it’ll make my work easier if
I can get the information right away by means of e-Journal. For example, this allows me to react quickly if a
patient calls me and is uncertain about something in connection with the medication after being discharged.”
My e-Journal is a personalized access to hospital records for citizens. Jannie Larsen said, “My e-Journal will
be a tool to help me understand my own situation and to ask my GP for in-depth explanations. I think my
e-Journal can bridge the gap between citizens and hospitals.”
Speaking about electronic prescription renewal, GP Claus Bache declared, “Not so long ago, we became two
doctors instead of just one, and since then the secretary has been very busy. We hope that the new possibilities
will mean that we don’t have to hire more staff and that we can avoid the costs involved. The electronic
prescription renewal will especially benefit chronically sick patients who get non-addictive medicine.”
Addressing electronic lab results available via sundhed.dk, GP Anny Adeler commented, “I get an overview
of the course of disease because I can always look up the tests that a patient has had. It saves resources
because I can quickly look up figures while having the patient with me. Previously, I had to ask my
secretary to have figures faxed from the lab-and it involved a lot of people’s time.”
Sundhed.dk has been in operation since 2003 and is constantly being expanded through new functionality
about every three months. The original objective of developing functionality that was available to citizens
and health care professionals has been met, and the constant demand for new solutions for sundhed.dk
ensures that it keeps increasing.
Sundhed.dk has up to 270,000 unique users every month, and the citizen support is rapidly increasing.
Of the 42% of Danes who know sundhed.dk, more than half used the portal in the course of 2006.
48
The usefulness of sundhed.dk varies from target group to target group. The target groups that gain the most
benefits (such as the chronically sick and other heavy users of health care) embrace the new services and
possibilities on sundhed.dk more quickly than average Danish citizens.
DIFFICULTY
The biggest barriers to implementing sundhed.dk were organizational and political. A major key to success
was powerful management with the participation of important stakeholders. The project had to quickly
produce results relating to stakeholders’ benefits. Communication standards were needed, and the overall IT
project had to be carefully executed.
It was a major challenge to embed local and regional websites with a new, national brand with which people could
identify. The challenge was underscored by the fact that in the idea and establishment phases, the sundhed.dk project
was based on regional and local environments that were resourceful and experienced on the web. Ironically, these
established organizations lost their identities as they were subsumed by the newly minted national brand.
Implementation was broken down into three phases. The first phase was concluded with the launch of
sundhed.dk as an information portal on 10 December, 2003. Efficient communication and guidelines distribution were major benefits of this phase. The next phase called for streamlining processes, which meant
collaborating on ways to reduce double tests and enter information only once. During the final phase in
2004, the portal was fully implemented, turning sundhed.dk into a complete portal offering the ability to
monitor and optimize treatment by sharing EHRs.
The Danish health care authorities provided the vision and strategic direction for a national, interoperable
health care system, but they relied on the private sector to provide a competitive technology, privately operated support services, and shared investments in health care IT adoption. Throughout the process, great
emphasis was put on allocating sufficient resources and involving the primary stakeholders at all times.
To optimize the actual value of sundhed.dk now and in the future, the focus will continue to be not only
on the technology, but also on the prerequisites for leveraging its potential. This makes it imperative to
carefully align incentives, maintain and elaborate a culture of collaboration, and maintain a correct balance
between central and local leadership.
Regarding resources, criticism was voiced by GPs who claimed that their IT systems would require expensive upgrading if they were to coexist with sundhed.dk. Some of this criticism is due to the fact that it was
understandably difficult for independent organizations to abandon their hard-earned identities for the sake
of this new, national network. The new technology was difficult to implement, and the solution did not
initially provide the kind of virtual connectivity it would eventually achieve. In an effort to win GP support, sundhed.dk management successfully collaborated with the General Practitioners’ Organization, practice consultants, and the Association of County Councils. As a result of these joint efforts the parties were
able to establish the new, digital signatures. Today, the practice sector is the best covered sector (more than
90% of Danish GPs have a digital signature), and it has become a general requirement that all GPs have
electronic signatures at the end of 2007.
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
DAU Data Mart
Defense Acquisition University
SUMMARY
Graduating 114,000 students annually, the five-campus Defense Acquisition University (DAU) is dedicated to
the ongoing professional education and career management of the Department of Defense’s global Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics workforce, both military and civilian. With its distributed classroom training
(including on-the-ground in Iraq and Afghanistan) and global e-learning environment, the DAU is a vital link
for ensuring that a fully trained and qualified workforce is in place to make smart business decisions and provide for the needs of U.S. war fighters around the world. Because it faces the same challenges of higher education institutions worldwide, i.e. optimizing the use of funds and maximizing educational results, the DAU has
launched an ambitious program to leverage student, employee and financial data across more than 50 disconnected sources in an effort to drive accountability and positive educational outcomes.
The program hinges on a university-wide data integration and visibility environment that fuses data from
defense financial accounting, budgeting, time management, payroll, professor certification, and defense
training and resources systems. It then presents this data on demand to administrators, instructors and staff
via easy-to-understand dashboard views and reports, e.g. faculty reports on class success and professional
development, management reports on class costs, and graduation/attrition rates.
Results have included:
• Rapid time to analysis and decreased operating costs—On-demand access to consolidated information
has enabled DAU personnel to collectively save three to five man years of time and apply it to doing
something more productive than merely collecting raw data.
• More effective apportionment and use of funds—Visibility into total class costs, teacher certifications,
graduation and attrition rates, and other performance metrics has enabled the DAU to sharpen its
ability to provide effective and meaningful services to the defense community.
• Increased student performance on the job—Enhanced training and career-long education capabilities are
helping to yield higher performing practitioners in the field.
OVERVIEW
The goal of the DAU project was to integrate multiple, disparate, internal and external data sources
to streamline the collection and analysis of information, and to provide visibility into the institution’s
operational, financial and educational performance. The DAU utilizes numerous disparate legacy and
mainframe systems, including a custom-built mainframe application for defense finance accounting, a
budgeting software package on a relational database, a time-management system, the defense civilian pay
system, a professor-certification database, the U.S. Army training requirements and resources system, and a
third-party system that tracks survey data on teacher performance from all graduating students.
Aggregating information across these different sources for reporting, planning and budgeting was an ongoing nightmare. For example, finance people could only see actuals from the DoD’s centralized accounting
system, and with automated forecast budgeting on another system altogether, it was difficult to match up
50
FEATURED CASE STUDY
data across the two systems from one project code to another. A monthly reporting cycle would literally
take all month—as soon as the data was collected and analyzed, it was time to start all over. Reports were not
repeatable, and generally provided no hints describing how they were compiled. Personnel spent 90% of their
time collecting data and only 10% of their time analyzing it, which left them with little time to describe
what the data actually meant to management. The DAU wanted to turn this ratio on its head in order to not
only save valuable time, but drive better decisions, understand why things are happening, and gain actionable
insights that would empower personnel to impact the future of how they and the DAU did business.
As only one relatively small business entity within DoD, the DAU does not have direct control over the
data configuration of some key core systems such as the accounting system and personnel and payroll data.
Therefore it is integrating these disparate data sources into a repository where it can create DAU’s business
taxonomy, business rules, and a structure for the data that more directly maps to the university’s mission.
The project hinged on integrating and standardizing the data, and providing access to historical and
raw data, and delivering the information on demand via comprehensive dashboard views and repeatable
(“measure-once, use-often”) reports. The DAU selected the Informatica PowerCenter data integration
platform as the cornerstone for its data warehousing and reporting project, and the university’s administrators
and faculty are now using the software to better track and analyze key performance metrics. PowerCenter
consolidates student, employee and financial data from 50 sources, such as mainframes, into the DAU’s
central data warehouse. This data is accessed via an Informatica-enabled information dashboard and used
to generate more than 2,400 reports that reach practically everyone in the university.
The project has successfully standardized and linked multiple diverse data sets, established internal controls
to ensure reliability of the data (“one version of the truth”) and provided real-time, on-line access to the
DAU leadership team. In so doing, it has helped the leadership team to assist in expanding its understanding
of business performance, and enable decisions to be enacted more quickly. Instead of going from system to
system to compile data and track operations, required information now exists in reusable reports, while the
context of the data is kept intact so that people reusing it know exactly what they are looking at. The flexibility
to address change exists in the data architecture and repository, which were designed to maximize scalability
and adaptability. This enables quick response to shifting priorities and enables the DAU to redirect its
business measurement system quickly without losing the integrity of historical data comparisons.
BENEFITS
The biggest benefits of the project are better use of time and enhanced visibility. Now that key reports
are automated, what used to take days to compile is now delivered on-demand with ensured accuracy and
completeness. The query is there already, waiting to be launched by accounting people, class schedulers,
instructors, etc. As for visibility, instructors receive a report on the success of each class, as well as on their
professional development status. The report shows how well the instructor is spanning the university’s learning model, and how well he or she has taught the students (with data integrated in from a third-party student survey management system). Managers, meanwhile, receive reports on class costs, teacher certifications,
employee time accounting, and annual leave status of staffers, as well as reports on graduation and attrition
rates. The system also provides performance support for instructors who are consulting to various other
government agencies, depicting monthly how they’ve spent their time year to date. And it delivers reports
to large government contractors detailing which of their employees have taken DAU courses and how they
are progressing in its training programs.
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
DAU management decisions are based on hard data delivered in real time to the decision makers. People
see the precise information they need to improve their own performance and the performance of the
university as a whole. Very significantly, in the past, data owners did not necessarily or eagerly share their
information—it was too hard won for starters. In making more information more accessible to more
people, the new system has changed DAU’s culture to a more open and transparent one, while eliminating
the paradigm of having to “pull teeth” to get to desired data on time.
• Faster time-to-insight-With the data integration platform automatically transforming and mapping data
from multiple disparate sources to one workflow, fully contextual information is now delivered orders of
magnitude faster. In fact, information that previously was unable to be used because of technical barriers
is now available on demand, and is helping to drive more timely and meaningful decisions. In addition,
the information dashboard powered by the data integration platform is easy to use even by people with
no background or experience in business intelligence.
Data integration initiatives of this scale and complexity, involving both inter- and cross-enterprise integration,
and touching virtually everyone in the larger organization, are very rare in education, and much rarer still in
government. Educational institutions and government agencies can all benefit from this type of application,
which promotes accountability, increased business efficiency, improved educational performance (in the case
of universities and school systems), and optimal use of public funds.
• Rapid implementation-Now in place, the data integration platform can be leveraged to accelerate the
implementation of additional systems and bring them into the DAU’s reporting and analysis fold. For
example, a contractor had been working two years to implement a new HR system for the DAU, but
was hampered by the mapping of data from multiple sources. When the PowerCenter platform was
leveraged for the purpose, the new HR system was able to be “stood up” in just six weeks, with all the
legacy data sources mapped appropriately to the new system.
DAU’s innovative program provides data integration and a visibility environment that fuses data from
defense financial accounting, budgeting, time management, payroll, professor certification, and defense
training and resources systems. It then presents it on demand to administrators, instructors and staff via
easy-to-understand dashboard views and reports. This program has allowed the DAU to do more with less,
and the results have contributed to the university winning several awards. They include:
FEATURED CASE STUDY
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Best Overall Corporate University during 2006
Corporate University Best in Class Awards
2004 Top Corporate University in the World
ASTD Best Award
2004 CLO Magazine Learning in Practice Awards
2004 Training Top 100
2003 CUX Excellence Awards
2002 Corporate University Best-in-Class Awards
The DAU’s innovative business models and performance-based budgeting are now being emulated
throughout the DoD.
The data integration challenge at the DAU was formidable. Systems were both old and new, they were on
and off the premises, and they ranged from relational to legacy, and beyond.
The use of a modern data integration platform, PowerCenter, to automatically pull out data and transform
and integrate it for a wide range of end user purposes was paramount to the success of DAU’s project. It has
provided the ability to access structured data from relational sources and unstructured data from mainframes and spreadsheets, and meld it. Ways that DAU has benefited from this technology include:
• User productivity and information completeness and accuracy-Previously, DAU personnel had to access
multiple different systems to track, for example, the total cost of a specific item from both labor and
non-labor standpoints. Data had to be pulled out, and scripts had to be used to integrate the data, or
else spreadsheet-like hand mapping was used. It was a colossal time investment, with no repeatability, no
scalability, and little or no context around the data that was ultimately presented. The use of an automated data integration platform offering universal data access has radically changed all this, delivering
aggregated, formatted information in a scalable and high performance fashion to the data warehouse and
users, with the additional ability to deliver it to other applications and portals. Control is also built into
the system. As soon as someone accesses a record, it is detected.
52
This integrated performance, cost, and quality provide leadership with real-time visibility to better manage
the university.
The seamless linkage of time accounting, budgeting, cost accounting, and performance measurement tools
allows DAU to efficiently operate using best-in-class commercial business practices. The DAU now has the
capability to smartly apply its resources in alignment with its plans, and to measure success against quantitative results. Deployment has been an enterprise-wide effort and has changed the entire university so it
provides learning products and services in the most efficient and effective means.
ORIGINALITY
• Complexity of information environment and diversity of data sources-50 sources spanning off-premise
mainframes to local databases to flat file sources.
• Breadth of users and people who benefit-The entire university staff including instructors, schedulers and
administrators, as well as defense contractors whose employees take courses, and other agencies have all
gained. The university’s tens of thousands of students also benefit from the impact the system has on enhancing
the performance of their instructors. The ultimate beneficiaries are the hundreds of thousands of U.S. war
fighters served by the DAU-educated, DoD global Acquisition, Technology and Logistics workforce.
• Empowerment of users-Non-technical users are not familiar with being empowered to get desired
information on demand, especially in academic environments. Now, instead of calling accounting and
waiting weeks for answers, they are empowered to query for themselves and get answers derived from
data spread across dozens of different sources.
• Agility-New data sources providing answers to new types of questions are quickly integrated into the
system, with the raw data often mapped into existing dimensions in the data warehouse.
• Visibility and accountability-The DAU now has the capability to smartly apply its resources in alignment
with its plans, and to measure success against quantitative results. For example, the project supports an
automated enterprise-wide Performance Management and Business Infrastructure, wherein progress
toward meeting strategic goals is measured and reported regularly. The system sets baselines, tracks
progress, manages tasks, and analyzes results. It is available to all managers who wish to track performance
as it relates the to quality of DAU products and services and the efficiency of DAU operations.
Additionally, managers can monitor their tasks and the tasks of their subordinates in real time.
Continued
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
FEATURED CASE STUDY
The DAU project is relatively new in the governmental sector. Specifically, aggregating data from multiple,
disparate data sources (often data that has gone unused) and using it to make better managers of people in
government has not been a significant trend. Additionally, the project is original in providing valuable
information to industry entities such as contractors with people taking DAU courses. Through this sharing
of data, the DAU is creating genuine partnerships with industry to better serve their respective stakeholders.
As the preceding comments indicate, the response has been immediate and positive. Now people are literally
beating down the door to leverage the new system. All over the university, the information stove pipes have
been falling, and replaced with comments such as, “Get my information into the data warehouse, please,”
and, “Take my Access database, please.”
DIFFICULTY
SUCCESS
DAU’s innovative program has enabled smart investment in best practices resulting in huge productivity
and efficiency increases across the enterprise. These include:
• Graduates are up 188 % (from 39,700 in FY99 to over 113,000 in FY06).
• Online graduates increased by 790% (from 8,800 in FY99 to 75,079 per year in FY06).
• On-line instruction time has increased to over 3.3 million hours in 2006.
• Continuous Learning module completions have grown steadily with 168,463 completions in 2006.
• Knowledge sharing assets now provide for 420,000 contact hours and 2,350,800 page views
per month usage.
• Some 355,654 contact hours have been logged on communities of practice, and 377 collaborative
workspaces have been utilized.
There were some obstacles to overcome at first. Not least of which was getting access to data, especially
in systems outside direct DAU control, such as defense civilian payroll and defense financial accounting.
It was necessary to get buy-in from the owners of these systems, and some convincing was necessary
regarding resource commitments. Top management at the DAU was behind the project from the start.
That was covered.
There was also the hurdle of having people with little or no expertise in automated business intelligence.
People needed to be trained to filter data and build reports and to understand the full power of the tool.
Organizationally and culturally, many people look at their data as their job. Hence there was reluctance to
sharing certain pockets of data. But senior management wanted this, and once the benefits were revealed,
the barriers fell. Now the culture can be described as, “I have this particular data, can you load it in?”
Astoundingly, this all equates to over 1,600,000 hours of new learning assets provided to DAU customerswith no increase in the annual training budget. The DAU has also established strategic partnerships with
over 95 organizations. The global reach of DAU’s learning and development capability permeates its
extended enterprise, as learning and development assets reach the workforce world-wide, 24/7 in 116
countries, at their point of need.
DAU’s innovative business models and performance-based budgeting are now being emulated throughout
the DoD.
The DAU project has essentially made it easier for people to not only do their jobs, but to improve their
performance and the performance of the DAU as a whole, while enhancing accountability to the DoD,
contractors, and students.
Consider the following three examples of collaborating testimony:
“I know I’ve used the term ‘hit the ball out of the park’ too many times over the past couple of weeks
describing what you’ve done with the datamart’s AAP Portal, but I can’t tell you how much I appreciate
your team efforts to pull this project off for today’s EPRA. I think it’s fair to say that we got the deans’
collective attention on AAP stats this morning, which will go a LONG way in garnering their participation
and buy-in for any workflow process improvements I’m able to implement this year.” - a Project Manager
in the DAU’s e-Learning & Technologies Center
“This is awesome. This is just what our leadership needs to provide visibility into the health of the administration
of our program. I would like to get this dashboard on a bi-weekly basis; 1st and 15th of each calendar month
will due fine. These metrics must also be available in a .ppt-compatible format (if possible). Job well done and
keep’em comin!” - a user in the DAWIA Program Office, Defense Intelligence Agency
“I can quickly run and confirm MTM data by quarter or campus. When I pulled this information direct
from MTM for last quarter’s EPRA review, it took almost six hours. I am confident now that I can get the
same data for this quarter’s EPRA in about 10 to 15 minutes.” - a DAU Course Manager
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55
FEATURED CASE STUDY
Hurricane Management System
BP
SUMMARY
Energy giant BP got its people out of harm’s way when Hurricane Katrina struck, but the process of
locating people and assets, and making decisions about their care, had been time-consuming at a time
when every second could cost lives.
In the aftermath of the hurricane, company officials sought a better solution. They wanted to bring their
existing, disparate personnel and asset management data together and integrate them with real-time threat
information to gain BP’s first-ever comprehensive picture of the risks it bore when faced with an impending
hurricane or other natural disaster.
That’s what BP has with its BP Hurricane Management System solution, created for it by Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner IDV Solutions. The solution combines the 3D satellite imagery of Microsoft Virtual Earth
and real-time weather data with a visual representation of BP’s people and assets. The result is an immensely
more visual—and, thus, immensely more intuitive—display that enables crisis managers to make better and
faster decisions in response to imminent threats. The Web-based intelligence solution enables top management in the U.K., the crisis team in Houston, and executives anywhere else in the world to collaborate
while viewing the same information in real time.
The solution leverages existing BP infrastructure-such as its Microsoft SQL Server 2005 databases and
Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003-and the cost-effective Web services-based Virtual Earth
platform, together with IDV’s Visual Fusion composite application engine software. It was created in less
than 90 days and for half the cost of alternatives. It saves the Hurricane Management team several hours a
day by automatically consolidating data from up to 20 sources. Most importantly, the solution’s intelligence
enables BP to understand and respond to threats hours faster, creating the potential to save thousands of
lives and millions of dollars.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
Traditionally, BP managed this process with wall-mounted paper charts and pushpins to represent storm
paths and employee locations. The crisis team would use string to measure the distance between hurricane
winds and the BP facilities. To obtain the data for this setup, the principal mapping lead for the crisis team,
Brian Autio, would spend three or four hours before a planning meeting pulling data manually from up to
20 databases and Web-based sources. He would then import the data into BP’s mapping software, check it
for accuracy, and send out e-mails to the crisis team in advance of the meeting. The meetings themselves
became increasingly tense as a storm approached.
“We’d have 40 people lining the walls in a room that might typically only hold 15 or 20 people, trying to
find out what was going on,” said Autio. “This isn’t just about employees, these people offshore are our
friends, so it was very personal. And it was all about making sure that they were safe.”
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, BP executives began to explore better ways to obtain and manage
the information that would keep their friends safe. They wanted a solution that would integrate the BP
personnel and asset data from disparate databases, and marry that data to visual imagery to make it easy,
even intuitive, for crisis managers to understand who was at risk without the hours-long delay of the
existing process. They wanted to take advantage of systems that existed outside of BP—weather, traffic and
housing feeds—and overlay that with internal data to speed planning and aid. And they wanted a fully
Web-based solution that would eliminate the need for deployment and maintenance of client software,
while enabling BP people anywhere in the world, whether it be at the U.K. worldwide headquarters, the
Houston regional center, or even the deep-water platforms, to view and share the same intelligence.
Meanwhile, another BP functional area was considering a solution to engage a similar forecasting ability in
the service of identifying risks to BP physical assets.
In that situation, BP was reconsidering its method of assessing the after-the-fact impact of hurricanes on its
facilities. The company needs to know very quickly what damage has been sustained to drilling platforms,
underwater pipelines, and other infrastructure so it can begin repair operations as soon as possible.
Traditionally, BP would send out fixed-wing aircraft or helicopters, as soon as it was safe, to take aerial
photographs, which would be evaluated back at BP’s regional headquarters. But with advances in satellite
imagery, BP executives wondered if there was a solution that could not only leverage that imagery to depict
damaged sites, but also capture pre-disaster images for comparative analysis.
BENEFITS
OVERVIEW
BP’s Gulf of Mexico Strategic Performance Unit is focused on the exploration and production of oil and
gas. It is responsible for a complex mix of assets and people, including eight deep-water oil production and
drilling platforms, supporting thousands of miles of pipelines, more than 100 fuel terminals and offices,
and some 1,500 people.
Those people live not just in BP’s Houston regional headquarters, but throughout the Gulf states and
beyond. When a storm approaches the region, BP has to predict not just whether it will affect its employees,
but which employees it will affect. Tracking and projecting storm paths and intensity are crucial to protecting
employees and aiding storm victims. The effectiveness of these operations depends on BP having the fastest,
most accurate storm tracking and projection capabilities, as well as the most complete understanding of
where its people are.
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“This solution is changing the way we do business,” commented Steve Fortune, BP Information
Management Director, Gulf of Mexico Strategic Performance Unit. “When the data is presented through a
map-based interface, it’s pretty amazing. It gives you a much richer, bigger, more intelligent picture of
what’s going on. And that picture is one to which you can respond faster and more effectively.”
For example, hurricanes can have a multilevel impact, affecting production and drilling platforms on the
surface of the water as well as pipelines along the ocean floor. For the first time, this solution enables a
Hurricane Management team to see how various weather factors such as hurricanes on the surface and loop
currents underwater affect different assets at the same location, enabling a more comprehensive response.
Continued
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
FEATURED CASE STUDY
The solution enables more of BP’s people to monitor the crisis and the crisis team response, and to collaborate
in shaping that response. All authorized BP personnel, anywhere in the world, can view the same data and
crisis response in real time over the global intranet. The information isn’t only better and more useful, it’s
also available hours earlier than before, because the mapping lead doesn’t spend hours accessing and
processing data from disparate sources-the solution does that automatically.
BP chose the Microsoft Virtual Earth platform as the mapping and location service both because it was
robust and fit-for-purpose, and because it would integrate more seamlessly and easily than competitors with
BP’s existing Microsoft .NET-based infrastructure. On the basis of its discussions with all providers, BP also
concluded that the licensing for Virtual Earth would be half that of other platforms.
“Data visualization is the future at BP,” said Autio. “It has totally freed us to look at the data and process the data,
rather than spend time locating the data. And that means we can do a better job of protecting our people.”
The solution’s benefits extend beyond BP to the U.S. economy and to everyone who depends on it because,
by enabling BP to get its operations up and running more quickly, the solution allows BP to continue supplying oil and gas to the U.S. economy with the least disruption.
The Hurricane Management Solution was originally conceived to respond to the narrow threat of hurricanes. But two factors have combined to extend the solution to communities throughout BP: First, individuals and groups at BP who see the solution are excited by it and conceive new uses for it. Second, the architecture of the solution readily lends itself to this extensibility.
BP is already at work extending the types of assets that are displayed by the solution. Supply chain data,
for example, is being imported into the solution to identify what parts are stored in the company’s various
warehouses. The idea is to expedite the retrieval of parts needed to start repairs after disaster strikes. The
real-time locations of ships and helicopters are being added to speed the dispatch of supplies to production
and drilling platforms as part of rescue and aid efforts. To the solution, all of these assets are data sets that
can be easily imported and displayed in exactly the same manner as the original data sets.
Beyond enriching the original Hurricane Management Solution, BP audiences are interested in creating
new applications that take advantage of the solution’s data visualization and mapping intelligence capabilities.
For example, a drilling unit can use the solution to overlay deep-water loop data with drilling platform
locations to identify when currents will hinder drilling operations. The solution’s use of a Web portal and
Web parts makes it easy to replicate its base functionality in other applications.
Microsoft technologies—including Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal 2003,
and Microsoft Virtual Earth mapping and location service—combined with IDV’s Visual Fusion Server,
were essential to several key aspects of the solution, including its rapid and cost-effective development and
deployment, and its easy extensibility.
The use of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 along with SQL Server and SharePoint Portal Server enabled IDV
to create a working prototype in just two weeks. At the core of the system was BP’s established architectural
foundation, a Microsoft-based Service Oriented Architecture. With the prototype created so quickly, BP’s
top exploration executives felt it was reasonable to see the completed solution in production by the start of
the 2006 hurricane season, which gave the development team just three months.
The developers met that goal, as well as the requirements for cost-effectiveness, by taking advantage of BP’s
existing infrastructure, rather than trying to recreate a new solution infrastructure from scratch. For example,
much of the asset data that BP wanted to use already resided in SQL Server databases. The developers used
SQL Server Integration Services to pull continually updated asset data into the solution’s SQL Server spatial
data warehouse. They estimate that the use of existing infrastructure and Microsoft technologies cut the
development time in half, making the three-month deadline possible.
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IDV’s Visual Fusion Suite was another crucial component of the solution. The software uses Microsoft
ADO.NET technology to pull asset information from the SQL Server 2005 warehouse, convert it to intelligent,
spatially-formatted data, and send it to the SharePoint Portal Server portal as XML, where it is layered onto
Virtual Earth mapping data.
All of this information, including the integrated asset and mapping imagery, is housed in IDV Web parts
that are contained in the portal. The use of a Web portal means that there is no desktop software to install.
That cuts deployment time and costs to zero and allows any authorized user to immediately access the
solution from anywhere in the world. Similarly, as the solution is updated and extended, there is no need to
deploy additional software across BP’s global enterprise network. The use of other solutions would have
required client software on every workstation, obviating any benefits.
ORIGINALITY
Autio, the principal mapping lead for the crisis team, sees several exceptional aspects of the solution. “We’ve
never seen anything like it before-the ability to look at all the assets at one time, the simplicity of it, and the
depth of detail,” he said. “Each of these factors by itself is extremely important. Taken together, they make
up a truly exceptional intelligence solution.”Another exceptional aspect of the solution, according to
Fortune, is speed. The use of Web services to integrate weather data feeds means the solution is always displaying real-time information. Moreover, BP crisis team members gain the benefit of that speed because
they don’t have to wait for the screen to catch up with the actions of the crisis team.
“One of the things that differentiates this application from a lot of others is the lack of screen recovery time,”
said Fortune. “You pan in and look at your data and it just happens. Other mapping applications can stall or
take a long time for screens to update. When we’re in crisis mode, people can’t wait for the technology to
catch up with them. If it took even 30 seconds for the screen to refresh, our people would turn it off.”
“The very concept of the solution is original,” noted Mark Morrison, CEO at IDV Solutions. “You hear a
lot about composite applications, otherwise known as mashups. This is a mashup on a global enterprise
level. It combines internal data from enterprise systems, external data in the form of Web services, and
composites that data with Virtual Earth global imagery and other mapping and location data provided as a
service. The result is a highly focused view that addresses an extremely specific business need: protecting
people and assets from hurricanes. Yet, it can also be easily adapted to address virtually any other business
intelligence need of the enterprise.”
SUCCESS
Real people are benefiting from the Hurricane Management System today. When tornados struck central
Florida in February 2007, BP’s Hurricane Management team used the solution to identify employees in
harm’s way. The information was exported to a Microsoft Office Excel 2003 spreadsheet and e-mailed to
the humanitarian aid team.
Continued
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
Team members there could open the spreadsheet and click on an employee’s name to bring up a Web page
with a map of the person’s location, real-time status of roads and weather, and relevant details on the
employee. The team then used that information to contact the employees as quickly as possible to ascertain
their status and deliver aid as needed.
While the solution was created for the Gulf states region, the worldwide coverage of the Virtual Earth
platform enables it to be used for any crisis or situation, anywhere in the world.
The Hurricane Management System has been enthusiastically received. Fortune and Autio report that
every group and community within BP to which they’ve shown the solution has expressed strong interest
in contributing to it or adapting it for additional applications. Top management, which had responded
positively to the pilot, was equally enthusiastic. The intelligence solution was ready on June 1, 2006, for the
start of the hurricane season, and was immediately put into production use by the Hurricane Management
team, replacing all previous methods.
Global management in the U.K. is now planning to use the solution to enable BP to respond to worldwide
pandemics, such as avian flu. Units such as pipeline management and supply chain operations are using or
planning to use the solution to monitor the daily status of their operations even when they are not in crisis
mode. As previously mentioned, the drilling unit is able to integrate deep water current and drill location
data to identify favorable and unfavorable times for drilling activities.
DIFFICULTY
The biggest challenge facing Fortune was that three areas within BP were pursuing separate solutions for
distinct but related problems. The three were: safeguarding people and providing humanitarian aid, predicting
hurricane risk to physical assets, and assessing damage after the fact to facilitate repairs.
“It wasn’t inevitable that they’d pool their resources for a joint solution,” explained Fortune. “They were
looking at Google maps, ARC GIS software, and manual solutions. We understood that a single solution
would benefit the company by eliminating the redundant development and maintenance effort, and by
providing a greater, larger, more accurate store of information than any one solution would have.”
To convince the three areas to sign on for a common intelligence solution, Fortune demonstrated to them
how that solution, based on Microsoft technologies easily integrated into the existing infrastructure, would
give them more and better information—and greater ability to use the information for decision making—
than they could get with isolated solutions.
There was no fight for approval or funding. Top management approved the solution as soon as it saw the
pilot. Functional areas considering independent solutions also signed on when presented with the greater
functionality that the integrated solution could provide. The rich intelligence available with visualization of
the combined information streams instantly demonstrated the compelling benefits.
IBM and the IBM logo are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. ©2006 IBM Corporation. All rights reserved.
A powerful aspect of the solution is its ability to be used for crises completely unimagined when the
solution was conceived and designed. For example, BP used the solution during a 2006 bombing incident
in Philadelphia to identify employees at risk and to deliver aid.
IMAGINE
THE POSSIBILITIES WHEN VISION,
INGENUITY AND INNOVATION
COME TOGETHER
The viability of individuals and institutions depends on their ability to embrace innovation. As in the business world,
governments, schools, universities and healthcare organizations face unprecedented competition and increasingly
complex demands. Our award winners continue to break new ground in serving the public good, and making a difference
in the lives of individuals and society. Whether in small steps or huge leaps forward, IBM can help. Take the first step
and visit ibm.com/innovation/publicsector.
We applaud
We
applaud all
all of
of IBM’s
IBM’s 2007
2006 Computerworld
Computerworld Honors
Honors Laureate
Laureate medal
medal winners.
winners.
60
FEATURED CASE STUDY
Transferring Medical Knowledge From Those
Who Have It to Those Who Need It Using
Technology
Medical Missions for Children
SUMMARY
The mission of Medical Mission for Children (MMC) is to transfer medical knowledge from those who have it to
those who need it using the latest in communications technology. The world is in the midst of a silent revolution
in the field of medicine. New discoveries and scientific breakthroughs are occurring more rapidly than ever, and
many experts are forecasting that medical knowledge will effectively double over the next five years. To maximize
the impact of this increase in knowledge, MMC is constantly working to develop new and innovative ways to
transfer this information from its point of origin to the front lines of medicine. By facilitating this transfer of
medical knowledge, the organization expects to improve the medical outcomes of millions of people each year.
MMC is a four-star, multiple-award winning charity located at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Paterson,
NJ. It operates a distance medicine network in more than 100 countries called the Global Telemedicine
Teaching Network GTTN). It also operates a global satellite and IP TV network called the Medical
Broadcasting Channel (MBC). In addition, there is the Global Video Library of Medicine (GVLM), and
Giggles Children’s Theater-Where Laughter is the Best Medicine.
MMC has directly affected the lives of thousands of children living in medically underserved nations and
indirectly helps millions more by speeding the transfer of medical knowledge.
OVERVIEW
The statistics on the plight of children in medically underserved countries are staggering. In poor nations,
children under five years of age bear 30 percent of the total burden of disease. Of the 11 million children
under five years of age who die each year, more than 85 percent are from medically underserved countries.
This translates to 40,000 children dying each day. And, according to the World Health Organization, in
most hospitals in underserved communities the pediatric death rate ranges between 20 to 50 percent,
compared to just two to 4 percent in the U.S.
In response to this global health care crisis, Frank Brady founded Medical Mission for Children (MMC)
in 1999. Through the use of an expansive telemedicine network based on Polycom video systems, MMC
dramatically improves the level of pediatric care available to children with severe medical conditions living
in medically underserved areas.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
The results of GTTN are tremendous, providing direct care to more than 28,000 seriously ill children. And
the benefits don’t stop there. With every telemedicine consultation, doctors in medically needy countries
receive new information about symptoms, diseases and treatments, and then apply that knowledge to future
patients. The organization estimates that it has indirectly helped millions of additional children by speeding
the dissemination of medical knowledge and progressively improving the overall level of care in a given region.
Recently, physicians in Armenia requested a consultation over GTTN for a child who had been diagnosed
with Cystic Fibrosis. Initially, his prognosis was grim, but after a battery of tests and an examination over
video by U.S. doctors, it was determined that he did not in fact have Cystic Fibrosis. In short order an
appropriate treatment plan was put into place and the boy is on his way to a full recovery.
MMC also broadcasts medical education content all around the world 24 hours a day, seven days a week
on MBC, which airs both donated and original medical video content to help educate physicians and other allied
healthcare workers on both satellite and Internet2. In addition MMC hosts GVLM, the largest single repository of
digital medical video content in the world. All content in GVLM is available to GTTN members on-demand,
providing convenient access to the most up-to-date medical information for healthcare workers around the globe.
The MMC network is also making a difference for children in the U.S. through its Giggles Theater, which can
accommodate children in wheelchairs and beds, and brings performing artists directly to pediatric patients
through weekly performances and hands-on activities. Music, puppetry, dance, storytellers, and “video field
trips” to places like the Cincinnati Zoo help reduce the monotony for hospitalized children. “Studies have
shown that the arts can play a significant role in a child’s recovery by addressing the patient’s emotional needs.
That’s why we felt so strongly that we had to make the children’s theatre a reality,” says Brady.
The MMC network is well established and growing rapidly, encompassing pediatric healthcare facilities in 100
countries, and the volunteer services of more than 30 tier-one U.S.-based and international medical institutions.
BENEFITS
The MMC GTTN drastically improves healthcare outcomes for children suffering in the world’s medically
underserved countries. As mentioned, more than 28,000 children have received care directly through the
network. In addition, MMC has recorded an estimated 35 to 40 percent rate of incorrect initial diagnosis.
That means that 35 to 40 percent of the children seen over the network have been immediately positively
impacted by receiving an accurate diagnosis and being started on an appropriate care plan.
MMC estimates that it has already indirectly served an additional million-plus children in medically needy
countries through GTTN by speeding the dissemination of medical knowledge all over the world. The doctors
MMC works with in medically underserved countries receive new information about everything from
symptoms, to diseases, to treatment with each consultation. This information will then be applied to future
patients, thereby progressively improving the overall level of care in the region.
The MMC GTTN allows participating hospitals in developing countries to contact hospitals and medical
specialists in the United States for assistance in diagnosing and treating children with severe medical conditions.
The U.S. doctors, using video communications with data-sharing technology, see the patient, the test
results and medical records in real-time and are able to consult face-to-face with the attending doctor, even
though they may be several thousand miles away.
Facilitating real-time, interactive video calls that allow doctors to see patients and actually share physical
medical data is the foundation of the MMC program, and to facilitate this, the organization relies on
Polycom video collaboration solutions. Visualization of a patient is key to providing an accurate diagnosis,
and video conferencing technology enables this. No organization could ever hope to physically send physicians
to all of the locations GTTN reaches through video conferencing technology.
Continued
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
And with the global expansion of the IP infrastructure, even hospitals in some of the world’s most
remote corners of world have access to GTTN. It is MMC’s philosophy that if disease knows no geographic
borders, why should medicine? Video conferencing allows the organization to break down geographical
and political barriers. For example, a physician from the University of California at Davis was physically
traveling to Cambodia periodically to treat patients. Now he can “be there” more often using the GTTN,
and can see more patients and affect more lives.
MBC and GVLM. The Telemedicine Program has grown significantly over the first eight years, which has
created a core audience for MBC. As word gets out about the programming on MBC and the content available through GVLM, the program’s growth should rival that of traditional media outlets.
ORIGINALITY
The MMC GTTN is exceptional in that it is effectively harvesting the knowledge and medical expertise of
top physicians at its more than 30 U.S. partner hospitals. Not only is it making that knowledge available,
on demand, through telemedicine outreach, but it also offers easy access to that information through MBC
and GVLM. MMC has become a single point of access for medical professionals around the world who are
seeking counsel and education.
While MMC is not the first or only organization to offer telemedicine consultations to medically underserved areas of the world, it is the only organization doing so on this large a scale. MMC has shown a
tremendous capacity for building partnerships, which has enabled the organization to grow enormously in
only eight years of operation. Partnerships with organizations such as the World Bank and the Fogarty
Center at the National Institutes of Health, help MMC go out to 100 countries, creating an unrivaled
reach in the realm of telemedicine and medical education.
MMC recently commissioned a study to determine the effectiveness of its broadcast network and found it
is currently on par with other commercial niche networks such as the Food Network or the Golf Channel
in terms of its market penetration with healthcare providers globally. At present MBC is reaching an
audience of 1.7 million, or five to 10 percent of its target market, and it is on track reach 18.5 million
global health care workers or 43 percent of its target market by 2012.
DIFFICULTY
When MMC first began the GTTN, its representatives encountered a lot of red tape in the countries they
were trying to connect to the network. To counter this, MMC now appoints the first lady of the country
ambassador of the project and has found that having someone in the executive branch of government to
champion the cause to be very effective.
SUCCESS
In 2005, a four-year old girl was admitted to the intensive care unit of Armenia’s National Institute of Child
and Adolescent Health. Her state of health was declining rapidly, her diagnosis was unknown, and she was
no longer able to breathe on her own. Staff physicians were perplexed and unable to diagnose or treat her.
Within 48 hours of being advised of the seriousness and complexity of the situation, MMC arranged a
telemedicine consultation between a group of U.S.-based pediatric neurologists and the Armenian physicians
providing treatment for the child. After approximately 45 minutes of dialogue among the U.S. and
Armenian physicians, the U.S. doctors determined that the girl had contracted a rarely seen polyneuropathy
in children. The disease is called Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). The
girl was immediately placed on a treatment protocol and within days she was able to breathe on her own
again and is presently on her way to a full recovery. This child’s life was saved.
In another recent example, a child from the pediatric intensive care unit of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital
in New Jersey attended a performance of MMC’s Giggles Children’s Theater. Through his oxygen mask,
you could see that he was smiling, laughing and singing along. After the performance, the child’s nurse
approached the Director of Giggles. She informed her that the boy had recently been displaying signs of
clinical depression and as a result had become non-communicative. On that particular day, the patient had
not uttered a word. While at the Giggles performance, however, the child’s disposition brightened and he
was talking and laughing continuously. During the conversation, the nurse expressed how grateful she was
for the existence of the Giggles Theater. She had witnessed for the first time the unquestionable healing
influences of laughter and entertainment.
MMC reports that the physicians it works with in developing countries are extremely enthusiastic about
both the telemedicine consultations available through the GTTN and the educational content offered by
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
STARRS ... Improving Emergency Response
with Patient Tracking!
East-West Gateway
SUMMARY
The East-West Gateway Council of Governments provides a forum for cooperative problem solving for St.
Louis and its eight surrounding jurisdictions, which includes a regional population of three million people.
This organization is the monetary liaison for the response organization and manages the Urban Areas
Security Initiative (UASI) Federal Homeland Security Funds.
The St. Louis region of the East-West Gateway includes eight jurisdictions across two states, and has nearly
200 regional fire departments, 50-plus hospitals, and numerous EMS providers-all of which had individual
standards for communication. As a result of this incompatibility, it was difficult to coordinate activities in
the wake of disasters.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
ture that enables patient status and triage details to be quickly and efficiently communicated to the hospital
emergency rooms. The solution is designed to minimize the amount of time care-givers have to spend
entering information so they can focus attention on assisting patients while still providing the most complete
picture of the incident possible. Additionally, regional officials have a complete view of the situation and
can divert emergency personnel as the situation dictates. This system is also able to provide family members
with more complete information when they inquire about their loved ones’ status and hospital admission
location. The ability to track people who are being evacuated, help families reunite and track walk-in
patients provides tremendous value to the St. Louis community.
Additional value can be found in the enhanced visibility that the EMS and hospital communities have when
tracking medical response at the scene of the incident and initiating load balancing of all hospitals across the
region. If one hospital gets overrun with walk-ins or patients from the incident, the regional hospitals can
communicate and divert ambulances, eliminating time delays and improving the care of the patients.
The need for STARRS was highlighted in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, when emergency responders
had no way to track the injuries of victims or whereabouts of missing persons in the midst of the expansive
disaster. It was again portrayed as a national need in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Specific UASI funds
have been set aside to help fund solutions for this nationwide problem.
The St. Louis region needed a Patient Tracking Solution (PTS) for first responders to relay real-time,
patient data from the scene of an incident to hospitals, emergency operations personnel and authorized
public officials. There were three goals: 1) Begin tracking medical response at the scene 2) Initiate real-time
notification and communication between EMS, incident command and hospitals 3) Support family
reunification in the event of a disaster.
Currently New England, New York, Prince Georges County in Maryland, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles,
and Shreveport, Louisiana are urban areas that are either implementing solutions or who have communicated
their intent to implement. The Kansas City region is currently implementing the St. Louis PTS, which will
be of great value to Missouri as EMS paramedics and hospitals across the state descend on a scene and are
able to communicate and work in a coordinated effort. To enhance the regions’ response, eight additional
counties in Illinois are seeking funding to join the St. Louis region in expanding the system into their
hospitals and EMS agencies.
OVERVIEW
STARRS is a regional organization formed by The East-West Gateway to coordinate planning for responses to
large-scale critical incidents in St. Louis and the surrounding metropolitan area. Formed as a result of the UASI
Grant Program for Homeland Security in 2003, STARRS’ mission is to help local governments, businesses and
citizens plan for, protect against and recover from critical incidents, such as terrorist attacks and large-scale
weather catastrophes. STARRS depends on the efforts of volunteers from the medical community, emergency
medical services, police, public health services, fire protection, government officials and others.
IBM partnered with EMSystem, Symbol, Panasonic, Sprint and AT&T Wireless on the development of
STARRS. Using handheld PDAs, first responders capture patient data such as medical condition, vital
signs, chief injury or illness, ETA and destination hospital. Information is transmitted via Sprint or the
AT&T wireless network, and is accessible to hospital and public safety personnel using Panasonic mobile
data terminals.
The PTS implemented in the St. Louis greater metropolitan area provides a means to improve emergency
response and preparedness capabilities electronically by capturing and distributing patient information to
various stakeholders, such as emergency managers and local hospitals throughout the system in the case of
an emergency event. Currently the solution is implemented in 18 Level 1 and 2 hospitals, and 10 EMS
agencies. It is being expanded to 22 additional hospitals across the eight counties. Enablement of Level 3
hospitals was scheduled to begin in April. The ultimate goal is having the system used on every ambulance
run in the St. Louis region.
BENEFITS
Once the data is received, the back-end application notifies the hospital ER staff that they have incoming
patients, and estimates their arrival times, as well as the status and chief complaint of the patients. If the
hospital goes on diversion status, the EMS technicians are notified and are re-routed to another hospital.
The ability of this system to help the hospital staffs know prior to arrival what condition the patients are in,
and how many are coming, helps their ERs prepare appropriately for the patient load.
Effectively coordinating treatment between first responders and hospitals greatly improves the quality of
care delivered to patients. The STARRS PTS requires minimal interaction using drop-down lists and radio
buttons. To ensure security of sensitive information, only fully authorized emergency personnel, hospital
workers and public safety staff access real-time information on the Web via laptops, handhelds, PCs or
mobile terminals.
Continued
The PTS provides the region with a coordinated response to a mass casualty event. This solution has
brought EMS paramedics, the hospital community, and relief agencies into a common response infrastruc-
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
Beyond the medical application, it also helps provide crucial information faster to distraught families and
ensures that officials have a clear picture of a disaster situation. This helps everyone make informed decisions
based on comprehensive, real-time information.
where human lives are at stake, seconds count,” said STARRS Executive Director Nick Gragnani. “Better
medical information provided more quickly means better patient care and more lives saved.”
Tracking people during critical events such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, mass casualty incidents, and
day-to-day accidents has become critical. Technology contributed to the project by allowing the capture of
patient data and images at the incident.
Stakeholders embraced this solution immediately. The EMS paramedics have been enthusiastic and are
pushing for use of the system across the region. In turn, hospital ER staffs are excited about the value this
solution provides, and are expanding the use of the system to interface directly with the admission systems
at hospitals. That kind of seamless integration will further enhance its capabilities in times of crisis.
ORIGINALITY
DIFFICULTY
First and foremost, the STARRS PTS has improved the productivity of the EMS paramedics by 10-15 percent.
EMTs are now able to communicate status and transport information to their dispatch centers and the
receiving hospitals without taking time away from the patients. In addition, the system has automated
after-shift reporting. This is also a valuable benefit to EMS staff because it eliminates the manual efforts
previously used to create these reports.
The most difficult obstacle to overcome was the implementation of wireless technology in 18 hospitals. Each IT
staff needed to be involved in the configuration of the handheld devices, the firewall rules, and the security setting
to allow the handhelds to work within the emergency rooms. STARRS is dependent upon IT personnel within
each hospital to keep the handhelds maintained, and ensure that when there are changes to the hospital network,
these changes are moved over to the handhelds so that they continue to work within the hospital infrastructure. As
St. Louis begins to roll out daily use of the system, the IT staffs are helping to insure that the hospitals and EMS
agencies keep the technologies updated. Furthermore, IT employees insure that personnel know how to use the
system, so in the event of a mass casualty event, there will be no re-training or re-learning of the technology.
Ultimately, this has helped resolve many issues, as it has helped keep the handhelds current, and insured that they
work in the hospital emergency rooms on a daily basis.
Providing faster response times, better organization and improved patient tracking helps save lives and
enables family reunification. It supports distraught families by providing crucial information faster. It
assists public officials in providing reliable information and a clearer picture of a disaster situation to their
constituents, improving credibility.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
The St. Louis implementation is the first and largest implementation in the United States that is operating
for both mass casualty and daily use. Currently the solution is implemented in 18 Level 1 and 2 hospitals,
10 EMS agencies, and will be expanded to 22 additional hospitals across the eight counties. Enablement of
Level 3 hospitals was slated to begin in April. The project has achieved a very high level of support from all
response organizations and the public constituents it serves.
As this project was funded by Urban Area Security Initiative (Homeland Security), the Emergency Patient
Tracking Project was effectively competing with other regional initiatives being requested by the community.
In order for this project to be awarded Homeland Security funds, the Patient Tracking Committee had to
overcome objections and show it could satisfy the UASI requirements. STARRS overcame the objections by
aligning this project with Urban Area Security Initiative priorities and formed a joint hospital-EMS Agency
regional workgroup to insure that both user groups realized benefits from the system.
SUCCESS
In bringing EMS paramedics, the hospital community and relief agencies into a common response
infrastructure that enables patient status and triage details to be quickly and efficiently communicated to
the hospital emergency rooms, STARRS is a cutting-edge system, and a model for other cities to follow.
To implement a system of this nature, it takes strong leadership, intelligent planning and a determined
implementation team focused on the success of the project. The Emergency Patient Tracking project team
(E Team) has demonstrated each of these time and time again. The St. Louis region needed and received
active participation from the EMS agencies to help design the handheld application. Additionally, it was
vital that the patient tracking team receive regional participation from the hospital committee to define the
process of using the system for the benefit of hospitals. Both committees have worked through issues to
come up with a common system that is working to the benefit of the St. Louis region.
“Organizations like ours are looking into ways to help bridge the gap,” said Les Sterman, Executive
Director of East-West Gateway. Using the new patient tracking communications solution, STARRS expects
EMS providers to increase emergency response productivity by 10 percent to 15 percent due to faster
decision making capabilities. Sterman further explained that in complicated metro areas such as St. Louis, a
large network of fire departments and emergency responders tend to adopt individual standards for radio
communication. That can actually disturb the emergency management systems they mean to support. The
city and county of St. Louis, and surrounding counties and towns have almost 200 regional fire departments.
Thus a new system coordinating activities will create efficiency and save lives. “In any emergency situation
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
Advance America Grows
with Oracle Enterprise Grid
The fragmented environment limited the company’s ability to track and meet regulatory requirements
that varied widely from state to state. It also impacted the their business development plans involving
partnerships and relationships with large financial institutions, which need assurance of Advance America’s
compliance capabilities.
All of these concerns were addressed by the company’s 2004 investment in a grid computing architecture
running Oracle Database software on a fault tolerant server cluster. Advance America calls the new architecture
its eAdvantage Platform. Most retail centers now use economical thin client machines and connect to the
grid via the Web to run applications and share data. Managers tap a continuously updated central database
and generate reports in near real time.
Advance America
SUMMARY
Since 1997, millions of Americans have turned to Advance America to secure short-term loans that many
traditional financial institutions don’t offer. Today, the Spartanburg, SC company is the largest provider of
payday cash advance services in the United States, operating more than 2,800 payday cash advance centers
in 37 states. To meet rising consumer demand, the company has been opening new retail centers at a
phenomenal rate, and by 2004 the growth started pushing the limits of the company’s client-server IT
infrastructure, creating barriers to growth and profitability.
In response, Advance America designed and implemented an ambitious new approach, launching an
Oracle-based grid computing platform that connects the retail centers over the Web to a centrally managed
database and applications platform. The consolidated grid architecture yielded a range of benefits, including
sharply lower center startup costs, streamlined IT support, and faster access to business intelligence. The
grid is unleashing revenue potential by providing the technical means to launch innovative Web services
and partnerships. And better data consolidation and control is strengthening Advance America’s regulatory
compliance programs as well as overall investor confidence.
FEATURED CASE STUDY
OVERVIEW
Advance America began looking at new information technology in 2004 as part of a broad-based effort to
more effectively manage the company’s expansion. At the time, the it was opening new branches at a rate of
about 350 per year and facing myriad business challenges and opportunities related to that growth. While
executives wanted to open up new retail centers as quickly as possible to capitalize on surging demand, they
also wanted to grow profitably by controlling costs, strengthening best practices, and laying the technology
foundation necessary to sustain further growth.
Early on, Advance America recognized that its existing client-server IT architecture wasn’t up to the task,
and many executives characterized the infrastructure as “hitting a wall.” The old decentralized approach
meant that each center had to be equipped with a completely independent hardware and software environment,
leading to high retail center startup costs and delays. The greater complexity of this model—especially the
proliferation of different software instances—also kept maintenance costs high. Not infrequently, retail
centers needed to ship machines to and from headquarters to implement fixes and upgrades.
To consolidate data, the firm downloaded and compiled data from each retail center in nightly batches, a
task that grew tougher as data volumes rose. “There weren’t enough hours in the night,” said Dave
Toothman, Advance America’s chief information officer. The batch processing environment also made it
hard to monitor center performance in real time and share business intelligence across branches. Access to
key information, such as a customer’s phone number, might be available at one site but not another.
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Already the move is paying off in lower branch startup and support costs, faster reporting, and greater
visibility into business performance and customer trends. The clustered server architecture also scales cost
effectively, so it can keep pace with growth while grid management tools are boosting IT management
productivity. (An independent study estimated total net benefits of almost $3 million over five years,
equating to a net return on investment of 131%.)
Beyond the savings, the firm expects the grid to unleash new revenue potential by enabling new Web
services with partners. It also expects the grid to streamline and tighten regulatory compliance programs
and boost investor and partner confidence as a result.
BENEFITS
Advance America’s move to the consolidated grid infrastructure yielded a host of tangible operational
and financial improvements. Among the most important advantages: a steep reduction of hardware setup
costs at branches, sharply reduced IT support costs, faster and more accurate reporting, and a boost
in labor productivity.
According to a 2006 consulting study, the cost of setting up hardware at new cash advance branches fell in half
following the implementation, and ongoing hardware support costs are expected to moderate, falling by a
third over five years. Executives attribute both improvements to the new grid infrastructure, which is enabling
Advance America to switch to economical, longer-lasting thin clients at its branches, and maintain core
applications centrally on the grid, minimizing the need for costly field support and machine maintenance.
The cost of adding processing capacity to the central grid will also become more manageable because the
company can leverage the grid’s clustered server architecture to add new computing capacity and storage in
smaller as-needed increments. This same feature will allow Advance America to “take advantage of future
releases and CPU capacity enhancement,” CIO Toothman said.
Altogether, the grid equips Advance America with a more scalable, cost-effective platform to confidently
pursue business expansion. And it gives managers better access to business intelligence, which executives
said is leading to better decision making, both at the corporate level and individual branches. By replacing
batch uploads with a central database, managers no longer wait days to access key data and reports.
Finally, the grid consolidation project is providing greater opportunities for strengthening business
partnerships. In one example, Advance America is now using its grid to run Web applications that offer
customers complementary products and services from partners.
Continued
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FEATURED CASE STUDY
FEATURED CASE STUDY
The Oracle enterprise grid forms the technology base of Advance America’s eAdvantage platform, the core
set of applications running the company’s financial services business. Managers and staff throughout the
company are benefiting from Advance America’s grid investment, which helped the organization control the
cost of growth, centralize data and business intelligence for real time access and analysis, and create the
technical basis for improving regulatory compliance and exploiting new business opportunities.
Also contributing to overall efficiency is a central grid management console that helps IT administrators
oversee the nationwide network. Other tools help automate labor-intensive tasks such as software patches,
upgrades, and trouble shooting. Advance America’s grid project also introduced a centralized disaster recovery
solution utilizing new technology to create and manage standby databases. Overall, Toothman observed, the
grid has proven to be “extremely stable, very robust and very scalable.”
The grid deployment is boosting the productivity of the IT organization and is expected to generate
millions of dollars in staff savings over five years. One example: Since the company migrated from
numerous field-based database instances to a single grid-based instance, it now takes 28% fewer database
administrators to manage overall IT operations.
The company today is achieving nearly 100% uptime at the cash advance centers, in large part because
managers can perform routine patches and upgrades on the grid without taking applications offline. In
addition, the company deployed extensive new quality assurance processes to test global applications and
upgrades prior to network-wide rollout, minimizing disruptions. Enterprise-wide deployment of software
fixes and upgrades now take a third less time than they did in the legacy environment.
Administrators respond to support requests faster because they can handle most technical issues within the
centrally managed environment. Administrators also use specialized grid diagnostic tools to quickly identify
and solve system-wide availability and performance problems, a significant productivity advancement over
the fragmented legacy architecture.
Project benefits extend beyond the employee base, impacting the company’s wider ecosystem of business
partners, investors, regulatory agencies, and customers. As noted, the grid platform lends itself to real time
delivery of information to branches, thus creating opportunities for offering complimentary services to
customers at the point of sale. Several new partnerships that will exploit this capability have been
developed, and more are in the planning stages.
The grid architecture also enhances responsiveness to regulatory agencies because it enables closer tracking
of business data and activities at every branch. System-embedded controls and auditing mechanisms can be
put in place to ensure the company is following the multiplicity of laws governing financial businesses in
each state. As such, the project serves to instill confidence in customers and business investors seeking
assurance of Advance America’s compliance capabilities.
Without question, information technology contributed to the success of this project, making it possible for
Advance America to achieve nationwide integration of its branch operations and building the foundation
for long term business growth. Centrally sited at Advance America’s Spartanburg headquarters, the grid
platform consists of a four-node cluster of IBM P5 series servers (4 CPUs per node) running Oracle
Database, Real Application Clusters and Enterprise Manager software.
The clustered server approach offered key operational advantages over the legacy system, including greater
overall system reliability. As CIO Toothman noted, “We wanted to avoid a single point of failure. The
multi-node cluster provides the reliability and failover redundancy we needed to ensure constant availability
of our mission-critical applications.”
Other key grid components include a pair of Cisco load balancers to manage data traffic from the centers, a
three-node WebLogic application server cluster, and a 2-terabyte storage area network (SAN) utilizing an
IBM disk array in combination with Oracle Automatic Storage Management (ASM) software.
ORIGINALITY
The project was exceptional in several respects. The move to a grid computing model was in itself an
ambitious and potentially risky strategy, but it paid off in light of the grid’s subsequent stability, reliability,
and cost effectiveness. The project was impressive in scale, involving an initial investment $3.8 million in
hardware, software and implementation consulting services.
One of the most significant impacts of the project was how it streamlined the hardware environments at
field centers, enabled by the switch to a central pool of computing power. The change in architecture is
projected to save millions of dollars in hardware and related startup costs at branches. The project also
connected the branches in real time to headquarters (and by extension to other centers), tremendously
increasing visibility and data-sharing potential.
SUCCESS
Advance America has already capitalized on better data sharing by setting up new cost-saving processes,
such as cross-matching phone numbers with customer records to screen out potential bad debts. As a result,
they are reaping measurable returns from this program. “We anticipate significant additional costs savings
through the visibility provided across our customer base,” said CIO Toothman. “Simply having the ability
to check a phone number will significantly reduce our bad loan write-offs.”
Also exceptional was how the project improved support to income-generating branch offices, where downtime
can translate into lost revenue. Because of centralized grid management, support queries have been cut
significantly, and downtime has been virtually eliminated. As Nathan Wiggins, QA Director, observed,
“Centralization of the application enabled by grid technology has allowed our QA team to provide a rapid
response to branch level issues with certainty that we can fix problems the first time.”
Advance America’s project was not the first deployment of grid technology-an approach to computing that
has been around since the 1990s, when companies began exploring the idea of tapping a pool of processing
power from interconnected computers. But this project demonstrates an original application of the concept
in a unique market, and solid proof of its cost effectiveness and business potential.
The ASM technology contributes to greater productivity by simplifying and automating database file
balancing and provisioning tasks. According to Database Administration Director Sanjay Bamba, “We’ve
been impressed by the performance benefits and the self management capabilities that ASM provides. We’ve
been able to add disks onto a running system in less than five minutes, which is phenomenal.”
The project demonstrated how grid technology, together with hardware and software consolidation, yielded
dramatic cost and productivity increases. Yet the project’s ultimate value could lie in how the grid adapts
to support the latest business initiatives.
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Continued
FEATURED CASE STUDY
One such initiative that is already paying dividends is the use of the infrastructure to carry VoIP
communications. As a result of that technology, Advance America has converted nearly half of its centers
to VoIP, saving more than 50% in telecom costs.
The unified platform also better positions the company, a founding member of the Community Financial
Services Association, to meet its commitment to responsible lending practices within every community it
operates. New laws and regulations can be swiftly incorporated into the national network, and clear audit
trails are more easily compiled within the single global database and applications environment.
Finally, as mentioned, companies are more likely to partner with Advance America knowing that its
integrated platform will help ensure compliance with both the myriad state regulations governing financial
services companies and also federal legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
QUOTES FROM PARTICIPANTS
FEATURED CASE STUDY
on board early, to gain momentum before the launch and ensure a smooth implementation. They also stress
the importance of thorough integration testing on patches and installation routines.
The IT team emphasized the value of being open to experimentation and learning during the design and
implementation phases, because complex projects and technologies rarely work perfectly out of the box.
Along those lines, another key to success is securing ready access to knowledgeable personnel from the
vendor’s support team.
Fortunately, Advance America received solid executive sponsorship and support for this major infrastructure
project. A consensus for change emerged early in the planning process, including input from every line
of business. A company-wide commitment to fully fund the grid investment followed. At the heart of
the discussions with executive management was a desire for creating redundancy in all aspects of the
infrastructure supporting the center’s operating environment. The cost of downtime would be enormous
and the impact on customers would be unacceptable. Database clustering was a perfect solution allowing
Advance America to translate this concept into a real, tangible asset to the company.
“We anticipate significant costs savings through the visibility provided across our customer base. Simply
having the ability to check a phone number will significantly reduce our bad loan write-offs.” -David
Toothman, Chief Information Officer
“We wanted to make sure that IT wasn’t the reason for a slow down in our company’s growth plan. Oracle
10g grid technology provided that solution.”-Sanjay Bamba, Database Administration Director
“Centralization of the application enabled by grid technology has allowed our QA team to provide a rapid
response to branch level issues with the certainty that we can fix problems the first time.”-Nathan Wiggins,
QA Director
“In the distributed environment, our support team was hard-pressed to support branch needs, especially on
our heaviest traffic days. The Oracle grid solution has allowed us to support all branches seamlessly, and
resolve problems immediately at the source.”-Chad Wiley, Director, Technical Services
Advance America launched the Oracle-based grid solution in March 2005, following six months of preparation
that spanned architecture review, training and test environment setup, final stress testing, data importing
and go-live. The new platform was embraced early on by nearly all users of the company’s core business
applications in some 2,600 centers, and by other managers and executives who rely on reports and
performance data generated by the new eAdvantagae platform. From a strictly cost-benefit perspective, the
company is expected to achieve payback on the investment in 2.5 years, according to a consulting study.
DIFFICULTY
The company faced a number of obstacles building the new system. Most of these were to be expected,
given the size and scope of the project, and the relative newness of grid technology. Specifically, the IT
team was challenged to accurately analyze load and capacity as it built the new system. And team resources
were severely stretched during the critical transition period, when they began introducing the new system
but still supported the old one. Advance America suggests making a complete transition as quickly and
seamlessly as possible.
The company found that it was necessary to hire a new mix of IT skills, realizing quickly that the job of
managing a centralized platform called for a somewhat different set of competencies, particularly regarding
database administrators and system administrators. The company recommends getting these new skill sets
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THE 2007 AWARD RECIPIENTS
In April of 2007, thirty three CIO-level distinguished judges on ten
panels — one panel for each of 10 industry categories — completed
their review of the case studies submitted by the Computerworld
Honors Program’s Laureates for the Class of 2007. Based on this
review, they named 50 Finalists as guests of honor at ceremonies at the
Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2007.
At these ceremonies, the Computerworld Honors Program is proud
to announce that following 10 Finalists are recipients of the program’s
top honor to organizations: The Computerworld Honors Program’s
21st Century Achievement Award.
BUSINESS & RELATED SERVICES
HEALTHCARE
QlikTech International
The Danish National
eHealth Portal
for Business Software that Saves Lives
Nominated by Morgan Stanley
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EDUCATION
for Sundhed.dk
Nominated by IBM
MANUFACTURING
g]cÁ`SSfÔ\RW\UW\b]\Se[O`YSba]`W\bSUÒbW\UT]Ù`]ebVW\S fWabW\U]\Sa
for DAU Datamart
Nominated by Informatica
Varian Medical Systems
C\WagaA]ZcbW]\aT]ÀSQc`S0caW\Saa=^SÒbW]\a^`]dWRSaPSbbS`Q]\b`]Z]Tg]c` ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY
& AGRICULTURE
for A Revolution in Cancer Care:
Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy
Nominated by Borland
BP
MEDIA, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
for Hurricane Management System
Nominated by Microsoft
The J. Paul Getty Trust
PcaW\Saa^S`T]`[O\QSO\Rg]c`Qcab][S`Sf^S`WS\QS>S`TSQbT]`c\ZSOaVW\U
g]c`TcZZPcaW\Saa^]bS\bWOZC\ZSO`\W\UWaXcabbVSPSUW \\W\U
for Web-Based Global Art Resources:
The Getty Vocabularies
Nominated by Unisys
FINANCE, INSURANCE & REAL ESTATE
Advance America
for Advance America Grows with Oracle
Enterprise Grid
Nominated by Oracle
NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
for Transferring Medical Knowledge from
Those Who Have It to Those Who Need
It Using Technology
Nominated by Polycom
GOVERNMENT
Department of the InteriorNavajo Nation
TRANSPORTATION
for Internet to the Hogan
Nominated by Cisco
Trans Link Systems
for Trans Link Systems smart card
(OV-chipkaart)
Nominated by Accenture
ASQc`S0caW\Saa=^SÒbW]\a W[OUW\SWbR]\S
%C\Waga1]`^]ÒbW]\C\WagaWaO`SUWabS`SRbÒRS[O`Y]TC\Waga1]`^]ÒbW]\
78
THE 2007 FINALISTS
In April of 2007, thirty three CIO-level distinguished judges on ten panels —
one panel for each of 10 industry categories — completed their review of the
case studies submitted by the Computerworld Honors Program’s Laureates
for the Class of 2007. Based on this review, they named these 50 Finalists as
guests of honor at ceremonies at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in
Washington, DC, on June 4, 2007.
Immigration Department
Hong Kong
Advance America
for Control Point System
for Advance America Grows with Oracle
Enterprise Grid
Nominated by IBM
Nominated by Oracle
Social Security Administration
Alliance & Leicester plc
for Electronic Disability (eDib)
for Prevention of Internet Banking Fraud and
Identity Theft With Adaptive Authentication
Web Security Solution
Nominated by Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Nominated by EMC
Brazil Ministry of Health
for kopal - Co-operative Development of al
Long-Term Digital Information Archive
Philadelphia Stock Exchange
for National STD and AIDS Program
for Alfresco Enterprise Content Management
Nominated by IBM
Biopassword
University of Connecticut and
General Electric
for Philadelphia Stock Exchange debuts state-ofthe-art equity cash trading network based on
lightning-fast Juniper routing infrastructure
Nominated by Sybase
Alfresco
for Meeting FFIEC Compliance with Strong
Authentication
Grant Thorton
for Securing and Managing the Highly
Mobile Workforce
QlikTech International
for Business Software that Saves Lives
for Nexus Infrastructure Consolidation and
Virtualization
East-West Gateway
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY &
AGRICULTURE
Nominated by EMC
for STARRS ... Improving Emergency
Response with Patient Tracking!
Primerica Financial Services
Nominated by IBM
for Palm Treo Smartphones
Possibility Forge
Nominated by Palm
for openEMR
Nominated by IBM
GOVERNMENT
Simbex
for Web Portal for National Dispatching Center
Department of the Interior
Navajo Nation
Nominated by Sybase
for Internet to the Hogan
for Head Impact Telemetry System
(HIT System)
Nominated by Cisco
Nominated by Sybase
Iowa State University
EDUCATION AND ACADEMIA
for Cracking the Corn Genome Code
European Court of Human Rights
Broward County Public Schools
Nominated by IBM
for The Human Rights Documents Project
for Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence
Met Office
Nominated by Hyperion
for Met Office helps COPD patients
Case Western Reserve University
for Cleveland 2.0
Midwest Independent System
Operator
Nominated by Cisco
for Sundhed.dk
Nominated by SAS
Bulgarian National Electric
Company
Nominated by Juniper Networks
Nominated by IBM
Nominated by Microsoft
for Laser TV
The Danish National
eHealth Portal
Praetorian Financial Group
for Hurricane Management System
Novalux
HEALTHCARE
for edgelab
BP
Nominated by Dell
Nominated by Open Text
Germany’s Labor
Agency(Bundesagentur fur Arbeit)
for Virtual Labor Market (VAM)
for Midwest Independent Transmission
System Operator Maintains 100 percent
Uptime Using a Joint Storage Solution from
Hitachi Data Systems and Sun
for DAU Datamart
Nominated by Informatica
Nominated by Hitachi
80
81
THE 2007 FINALISTS
AWARD RECIPIENTS, 1989 - 2006
MANUFACTURING
Delphi Corporation
Blue Planet Run Foundation
for Case for Change
for Peer Water Exchange - Using Web
Applications to Bring Water to the World
Nominated by Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
Ethicon Endo-Surgery
Nominated by Sapient
for Project CSI
Hema-Quebec
Nominated by Deloitte
for SIGRHQ
Gujarat Reclaim & Rubber
Products Limited
Nominated by SAP
for ERP for Economic, Environmental and
Social Sustainability
for Accenture and MedShare Create a New
Supply Chain
Nominated by Patni
United States Mint
for Migration to Administrative Resource Center
for Transferring Medical Knowledge from
Those Who Have It to Those Who Need It
Using Technology
MedShare
Nominated by Deloitte
Varian Medical Systems
for A Revolution in Cancer Care:
Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy
World Vision Canada
for Correspondence System
Nominated by Cincom
The following Computerworld Honors Program Laureates were first selected by the
Program’s thirty eight distinguished judges as Finalists, and then chosen for further
recognition as recipients of the Program’s 21st Century Achievement Award.
From 1990 until 2001, their case studies were archived by both the Computerworld
Honors Program and the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.,
a part of the Smithsonian Institution. Finalists selected for further recognition during
that first decade of the Honors program were designated as recipients of
Computerworld Smithsonian Awards.
With the new millennium, Laureates’ case studies become part of the broader, worldwide collection archived on the world wide web and also presented, in a variety of
formats, to archives, museums, universities and libraries in each of the more than 56
countries on six continents represented by the Program’s Laureates.
1997
2006
The Johns Hopkins Health System
& The Johns Hopkins Medicine Center for
Information Services
BellSouth Corporation
BellSouth Amber Alert Field Notification
The Johns Hopkins Electronic Patient Record
2005
United Parcel Service (UPS)
Acxiom Corporation
Customer Information Infrastructure
Networking into the Millennium
AmigoLatino
TRANSPORTATION
2004
1996
for AmigoLive
Bridge Mobile
Exostar
Custom Clothing Technology Corporation /
Levi Strauss & Co.
for Bridge ConciergeGo
Securing Military-Grade Collaboration Platform
Nominated by Sybase
2003
Personal Pair Program
The J. Paul Getty Trust
Jacksonville Aviation Authority
Wireless & Satellite Networks
1995
for Web-Based Global Art Resources:
Zamora Hot City
MCI Telecommunications
for Advanced Network Design
2002
networkMCI SmartPop
Nominated by Unisys
Nominated by IBM
Silent Runner, Inc.
1994
Silent Runner, Inc.
R.L. Polk
Mervyn’s, Inc.
2001
Retail Inventory Management Systems
for reFuel
Sendmail, Inc.
1993
Nominated by Capgemini
Internet Platform for e-Communications Applications
McKesson Drug Company
2000
Acumax
eBay
1992
The News Market
for Advanced Multi-media Search
Nominated by Autonomy
Ogilvy Worldwide
Star Alliance
for Brandwave
for Staralliance.com - An Online Experience
Designed to Meet Changing Traveler
Expectations
Nominated by Cisco
Warner Bros. Entertainment
Nominated by Sapient
for Creating a digital entertainment
environment - from end-to-end
Trans Link Systems
for Trans Link Systems smart card
(OV-chipkaart)
Online Auction
Kmart Corporation
1999
KIN II
Federal Express
1991
Internet Ship
Frito-Lay, Inc.
1998
Hand-held Computer Application
Amazon.com, Inc.
1990
Berkeley Systems
Amazon.com Website
outSPOKEN
82
83
1989
1993
1997
2001
Bell and Howell Company
Center for Applied Special Technology
The Peregrine Fund
Oatfield Estates
The Image Search Plus System
Gateway Programs
The Harpy Eagle Conservation Program
Elite Care Assisted Living Units
1992
1996
2000
Ohio’s Center of Science and Industry
Farmland Industries, Inc.
Proton World International, Belgium
2006
Mission to Mars
AgInfo Geographic Information System
Electronic Purse System
Columbia University School
of Nursing
1991
1995
Nurse Practitioner PDAs
The Lab School of Washington
Consortium for International Earth Science
Nationwide Building Society, United
Kingdom
EDUCATION & ACADEMIA
Multimodal Interactive Stories
Information Network (CIESIN)
2005
1990
CIESIN’s Gateway
Australian Government, Department of Defence
The JASON Foundation for Education
1994
Learning Management System
The JASON Project
The Nature Conservancy
2004
1989
The Natural Heritage Network
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
and Sapient
Orangeburg School District 5
1993
Teaching Students to Become Adept at Using the
School Systems’ Computers
Environmental Resources Information System
OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW)
2003
LON-CAPA Courseware System
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY
& AGRICULTURE
2002
2006
Michigan State University
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)
African Virtual University
USGBC Boosts Green Building with LEED Online
Certification Process
The African Virtual University
2001
2005
The Bridge School
Augmentative & Alternative Means of Communication
(AAC) & Assistive Technology (AT) Applications
Broward County Environmental Protection
Department, Florida
2000
Creation of a New Mobile Inspection
and Monitoring System
Montgomery County Public Schools
2004
The Early Childhood Technology Literacy
Wildlife Center of Virginia
1999
Online Teaching and Training Programs
MaMa Media, Inc.
MaMaMedia Internet-centered Products for
Young Children and Their Families
2003
1998
Earth Simulator Project
Earth Simulator Center
2002
JASON Foundation for Education
The JASON Project
Rhinowatch
1997
First-Ever Full Census of the White Rhino
2001
Susan Abdulezer
The Virtual Alphabet Book
Walker County Public Schools
1996
Eco-Connections Environmental Studies Program
2000
New York City Public School for the Deaf
Street Signs: A City Kids Guide to American
Sign Language
Department of Primary Industry & Fisheries,
Australia
1995
Weeds Mapping & Management System
University of California, Los Angeles
1999
The UCLA Science Challenge
National Weather Service
1994
Weather Interactive Processing Systems (AWIPS)
University of California, Los Angeles
1998
Rebuild Los Angeles
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Iris Recognition
1999
Mastercard
Secure Global Electronic Commerce
1998
Fannie Mae and Finet Holdings Corp.
Environmental Resources Information Network
Internet-Enabled Homeownership
1997
1992
Flagstar Bank, FSB
Wilderness Society
LIVE (Lenders Interactive Video Exchange)
Endangered Ecosystems Mapping Project
1996
1991
First National Bank (FNB) South Africa Limited
Research Alternatives, Inc.
Finger/Hand Print Recognition for Electronic Banking
Emergency Information System
1995
1990
New York Stock Exchange, Inc.
Environmental Systems Research Institute
Integrated Technology Plan
ARC/INFO
1994
1989
National Association of Securities Dealers
Sierra/Misco, Inc.
(NASD)
Distributed Association Member Support
Passaic River Basin Early Flood Warning System
1993
Johnson and Higgins
2006
J&H Info/Edge
Chicago Stock Exchange
1992
Grid Project
American Express Company
2005
Worldwide Credit Authorization Risk Management System
Sprint
1991
Industry Solutions
Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial
Telecommunication
2004
Depository Trust and Clearing Corp
SWIFT Telecommunication Network
RDC Rollout
1990
2003
Swiss Options and Financial Futures Exchange
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
SOFFEX
USA Patriot Act Compliance Solution
1989
2002
Fidelity Investments
Cigna HealthCare
FIX and FAST
Transformation
HDFC Bank Ltd
Unified Enterprise Management
Envirofacts Warehouse on the Internet
84
85
GOVERNMENT & NON-PROFIT
ORGANIZATIONS
2006
New York City Police Department
Crime Data Warehouse
2005
1998
2002
Los Angeles County Department of Public
Social Services
Genentech, Inc.
MaMaMedia Inc.
Final Purification Expansion
The MaMaMedia Peace Project
Automated Fingerprint Image Reporting & Match
System (AFIRM)
1997
2001
1992
Buckman Laboratories, Inc.
The Jim Henson Creature Shop
Knowledge Sharing
Henson Digital Performance Studio
1996
2000
Parametric Technology Corporation
Real Networks
Pro/ENGINEER Fully Associative, Feature-Based
Parametric Solid Modeling Technology
Internet Media Innovations
Bay Area Coalition for Employment of Persons with
Disabilities
1995
Starbrite Foundation
1990
Computing and the Boeing Design
1998
1994
P.S. 41, Brooklyn, NY
Georgia Institute of Technology
Aidmatrix
Global Relief Network
Centennial Olympic Games Proposal 1996
2004
1991
De Anza College
City of Cape Town
SAP ERP Implementation Program – Project Ukuntinga
2003
Network for Good
Ministry of Interior, Thailand
Network for Good
Integrated Population Demographics System
2003
1989
CyberSoft
BI Incorporated
VEDOP, the Electronic Tax Filing System in Turkey
Electronic Monitoring Devices
2002
Oklahoma State Department of Human
Services
Oklahoma e-CHILDCARE
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, 777 Division
1997
1993
Rock the Vote
United Technologies Corporation, Sikorsky Aircraft
The Missing Children Project
1996
1992
Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney
Feature Animation
Aeroquip Corporation
Quote Buildup
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
Raychem Advanter
2000
Enterprise Data Warehouse
Automated Manufacturing of Aluminum Adapters
2005
1990
Cambium Forstbetriebe
The Lubrizol Corporation
Log Tracking System
1999
Lucent Technologies
911 Database
Focus: HOPE
“Toy Story”
1995
America Online Technology
Network Communications and Systems Programming
1994
Industrial Light and Magic
AI System Generates and Distributes MSDS’s
2004
1989
Kirchner Corporation
University of Iowa Center for Simulation
and Design
Extended Distribution System with Mobile PDAs Offering
Both Off-line and Real-time Wireless Capabilities
1998
1-800-REGISTER
Computer Integrated Manufacturing Planning and Control
ResouceLink.org Web-based Tracking System
Electoral Operations
Kid Witness News
Integrated Business Applications
1991
Independent Electoral Commission, South Africa
Starbrite World
Convex Computer Corporation
2006
America’s Second Harvest
1999
University of Illinois, Chicago
MANUFACTURING
2001
1993
Special Effects and Computer Graphics in “Jurassic Park”
1993
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Multi-Media Interactive System
Optimization of Mechanical Systems
1992
2003
Center for Advanced Technologies
GE Silicones
1997
Global ERP Transformation
Massachusetts Department of Revenue
2002
Telefile & Imaging: Revolutionary Tax Processing
Agilent Technologies
1996
“One I.T.”
Mercy Ships
2001
Crew and Donor Management System
NTT DoCoMo, Japan
1995
i-mode Mobile Internet Service
Norwegian Police Data Processing Services
2000
Police Operations Support (POS) System
Danfoss Drives, Denmark
1994
Massachusetts Executive Office of
Environmental Affairs
Environmental Protection Integrated Computer System
(EPICS)
Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid Media Composer
2006
The MIT Media Laboratory
NZZ Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG
Synthetic Performers
Archive 1780
1991
2005
The Tenderloin Times
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Computers Produce Four-language Newspaper
Optimizing Digital Media
1990
2004
Personics Corporation
Apple Computer
MusicMaker
Fully Automated Document Factory
Reshaping the Global Music Industry Through the
Introduction of its iPod and iTunes Music Store
1989
1999
2003
Georg Lingenbrink GMBH & Co. (Libri),
Germany
E! Networks
Live Aid
Uplinger Enterprises
Digital Asset Information System (DAISY)
Books on Demand
86
87
MEDICINE
1993
1997
2001
2006
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
OnStar
ORview Perioperative System
1992
Center for the Analysis and Prediction of
Storms and The Pittsburgh Supercomputing
Center
2005
Integrated Surgical Systems, Inc.
Severe Storm Forecasting
Delta Air Lines
Northern Lights Health Region
ROBODOC Surgical Assistant™
1996
Delta Technology Customer Care System
Health Care ‘Anytime, Anywhere’
1991
1999
2004
The Joint Center for Radiation Therapy &
Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Center for Light Microscope Imaging &
Biotechnology
Imaging Technology
Commercial Use of LADGPS (Local Area Differential
Globe Positioning System)
Adaptive Current Tomography (ACT)
Duke University Health System
United Devices
2000
Continental Airlines
For Smallpox Research Grid Project
XKnife, The Stereotactic Radiosurgery Program
1995
2003
1990
Fox Chase Cancer Center
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Surgical
Planning Laboratory
Purdue University
Cooperative Human Linkage Center
Supercomputing Solves the Structure of a Virus
1994
3-D Surgical Planning Visualization
1989
Los Alamos National Laboratory
LC Technologies, Inc.
Parallel Ocean Program (POP)
1997
The Eyegaze Computer
1993
Hong Kong International Terminals Limited
2003
Lexicon Genetics Incorporated
1998
Science Applications International
Corporation
Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS)
Productivity Plus Program (3P)
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
The Integration of Gene-based Drug Discovery Projects
with Financial Processes
SCIENCE
Supercomputer Simulation of Enzyme DNA Interaction
1996
2002
2006
1992
General Motors Corporation
Bristol-Myers Squibb
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
SMART-IDEA Project
OnStar
Stanford Medical School
The Human Genome Project, The GenBank Computer
Resource
1995
1992
Forward-Looking Windshear Weather Radar System
Data Flow System of the European Southern Observatory
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
1994
2000
2004
University Supercomputing Centers
QUALCOMM Incorporated
The National Marrow Donor Program
Virginia Tech
1991
OmniTRACS
NeXT Computer, Inc.
1993
1999
Developing a 2,200 Processor Supercomputer Created
with a Cluster of 1,100 Apple Macintosh G5 computers
“Zilla” (Community Supercomputer)
Baystate Shippers, Inc.
Pfizer
2003
Clinical Trials Data Management
1998
Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid, or caBIG™
2001
2005
Medtronic
European Southern Observatory
Patient Management Network
Virtual Advisor
STAR® - Search Tracking & Registry
AlliedSignal, Inc.
COMMAND System
Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP)
TRANSPORTATION
1992
Atmospheric Research
2006
Federal Express Corporation
Maimonides Medical Center
2002
Integrated Health Care Delivery Solution
U.C. Berkeley
Zipcar
1997
Ramp Management Advisor System (RMAS)
Car Sharing
1991
SETI@home Project
2005
United Parcel Service
InterMountain Health Care
2001
OnStar
International Shipments Processing System (ISPS)
Quality Care Tracking Project
CERN, Switzerland
Advanced Automatic Crash Notification (AACN)
1990
United States Environmental Protection
Agency
Datawarehouse
2004
Federal Express Corporation
2000
COSMOS II Positive Tracking System
Supercomputer Simulations of the Human Lung
Hawkes Ocean Technologies (HOT)
California Department of Transportation,
District 4 Maintenance
1996
Deep Flight Project
Bay Area Incident Response System (BAIRS)
American Airlines
Texas Department of Health (TDH)Immunization Division
1999
Southwest Airlines
SABRE Reservation Service
CTI, Inc.
Supply Chain Optimization Project
ImmTrac: A Statewide Immunization Tracking System
Radioscope Delivery Systems
2003
1995
1998
American Express Corporate Travel Solutions
University of California, Berkeley’s Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Program
TravelBahn
Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emission from Nearby
Developed Intelligent Population (SERENDIP) Project
Travelocity.com
PharMark Corporation
RationalMed®
1994
Veterans Administration Medical Center
1989
2002
Travelocity.com
Functional Electrical Stimulation
88
89
THE 2007 PROGRAM JUDGES
Each of the Computerworld Honors Program’s ten award categories is judged by a separate
panel. All thirty three executive IT management-level judges are selected based on achievement
of high distinction in their relevant field. Panels include a wide range of executive IT management experience in diverse industries and include chief information officers, vice presidents of
information technology, deans of institutions of higher learning and industry journalists.
Yuri Aguiar
HEALTHCARE
David Dully
Senior Partner & Chief Technology Officer, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
Chief Technology Officer, Baptist Health
Tony Fuller
Frank Enfanto
Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Rent-A-Center
Vice President, Healthcare Serices Systems Delivery, Blue Cross Blue
Shield of Massachusetts
Enzo Micali
Sr. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, TNS Global
Rich Gius
Rick Peltz
Sr. Vice President, Enterprise IT, Cardinal Health
Dennis L’Heureux
Sr. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Marcus & Milichap
Chief Information Officer, Rockford Health System
EDUCATION
Dennis Anderson, Ph.D.
Bill Laberis
Vice President, Custom Content Strategy, Computerworld
Associate Dean, Pace University
MANUFACTURING
Jim Foote
Annette Digby
Dean of Education, CUNY Lehman
Vice President of Field Technology and Technical Services, ADP - Dealer
Services Division
Joanne Kossuth
Chief Information Officer, Franklin W Olin College of Engineering
Janice Malaszenko
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY & AGRICULTURE
Andres Carvallo
Former Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Xerox
Joe Puglisi
Chief Information Officer, Austin Energy
Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Emcor Group
Mark Showers
John Voeller
Chief Information Officer, Monsanto
Sr. Vice President, Chief Knowledge Officer & Chief Technology Officer,
Black & Veatch
Mike Twohig
Sr. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Clean Harbors
Environmental Services
Patrick Bennett
Jerry Bartlett
Executive Director, Business Applications, E! Entertainment Television
Wendell Fox
Chief Information Officer, TD Ameritrade
Sr. Vice President, IR NA Lodging Field Services, Marriott International
Tony Bishop
Julia King
Senior Vice President, Wachovia Bank
Executive Editor, Events and National Correspondent, Computerworld
Raymond Karrenbauer
Chief Technology Officer and Group Chief Architect,
ING Insurance Americas
Cora Carmody
Jerry McElhatton
Sr. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, SAIC
Nida Davis-Roemer
Chief Executive Officer, Virtual Resources
Chief Technology Officer, American Red Cross
GOVERNMENT
Ben Allegretti
André Mendes
Chief Information Officer, Special Olympics
Former Chief Information Officer, US Marine Corps Systems Command
TRANSPORTATION
Thornton May
Henry Holcombe
Vice President, Information Systems, Universal Service Adminstrative
Company
Futurist and Director, IT Leadership Academy
Maribeth Luftglass
Julia King
Chief Information Officer, Fairfax County Public School
Executive Editor, Events and National Correspondent, Computerworld
Earl Monsour
Patrick Wise
Director, Strategic Information Technology, Maricopa County
Community College District
Vice President, Advanced Technology, Landstar
Don Tennant
Vice President, Editor in Chief, Computerworld
Mike Theis
Chief, Cyber-Counterintelligence, National Reconnaissance Office
90
Business & Related Services
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
B U S I N E S S & R E L AT E D S E RV I C E S
ALFRESCO
Maidenhead, Berks, United Kingdom
Alfresco Enterprise Content
Management
Alfresco offers true Open Source Enterprise
Content Management (ECM) - Document
Management, Collaboration, Records
Management, Knowledge Management, Web
Content Management and Imaging.
Alfresco combines best-of-breed Open
Source technologies and modern standards in
order to help organizations dramatically lowers total cost of ownership through open
source distribution. Working in the user’s
native environment, Alfresco minimizes training and uses low cost, loosely coupled hardware to deploy rich ECM applications.
Alfresco provides a light-weight alternative to
Documentum and competitor to SharePoint.
The Alfresco system is implemented as a
service-oriented architecture that makes for
tighter and speedier integration with proprietary services. The Alfresco application offers
a rich set of content management functionality which is flexible and extensible and provides custom capability to embed business
logic and processes. Alfresco is platform
independent and can run the server and database on almost any platform.
How do you think Information Technology will
be different in 2010?
Storage and the network bandwidth to store
and access information will grow much faster
than computing causing an explosion in content
creation. This will make content management
one of the most important information technologies and new technologies will emerge to
automatically find, organize, and verify content.
Content and content management will be
delivered in two main forms - appliances and
on-line services. Extremely simple, purposebuilt physical appliances for household and
office use will capture and organize documents, photos, music and video. Software
appliances, configured as virtual machines for
specific tasks, will be downloaded from the
internet to generic hardware that will come in
sizes Small, Medium or Large.
On-line collaborative and content services will
extend from Web 2.0 to the community developing sites and user experience with open
source accelerating their rate of evolution.
Mash-up technology will replace web services
and will blur services as it blends internal and
external services. Services will start to spill
over into the physical world as shops and
delivery become more integrated into
requests from the internet.
A new revolution in user interface design is
just beginning as designers move from physical to soft design. Gesture control will make
its way into handheld and notepad devices.
User interfaces will move from 2D to 3D as
gamers influence work habits and we may
see the first holographic interfaces. Avatars
will replace dialogs as the request-response
metaphor and we may see practical voice
recognition and language understanding.
Ubiquitous internet access and improved form
factors will drive business computing from
PCs to mobile devices as Blackberry-size
devices capture more business activities.
Informality espoused by blogs and instant
messaging will lead to simpler forms of communication. Content will be consumed on
something probably closer to a Playstation
Portable and your very thin mobile phone.
What does being a part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program mean to you?
In my previous company, we had a clear, but
limited vision of who we could help with content management. However, with Alfresco we
want to open this to the rest of the world. We
hope to gain greater visibility to how information can help some of the most pressing
problems in corporations today. We also hope
to learn how sharing and retaining knowledge
level the playing field for companies outside
the Fortune 1000.
With this award we also hope to show the
power that open source can bring to everyone.
We want to show that you can have a successful product and still reduce costs. More
importantly, we hope to show that everyone
benefits from the process of sharing code,
sharing experience and helping each other in
developing systems that can benefit all. We
wish this to start a dialog between ourselves
and the larger community of Enterprise
Content Management market how we can all
benefit from further innovation and development through community participation.
ATOS ORIGIN
Arlington, TX, United States
Atos Origin Remains Ahead of the
Competition with Improved
Storage Management and
Replication Abilities
Atos Origin, a provider of integrated IT services and solutions to multinational organizations,
manages more than 289TB of client data on
systems from multiple vendors at just one of
its global data centers. It also traditionally
offered data migration services based on a
tape solution, however, some of its clients
needed higher-speed migration options with
little to no downtime. To help keep costs low,
they needed a storage management solution
that could enable systems administrators to
manage multiple heterogeneous spinning disk
platforms from one management tool.
By working with Lumenate Consulting and
Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), Atos Origin was
able to do high-speed replication between sites
that may be physically or geographically separated using Hitachi storage management tools. As
a result, Atos Origin is now able to continue to
provide a lower-speed, lower-cost solution, while
also addressing a wider range of client needs.
As companies struggle to align technology
with business goals, the biggest challenge
that IT managers will face is how to manage
94
their IT investments to create more business
value. As part of the management process,
they must align and adapt their IT systems to
meet current operational needs, reduce
maintenance and support costs, and establish the right infrastructure for future business demands. To achieve this, it is vital to
have the right tools and business processes
in place and to have a good vision of how
the business will need to operate in the
future. Harmonization plans will need to be
developed that set out a course for transforming enterprise operations to enable the
adaptivity and agility needed to address
future business needs.
Companies will face two broad challenges:
how to meet new business requirements with
aging, complex IT systems at optimal cost
and how to keep in step with regulatory
directives, international standards, security
requirements, technological developments,
and evolving business demands.
Organizations will need to prepare for the
future by enabling the operational adaptability
needed to manage ever-changing business
and regulatory requirements.
The trend toward Enterprise Architecture is
based on a set of capabilities, processes,
and tools that enables companies to systematically capture and analyze their current
IT assets. Using best practice methodologies, it allows them to determine the best IS
and IT infrastructures to address the enterprise’s strategic goals, to plan for transformation, and to manage investments for
durable savings and gains. Enterprise
Architecture includes vast Systems
Integration (SI) and Managed Operations
(MO) capabilities through the rationalization
and standardization of IS and IT systems,
resulting in sanitized enterprise architectures that are well structured and capable
of meeting future demands.
After the significant time and thought leadership invested in designing our new storage management architecture, we are
excited to present our success story to the
IT industry through the Computerworld
Honors Program. As a respected leader in
the IT Professional Services industry, we
hold a responsibility to share best practices
that enable improved operational efficiencies and the innovative approaches that are
necessary for solving the technology challenges facing organizations today. This
nomination is important to us because the
benefits of our experience are more powerful if shared; and through our innovation
and work with Hitachi, we are able to
improve our performance as a company
and simultaneously better serve our clients.
We are hopeful that by sharing our story,
we are able to provide insight and critical
knowledge that can be applied to solving
storage technology challenges facing the IT
community and enterprises today.
BIOPASSWORD
Issaquah, WA, United States
Meeting FFIEC Compliance with
Strong Authentication
Biopassword - www.biopassword.com for the
use of the computer keyboard as a biometric
to provide simple and inexpensive method for
multi-factor based authentication.
It is a great honor to be nominated for the
Computerworld Honors Program and a testament to BioPassword’s innovative technology
and ability to execute on behalf of customers
like PARDA.
BIT9
Cambridge, MA, United States
Morgan Stanley Whitelisting
Initiative
Nominated for supporting the method of
Whitelisting for protection of endpoint (users
and servers) computing.
There is a great deal of innovation happening
in IT right now -- trends such as desktop
applications transitioning to software as a
service (such as salesforce.com) will impact
IT tremendously. The influence of the the web
will continue to grow under this trend and
completely change the way IT does its job.
It’s a huge honor for Bit9 to be a part of this
program. Following on the heels of receiving
several major industry awards in 2006, this is
further market validation of our innovative
whitelisting approach that enterprises today
are finding so valuable.
BOEKHANDELS
GROEP NEDERLAND
(BGN)
Houten, Netherlands
Selexyz ‘SmartStores’
15,000-40,000 books per day. BGN has
embarked on a Progress-based automation
solution that integrates its business application
with a service-oriented architecture (SOA) and
implements item-level radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging to optimize its supply
chain and enhance the customer experience.
BGN has launched two new, fully -automated
‘Smart Stores’ that combine RFID tagging and
SOA to deliver a tightly integrated ‘warehouseto-customer’ supply chain.
Information Technology, as an internal department, supporting the core business process
will interface with the business more actively.
Standard services (i.e. networking and housing) will be outsourced to external parties. IT
as a part of the company have to compete
with the external market and prove their value
added service to users.
It is primary focus of this department to provide functionality which makes it possible to
create a competitive difference in their core
market. The strategically value of the use of
IT will grow and becomes vital to act more
flexible to the changes in the market.
A successful multi channel strategy is critical
for retailers to compete with e-tailers. The
integration and standardisation of internet
and kiosk technology will speed up the transactional processing of orders. If companies
are not able to handle the interaction with
their customers on a transactional base they
will loss market share.
RFID technology will be implemented
throughout the world and improve customer
service. Product data, added with information
about the exact location, will change the way
we are communicating and doing business
with our customers.
Information Technology becomes a commodity
and changes some business models. By 2010
privacy is not an issue anymore. People are
realising all the advantages and are able to
make a choice to be known and recognised
by one or more systems (virtual and physical).
It is a recognition for all the risks taken and
work done. It stimulates us to keep moving
forward and further develop our vision and
strategy. This award confirms we are on the
right track and for us it is an ultimate
acknowledgment to improve customer service
and the customer experience.
Bosch needed to satisfy a highly sensitive
customer, part of the Ministry of Defence, that
required instant access to maintenance
reports and rapid verification of maintenance
checks to maintain security system integrity
for about 150.000 components. To meet
these requirements, Bosch and Sigmax PDA
Solutions developed a custom mobile solution
to enable technicians to receive work orders,
including test plans, directly on their mobile
devices. This solution replaced the existing
slow, error-prone paper-based system. Test
specifications are now uniform and can all be
centrally updated directly to the central database from mobile devices. Technicians can
now easily track completed work, and barcode
scanning guarantees complete equipment
testing. The overall solution improves security
levels for sensitive customers, and enhances
customer service and satisfaction levels.
For the area of Field Service, we expect to
see more and more service technicians with a
robust PDA (or the future version thereof) in
their toolbox.
We believe that Information Technology in
2010 can further decrease the amount of
administrative tasks for service technicians,
guide them better during their assignments,
guarantee a continuous quality over all service
actions and personnel, and help to prevent
human errors. It will allow service technicians to
concentrate on their service and repair tasks.
Self-servicing equipment will continuously
diagnose itself, and communicate any possible or expected malfunctions to a central
service computer of the field service organization. When the problem is urgent, the diagnosis will wirelessly be communicated to the
PDA of the service technician on duty. Less
urgent problems will be scheduled in the next
planned assignment during day shifts.
When servicing the system, the self servicing
equipment will show the technician how to
solve the issues or which other tests to perform
to obtain further information, either on its own
screen or on the PDA’s screen. Test results are
again documented on the PDA, and automatically and wirelessly transmitted to the central
service computer. When the issues require further actions, the computer systems keep track
of their status so that all issues are solved within the timeframe agreed on in service contracts.
The service organization and its technicians
know how a system is built, which components they contain exactly. All service technicians will have the components they need on
stock when they arrive at an assignment.
Boekhandels Groep Nederland (BGN), a
Dutch retailer, has opened Selexyz, one of the
world’s first customer-focused, automated
retail stores which it calls a “SmartStore.” With
competition as close as a web browser, successful ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers must
exploit enabling technologies and embrace
processes that improve operations and enrich
the customer experience.
BOSCH SECURITY
PROJECTS
Mobile Work Order Solution
The ultimate result of this further automation
of field service will be that the customer and
its service organization know exactly which
systems are under service, and are absolutely
sure that crucial systems such as security
systems are up and running 24 hours a day.
BGN is the premiere book retailer in the
Netherlands with more than 40 stores, 730
employees and over 1 million visitors a year.
Its Selexyz stores carry between 25,000275,000 books, with the chain selling between
Bosch Security Projects is a leading supplier
of superior security systems to business and
government organizations. The company
develops, designs and installs professional
alarm systems.
We feel very honored to be nominated for
such a prestigious award. It provides a great
Enschede, Netherlands
95
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
opportunity to share our enthusiasm about
this state-of-the art project, and we are grateful for the possibility it provides for worldwide recognition of our project.
Participating in the Computerworld Honors
Program is also a good opportunity to look
back and appreciate what we have achieved
so far. It also created an opportunity to look
forward to the future and the plans we have
for the near and not-so-near future.
tem easily handled the company’s growth, from
18 to 33 offices in one year, including international locations. Their unique deployment makes
them one of only a handful of organizations that
can make every customer call appear as a local
call regardless of where the call originates,
which facilitates sales and client relations.
CORPORATE EXPRESS
Corporate Express, it means we are part of a
broader movement toward software tools and
implementation methodologies that can be
successfully applied to a wide range of applications and configured “out-of-the-box.” This
is particularly fulfilling at our company
because of the results we have witnessed:
improved business processes and controls,
built-in legal compliance, accurate and transparent financial reporting, and ultimately,
increased shareholder confidence.
Broomfield, CO, United States
BROCADE
COMMUNICATIONS
SYSTEMS
San Jose, CA, United States
Web Services Initiative
Like make companies, data-storage leader
Brocade foresaw compelling advantages in
the outsourced sales force automation model
offered by salesforce.com. But looking beyond
a basic salesforce.com solution, Brocade
seized the opportunity to implement a pioneering data services framework that dissolves
firewall boundaries and seamlessly integrates
and synchronizes Salesforce with Brocade’s
on-premises operational and analytic systems.
Based on a service-oriented enterprise data
integration platform, the company’s innovative
Web services initiative enriches basic customer, opportunity, and sales activity information in Salesforce with key product and financial data to provide sales representatives with
a comprehensive and timely information arsenal for their competitive advantage. In addition
to enabling an outsourced Software as a
Service model to function effortlessly within its
overall data infrastructure without regard for
firewalls, Brocade’s initiative ensures information and business consistency through master
data management and has resulted in a 10x
improvement in developer productivity for Web
services data integration.
CAREERBUILDER
Norcross, GA, United States
CareerBuilder Scales Up
Business with Higly Scalable
MPLS Network
CareerBuilder, which helps people find jobs
and organizations find employees, reinvented
its global telecommunications infrastructure in
2006 to create competitive advantages in
customer service and employee collaboration.
They’re saving more than a half million dollars
annually and have greatly improved capabilities to centrally manage their telecommunications services. Employees report feeling better connected with colleagues because they
can dial by extension to any office and share
multimedia applications.
CareerBuilder innovated by building a highly
scalable, multiprotocol label switching (MPLS)
network that pushes the envelope with timedivision multiplexing (TDM) technologies and
session initiation protocol (SIP). The new sys-
Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
Obligation
Corporate Express, one of the world’s largest
business-to-business suppliers of office and
computer products, needed to streamline
processes for preparing and documenting
financial controls for review by external auditors, while enabling it to comply with SarbanesOxley (SOX) regulations governing financial
disclosure requirements of public companies.
After exploring paper-based options, the company decided to implement an EMC
Documentum content management solution to
automate its paper-based record filing system
and to manage all SOX compliance documentation in one central repository. The SOX solution was configured and rolled out in just eight
weeks with minimal drain on the company’s IT
resources. With this system, Corporate Express
has significantly reduced the time and expense
required to comply with SOX regulations. It has
also provided greater control and visibility in
identifying and correcting weaknesses in financial controls. The new system has increased
productivity and saved hundreds of hours for
administrative staff and auditors.
During the next few years, software companies will support a growing trend of making
their tools more configurable for non-technical users. As a result, companies will be less
dependent on IT resources for successful
deployment of solutions. This will be particularly true in the content management arena
with so many companies automating business
processes using these applications.
The industry also will see more software
applications that provide seamless capabilities
to auto-categorize and auto-delete unstructured content based on legally compliant data
retention rules. These tools will be tightly
integrated with common user interfaces.
Similarly, document imaging and data capture
technologies will continue to evolve, with
reduced dependence on manual indexing or
IT configuration. This will result in greatly
increased business process automation,
which will in turn drive business process management tools to be more user friendly with
less dependence on extensive training.
It is very exciting to be a part of the
Computerworld Honors Program and to be
recognized as an organization with a visionary
application of information technology. For
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CTSPACE
San Francisco, CA, United States
CTSpace and NNE Help Combat
the Diabetes Pandemic and
Smallpox Bioterrorism Threat
Our high value collaboration workspaces
enable the secure online exchange of messages, data, content and business processes
across enterprise boundaries. Multiple organizations store programs and project information for archive and analysis. State of the art
business intelligence and search capabilities
provide ability to search and aggregate information across limitless documents and transactions. NNE, an engineering and construction services subsidiary of Novo Nordisk A/S,
selected CTSpace as an enabling technology
for the design-build of pharmaceutical facilities that produce life saving drugs and vaccines in record time.
Licensing software is becoming emblematic
of a bygone era [1970’s to the 1990’s].
Increasingly more software vendors have chosen to deliver their product as a service.
Someday soon, organizations will view big
bang software implementations as odd as
writing your own payroll or general ledger
program in 2007.
Computerworld is the gold standard of the technical trade press. It is a high honor to be included among such distinguished organizations.
across the United States-many of whom
require access to data 24 hours a day-it is
essential that the Data Guard Systems service be always available.
based initiatives spanned all areas of DUHS,
from the CIO’s office to management to the
IT architects, and direction was being provided by multiple IT vendors.
By implementing a virtualization solution from
Dell, Data Guard was able to reduce power
consumption to aid in their continued growth,
reduce utility costs by as much as
US$10,000 per month, paying back the cost
of the new infrastructure in less than a year,
increase administrative productivity through a
simplified infrastructure, and achieve a more
cost-effective approach to disaster recovery.
As a result of this Infrastructure
Transformation Roadmap, DUHS now has an
efficient framework from which to operate in
order to fill in the gaps across several dimensions of its business.
Maintaining the theme of our case study, we
expect virtualization and consolidation in enterprises to simply become more mainstream by
2010. The issue of power consumption in datacenters is an issue that cannot simply be
swept under the rug. Space considerations,
rising demand for power, and increasing costs
for natural resources will drive companies to
virtualization out of absolute necessity. The
issues surrounding power consumption will
drive IT for the next decade as companies
struggle to adapt. Quite possibly, a whole new
marketplace will emerge for companies and
products that help manage and control excess
power consumption.
It is a great honor to participate in the prestigious Computerworld Honors Program.
Through the years, many great organizations
which have made many great technological
advances for the good of society and humanity
have been honored by this program. We are
truly humbled to stand among them. It is our
hope that through this program other organizations can learn from our approaches and hopefully apply them in their own way. Furthermore,
we are extremely pleased that from all of the
companies with which Dell works, Data Guard
Systems was selected and nominated by Dell.
We are honored by Dell’s support and would
like to thank them for their consideration.
DUKE MEDICINE
Durham, NC, United States
DATA GUARD
SYSTEMS
Cambridge, MA, United States
Consolidation through
Virtualization
Data Guard Systems addresses the challenges facing cellular retail store owners
through a comprehensive fully-hosted, webbased ERP platform, which offers cellular
retailers everything they need to manage cell
phone sales, including account activation,
commissions, inventory management, and
customer relationship management. And
because Data Guard Systems hosts the solution, retail stores have no IT worries at all.
With a customer base of over 3,000 retailers
IT Infrastructure Transformation Roadmap to Success
The transformation to On Demand Business
can sometimes be overwhelming at first
glance. An infrastructure Transformation
Roadmap, was created to help Duke
University Health System (DUHS) to consolidate and align its IT projects and infrastructure. Using the Roadmap helped the client
see how it could apply its technology to
address its business issues and priorities.
During 2005, DUHS, whose healthcare network offers a continuum of health services,
including patient care, education, and clinical
research, was struggling with managing a
broad array of largely disconnected IT-related
projects. These various projects and silo-
Technology in healthcare will be transformed
over the next three years with a patient centric
focus. Paramount to this transformation will
be IT Infrastructure. The ultimate focus will be
to chart the course for a World Standard
Command Center which will include: (1) single
operator interface; (2) minimum intervention;
(3) business process event correlation; (4) no
single points of failure; (5) comprehensive
automation deployment; and (6) maximum
ROI. Duke Medicine has set the blueprint for
transforming IT infrastructure.
It is an honor to be recognized for the innovative roadmap that has been set for Duke
Medicine IT Infrastructure. The award will
highlight the need to invest in IT solutions
that can really make a difference in achieving
the mission of Duke Medicine. Additionally,
the Honors Program promotes pride, goodwill
and stimulus to the entire Duke Health
Technology Solutions staff.
E-REWARDS
Dallas, TX, United States
Hardware Upgrade Scalability
Validation
e-Rewards was preparing for a hardware
upgrade to improve Website performance and
availability for approximately 2.9M Web users.
Because downtime is disruptive to business,
e-Rewards needed to validate that the new
system configuration - running on Oracle 10g
R2 databases - would scale to increasing
load levels prior to production deployment. ERewards found that Quest’s Benchmark
Factory (BMF) allowed them to streamline
the performance and scalability testing
process that would’ve otherwise been done
using scripts - a manual and error-prone
process.
Using BMF, e-Rewards first took a baseline
concurrent session benchmark of their old
configuration by simulating users hitting the
database. Then they used BMF to test the
new configuration’s concurrent session limits.
e-Rewards was able to determine that the
new configuration would be able to scale to
3,000 concurrent sessions, a 2000%
improvement over the old system. BMF validated that e-Reward’s new system would
scale with company growth.
97
By the year 2010, there will be tighter integration between wireless and mobile technologies. Fewer companies will dominate the
landscape and to remain competitive they will
need to eliminate language and geographical
barriers. Technology providers will have to
build solutions to support this increasingly
global presence.
The e-Rewards’ technology team is excited to
be nominated and we appreciate your consideration for this prestigious award. Listed
below are a few thoughts on what this program means to us:
• External validation of our accomplishments
• Recognition of the effectiveness of our
architecture and project management
methodology
• Knowledge sharing and collaboration of
effort within the technology community
• Deeper appreciation of what we have gone
through to implement this project
FUTURE TECH
ENTERPRISES INC.
Holbrook, NY, United States
Insource America
Future Tech Enterprises was instrumental in
designing and deploying the IT infrastructure
to support Insource America, which provides
Fortune 1000 companies with a competitive
“on-shore” alternative to delegating IT Help
Desk and Call Center functions. The program,
launched in 2004 and located in New York,
hosts a fully-staffed, centralized command
center delivering 24x7x365 secure monitoring
and support of an organization’s complete IT
infrastructure. In addition, Insource America
sponsors an innovative Help Desk training
program, offering individuals receiving public
assistance and students enrolled in cooperative/vocational programs, the life changing
opportunity to achieve industry-recognized
certification as a Level One Help Desk
Technician. Through partnerships with leading
technology vendors, state employment agencies and local universities, Insource America’s
intense eight-month training program empowers graduates with the tools essential to a
career in IT as well as the real-world experience needed to successfully meet today’s
business demands. To learn more about
Insource America, visit
www.insourceamerica.net.
IT as we know will continue to advance the
way we live our lives and conduct business in
2010 and beyond.
Like those before us who struggled to fix the
date on the VCR, we will contune to rely on
technical support to help us with the appliances and efficiencies of the future.
Companies will continue to develop, test, and
integrate the technology that plays a key role
in improving the effectiveness and efficien-
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
cies of the business world. While Many of
today’s technology trends will change and
evolve over time, the strategic corporate component will still remain the same.
The Computerworld Honors Program represents innovation in technology for the
advancement of humanity. Future Tech is a
national corporation with a local commitment.
We work to improve the quality of life in the
communities where we live and work across
the United States and throughout the world.
We develop and support organizations, programs and initiatives that enrich the lives and
well-being of others -- in education and technology. We recognize that together, with
technology, our achievements are extraordinary and without limits.
GE CONSUMER AND
INDUSTRIAL
GECI’s Complete Mobility
Solution
GE Consumer & Industrial’s (GECI)
Appliances Division manufactures, sells and
services home appliances. GE Consumer
Home Services within GECI repairs appliances in residences, apartment complexes,
hotels, motels and retail stores across the
U.S. GECI sought to streamline the delivery
of field service to increase productivity and
reduce costs, while improving customer satisfaction. With aging service equipment in the
field and a large and dispersed service team
requiring time-intensive management, its
service costs were continuing to rise. GECI’s
goal was to maintain its service side and, in
short, replace its outdated systems with a
wireless system that significantly reduced
overhead and increased customer service. A
team of technology providers worked together to create GECI’s Complete Mobility
Solution. This custom solution was deployed
in 2005 across a nationwide fleet of more
than 1,200 service vehicles that respond to
more than 10,000 calls daily.
GMARKET INC.
Seoul, Korea
Gmarket Boosts Online
Commerce Traffic with Hitachi
Data Systems’ Multi-site Disaster
Recovery Solution
As the most visited e-commerce Web site,
Gmarket needed to restructure its disaster
recovery configuration to reduce costly errors,
maintain system stability and support expanding operations. Gmarket needed a highly
available, performance-based infrastructure to
maintain a stable IT environment and power
high-volume transactions in real time.
Gmarket worked with Hitachi Data Systems
(HDS) and Hyosung Information Systems
(HIS) to design a multi-center approach for
managing disaster recovery. The companies
developed a “three data center” configuration
(3DC) and deployed a core technology of one
source, two targets. Unlike a two data center
disaster recovery system, which provides
backup from a primary site to the secondary
site, the 3DC model supports highly stable,
continuous backup of the same data from
both sites to ensure availability and integrity
of critical business operation. With HDS’
help, Gmarket built the ultimate disaster
recovery model in Korea and saved 30 percent in cabling costs.
There might be two kinds of innovation in IT.
First, epochal storage equipment will appear
through the innovation of storage medium.
Data processing and velocity of delivering will
be considerably improved with outstanding
storage equipment for a basis. Second, the
amount and the quality you deliver will be
extremely enhanced via the innovation of
transmission system. Data processing, storage, and delivering are the basics of IT and it
will be at the head in 2010.
It has been exciting to be a part of the
Computerworld Honors program this year. We
really believe in our storage manageing architecture and it has changed the way we do
business - and just as important, we are confident in our disaster recovery process. We
look forward to sharing our story with other
companies who have worked hard to develop
the most effective solution for their needs.
GRANT THORNTON
Oakbrook Terrace, IL, United States
Securing and Managing the
Highly Mobile Workforce
As the 5th largest accounting and tax business advisory organization in the U.S., Grant
Thornton LLP employs more than 6,000 highly mobile employees who offer personalized
services to businesses throughout the country.
Because of the mobility of the workforce,
Grant Thornton was faced with a challenge of
how to procure, deploy, manage, and secure
user laptops with consistent hardware, software, updates, and support.
Voice, data and video communications will no
longer be store and forward but Real Time.
Faster network speeds, broad wireless access
and more virtualization will drive organization
harder and farther down the path of more
highly powered mobile workers. Companies
who are not prepared to support this environment will suffer competitively. Less control
over mobile devices will drive up costs,
impacting organizational revenues.
98
Increased legal requirements and punishments
for client data loss will drive more litigation
awards for those who don’t proactively manage
mobile systems and the data they contain.
Increased need to distribute larger upgrades
to combat viruses, apply patches, update
research and work tools during engagements
will force companies to face these challenges.
Companies looking to control brick and mortar
costs will embrace more home based workers,
further increasing the need for improved
remote management and administration.
Control over enterprise content both in process
and historical will be driven by increasing litigation discovery requests, forcing enterprises to
begin to establish virtual collaborative environment for mobile workers as well.
We are very excited to be nominated as part of
this program. Although not related, in the past
three years, we have participated in the
Computerworld Top 100 Places to Work in IT and
have placed 26th, 18th, and 5th, respectively.
GSD&M
Austin, TX, United States
Server Virtualization in Idea City
GSD&M aims to keep up with the latest technology to ensure it remains a cutting-edge
advertising agency while continuing to grow
its business. By launching a server consolidation project using infrastructure virtualization
software, the agency has successfully solved
many of the complex challenges that plague
today’s data center, such as lowering cooling
and power costs, increasing overall hardware
utilization and shrinking the data center footprint. Moreover, GSD&M’s virtualization strategy has freed up valuable IT resources, letting
administrators focus on business-critical projects rather than managing routine tasks.
Information Technology will be more focused
on business processes and challenges than it
is today. The days of IT departments centered
on data centers and broken computers are
coming to an end. Our role as a unit of operations will diminish and will expand to be more
that of a business consultant and partner.
This shift will be demanded by business units
that are hoping to do more by utilizing the
power of technology and will be enabled by
tools and processes that make the daily management of IT systems much easier. Server
virtualization tools such as VMware ESX server and Microsoft Virtual Server will be ubiquitous and will be the standard rather than the
exception for server installations.
It is an honor to be part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program. Our IT
department strives to be among the best in
our industry and beyond in order to offer the
highest level of service to our employees and
clients. Being part of this program would be a
recognition of our passion and give us
renewed energy to continue our efforts.
THE HOME DEPOT
Enterprise Content Management
In 2002, The Home Depot’s need for centralized enterprise systems to deal with the organization’s fast-growing information needs led
to the creation of the Enterprise Content
Management Foundation (ECMF) project.
The vision of ECMF was to create a common
content management infrastructure that could
meet the diverse needs of its many knowledge workers, in-store personnel, suppliers,
customers and even hurricane victims. This
multi-year, multi-initiative project spans three
key areas: Web content management, collaboration, and custom content solutions in support of innovative implementations like selfservice checkout.
The Home Depot considered several point
solutions and stand-alone custom applications
before selecting EMC Documentum - an enterprise solution meeting all their ECMF infrastructure requirements. Using its Documentum
tools, the retailer has delivered enhanced customer service, significant operational savings
and more efficient communication across multiple internal organizations and partners.
Keeping technology and the business objectives closely aligned is more critical in retail
than in any other industry. Technology directly impacts the revenue stream and the customer experience in this highly competitive
arena. Retailers will increasingly rely on the
technology infrastructure to order supplies,
manage vendors, inventory and merchandising needs over the next three years.
The amount of information that organizations are maintaining online and in
archives is growing enormously from year
to year. Managing that data throughout its
entire lifecycle will continue to grow in
importance. Enterprise content management and lifecycle management tools will
gain in importance and add functionality to
handle explosive content growth that characterizes not just the retail segment, but
extends to all industries.
IT organizations are due to undergo fundamental change in systems and application
design. The need for them to be more
focused on collecting, aggregating and disseminating data across a complex contextual
environment cannot be met with tools that
don’t integrate traditional relational data
sources with content. Search engine architec-
tures embedded in transactional systems will
open up new ways of constructing interfaces
with data presented in the context of previously related content.
Being invited to be part of the
Computerworld Honors program is a tribute
to the hard work of many people who have
done a great deal of creative thinking to contribute to the success of the business at The
Home Depot. It’s not just the IT department
that has driven the innovative application of
technology at The Home Depot. IT may have
selected the technologies, but it is the users
who continue to find new and better ways to
apply the tools we’ve given them to manage
the information that drives the business and
take care of our customers.
Being part of the program also allows The
Home Depot to share this project’s challenges and successes with an audience
beyond the retail sector. Sharing the keys to
success of the ECMF project - deploying a
common, reusable framework and building
solutions on a solid infrastructure - can help
other enterprises realize the advantages of
being pragmatic in the application of technology to meet business objectives.
This program also gives The Home Depot the
opportunity to help its customers understand
how it’s continually looking for ways to serve
them better and make shopping at The Home
Depot faster, easier and more enjoyable
through technology.
INTELLIDYN
CORPORATION
Melville, NY, United States
Intellidyn Deploys Tiered Storage
Architecture to Significantly
Increase System Performance
Intellidyn specializes in optimizing target marketing, risk screening and multi-channel integration. They amassed the nation’s largest
“atomic level” repositories of demographic,
psychographic, transactional, and credit data
onto an integration platform providing a “360°
view” of nearly 200 million consumers each
with up to 1500 unique variables.
With five 500GB capacity master databases
input monthly, coupled with customized client
data warehouses, Intellidyn needed an agile
infrastructure to retain its competitive advantage.
The project addressed tiered storage and
backup implementation for Intellidyn’s highly
available clustered database servers. Intellidyn
achieved its goal, reducing cleansing, integrating, and statistically scoring its master
data-warehouse refresh time from 7 to 2
days. The backup/restore for its highly-available databases reduced from days to hours.
Reduced response time for customer production and analytical projects created a 300%
gain in application/system performance. This
deployment automated low-value activities,
freeing IT to address mission-critical projects
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and high-value activities maximizing
Intellidyn’s IT ROI.
Information Technology will become the heartbeat of the emerging material world with the
single greatest objective to improve the living
condition of people around the globe. The small
and mid-size companies will be the biggest
winners in this emerging IT scenario with higher
adoption and integration of new technologies.
Technological solutions which were obscured
and were available only to the Fortune 500 will
become standardized and will become available
as off-the-shelf solutions. This technological
evolution will make the Small and Mid-size
companies the champions of new job creation
and leaders in innovation in engineering, medicine, and science. The new world will be more
connected, which will foster creativity and collaboration of individuals across realms of cultural and national boundaries.
On the surface, it is a privilege to be part of
this grand event, being nominated against
technocrats, but it is also something much
deeper - of keeping our technology vision in
sync with the emerging trends, to creatively
deploy solutions which increase efficiency,
productivity, performance, and exceed customer satisfaction experience.
IRON MOUNTAIN
Boston, MA, United States
Iron Mountain Business
Intelligence System
With more than 90,000 customers throughout
the world, Iron Mountain, the global leader in
information protection and storage, identified
that it needed to better manage its clients on
a global basis. Iron Mountain was a classic
example of a company that had accumulated
a patchwork of acquired billing and accounting
systems. The company wanted to have a standard way for sales people to identify prospecting, cross-selling, and up-selling opportunities
as well as customers that could benefit from a
more global management strategy.
In mid-2005, Iron Mountain began looking for
a business intelligence solution that would be
easy to use, enable ad-hoc reporting by end
users, and integrate easily with Iron
Mountain’s existing sales force automation
system. Adopting a business intelligence solution from Business Objects has enabled Iron
Mountain to improve the productivity of its
workforce, generate new profits, and eliminate
costs of acquiring lead generation sources.
Iron Mountain is proud of its technology
accomplishments. Sharing what we have
learned and our success factors is in line with
our core values.
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LOGICAL
INFORMATION
MACHINES, INC. (LIM)
Chicago, IL, United States
Historis
Historis-a time series database when speed,
performance, reliability and quick analytical
capabilities are critical. This database was
first used on Wall Street to quickly analyze
stock prices to navigate a sea of never-ending data. Historis is now being used by the
two biggest manufactures in the world - GE
and Siemens - to help monitor nuclear power
plants. Traditional relational databases get
overwhelmed by the size and speed of data
and become clogged. Historis solves this.
Faster computers, way more data that will be
collected and needed to analyze.
Very big honor.
MANAGED OBJECTS
McLean, VA, United States
Aligning IT with the Business
Managed Objects provides paradigm changing technologies that greatly help businesses
of all sizes manage their IT services, environments, and changes. They offer a unique
object-oriented configuration hierarchy which
allows companies to quickly identify the root
cause and impact of infrastructure alerts and
outages. The application provides simplified
visualizations of complex dependencies and
topologies that can be customized for different target audiences ranging from systems
administrators to business users.
In the next three years, the world of
Information Technology will transform IT
organizations to be better aligned with the
business units they serve today. To enable
this transformation, IT has embarked upon a
number of process and technology initiatives
that work together to let IT focus on what
matters most to the business. Not surprisingly, todays’ business users care about the services IT provides, not the plumbing that goes
behind them -- services like order processing,
e-commerce, and online trading. By focusing
on the services, rather than on the components required to deliver them, IT elevates
itself to a more meaningful position in the
business food-chain.
No longer is IT just another cost center, but
rather, it has evolved into an important competitive differentiator - one that must be flexible enough to change and adapt as the business itself changes. Information technology
will be a key enabler in the future providing
more complex services, increased automation,
better visibility, increased effectiveness and
greater IT service quality - all at a lower overall cost to the business.
Managed Objects is honored to be considered
for the 2007 Computerworld Honors Program.
The key to our success lies in the satisfaction
of our customers and to be nominated by
Morgan Stanley, one of our flagship customers, demonstrates the commitment we
have to making sure our customers are happy.
MIGROS TURK TAS
(WWW.MIGROS.COM.TR)
Istanbul, Turkey
Migros Business Intelligence
Platform for the Enterprise and
Beyond
Migros has grown from 65 stores to over 800
in just over a decade, making it the largest
food retailer in Turkey. Its expansion was made
possible by using organized retailing, a barcode
system and a data warehouse from Teradata all Turkish firsts. These advancements provide
a way to analyze store performance and customer information, compare historical data, and
improve customer satisfaction.
Benefits include:
• Consolidation of sales, promotion and customer data
• 75 percent reduction in data processing time
• Launch of loyalty cards to 5.5 million people, representing 80 percent of sales and
delivering instant personalized greetings
and shopping lists
• 150,000 quarterly targeted, direct mailings
• Decreasing stock by 35 percent and
increasing shelf availability by 10 percent
• Providing strategic information to 1000
suppliers
With over 22 million transactions per month and
1000 daily queries and reports for corporate and
suppliers, all customer-focused activities and
business systems rely on the data warehouse.
The technology of storing data will be more centralized, however the knowledge will be more
distributed. Through the internet and wireless
technology, managers and other users in the
field will be able to access the information more
easily and rapidly by means of their portable
devices (PDAs, cell phones, etc.). The central
data warehouses will be more powerful and
data storage media will be capable of storing
greater amounts of data, allowing decision makers to quickly access larger quantities of deeper
data with added analytics. Data applications and
analytics are growing at an increasingly rapid
rate, and the requirements for understanding the
data is growing as well. Commenting on data
with sophisticated tools such as data mining,
predictive analysis and forecasting will be the
prevalent issues in the coming years.
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It is an honor to be part of the Computerworld
Honors Program. We would be very happy to
be recognized along with other companies
that are creating global best practices in information technology and are using technology
to change the way they do business.
NOVALUX
Sunnyvale, CA, United States
Laser TV: Laser Light Sources for
Displays
Developed the first laser light source that will
penetrate consumer displays (TVs and monitors) in mass volumes. The unique nature of
laser light allows for the most accurate display of colors possible: over 90% of the colors that the human eye can see -- for comparison, all other display technologies (plasma, LCD, CRT, etc.) only display 40%. The
good news is that displays made with lasers
will also be much more efficient (1/4 the
power consumption of a plasma, 1/2 that of
an LCD TV), lighter, brighter, cheaper, and
longer living.
1.) Much more reliable infrastruction (network
outages, dropped calls, better uptime).
2.) Faster infrastruction to accomodate everincreasing amounts of data.
3.) More complex systems (business systems,
MRP, etc.)
It’s a chance to help bring honor and recognition to the investors and workers that helped
make the first Laser TV happen. I truly believe
that the coming revolution in laser-based
lighting, which will first be seen in Laser TV,
will have an eventual impact on billions of
people. In particular, I would like to bring
honor to Novalux’s founder, Dr. Aram
Mooradian, who is a brilliant laser inventor.
PIEPER AND
ASSOCIATES
Torrance, CA, United States
Pieper and Associates Effectively
Addresses Storage Needs using
Hitachi Data Systems’ SAN Solution
For Pieper and Associates, a full-service advertising and design firm with a growing client roster
and an increasing workload, managing storage
without adequate IT resources was challenging.
Pieper managed nearly 2TB of storage and
added nearly 90GB of new data per week to an
already overloaded storage environment. Pieper
needed a comprehensive and affordable way to
address storage growth, business continuity and
reduce time spent solving storage issues.
Pieper chose an entry-level SAN solution from
Hitachi Data Systems and Qlogic. The new
architecture handles more than double the current storage need, with 4.5TB of storage and
15 Fibre Channel disk drives, each providing
350GB of space. Pieper now has faster and
more reliable access to its files, speeding turnaround time to clients. And data replication
and backup procedures are more efficient, so
Pieper can now monitor and manage the entire
network in a matter of minutes per day.
It’s a wonderful achievement to be included in
the 2007 Computerworld Honors Program.
From the perspective of a small to medium
business that has far fewer resources to lend
to IT development and design, it’s a great way
to showcase best practices. Not only is the
Honors Program a wonderful way to recognize the innovative IT architecture a variety of
companies have implemented, but overall they
are a great way to learn how others are
approaching what are usually universal technology challenges faced across industries.
Campbell, CA, United States
Secure, Global Collaboration Puts
Storage Startup on the Fast Track
to Success
Kevin Matthews was able to create secure
employee, customer and partner extranets for
improved communication world wide by
deploying secure networking infrastructure
from Juniper Networks
We’re extremly excited to part of this and
thank Juniper for thinking of us.
I believe that in 2010 successful IT service
and deliver organization will understand this.
Software will be simpler and services organizations will focus on strategy ahead of delivery. In addition, IT organizations will, having
become fed up with the status quo, will have
revolted against traditional IT and embraced a
future of simple technology for everyone.
At QlikTech we fundamentally believe that we
are set to change the world. We believe that
BI software has lost its way and become the
tool for “BI geeks” that shows no value to
organizations who invest in implementing it.
We have been tremendously honored to have
been nominated for the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program because it helps highlight
some of the unique and interesting things
that our customers do with our product. We
share a vision with you that software is more
than bottom line money. The mark of great
software is that it can solve problems across
a wide variety of places.
In addition, it is a great honor to have Morgan
Stanley nominate us. They are a fantastic
customer, but an early one. For them to see
great potential in us is quite heartening.
SATELLITE FORCES
INTERNATIONAL
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
QLIKTECH
INTERNATIONAL
Randor, PA, United States
ONSTOR
Great technology is easy for end users to
use. It needs to provide a wide array of capabilities but in a way that appears effortless. It
should anticipate the needs of the user. It
should only ask what is required. The bulk of
the work should be done by the software not
by the end user. It should provide value to
the end user quickly. Everyone should benefit
from technology, not just those who are willing to put up with learning it.
Business Software that Saves
Lives
QlikTech offers a disruptive data visualization
technology that can greatly change the
Business Intelligence landscape by offering in
memory data loading and manipulation.
Morgan Stanley currently gains value by being
able to quickly visualize and analyze data to
support our research, fixed income, and capital
markets businesses. Morgan Stanley envisions
many possibilities for further applications of the
product to help other business units quickly
identify financial performance trends and risks.
I believe that Information Technology will be
simpler. Not that it will be simplistic, but that
it should appear simple while hiding complexity from the user.
Project. This enables new standards of quality
for systems integration.
The future of Information Technology will be
one in which an increasingly diverse array of
applications and technologies will compete
for market share. As a result, consumers will
have a wide array of technology choice from
which to choose. As well, their knowledge is
constantly increasing, giving the average consumer much more power and independence.
The major change in Information Technology
will be one where communities and networks
will be seen as the most valued commodities.
This will replace the traditional view of a single dominant market leader or monopoly. In
addition, the production of free software
(Open Source) combined with a competitive
level of quality will change the course of the
global Information Technology business.
Necessarily, value that was traditionally held
by applications and products will instead
move to vendors that hold the greatest
knowledge on delivery of services.
The 2007 Computerworld Honors Program is
the first formal recognition from an outside
source of the work and efforts surrounding
Atlantis. The company, its supporters and customers will all benefit from this, and it can only
serve to accelerate the success of Atlantis.
In addition, being part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program puts Atlantis
among a group of peers which will help to
identify it as a significant technology achievement. Looking ahead, the company plans to
continue to make contributions to Open
Source and Academic Research. Much of this
research will serve and benefit the general
public as these projects come to fruition. Being
part of the 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program will help to focus attention on these
efforts and enhance their future success.
Atlantis
Satellite Forces is a new, innovative and growing organization initially drawn together by a
common goal: provide people with products
and services that deliver a large return on
investment. Satellite Forces is the maker of
Atlantis, SAGETEA Developer and
Methodology. Atlantis is capabable of capturing
and generating working applications in a week.
The company has a business network that
spans a variety of business areas including
database solutions, business process management, software development, hardware
applications, systems integration and training.
The Satellite Forces business network
includes companies such as IBM, Cincom and
The Business Process Management Group
(BPM Group). The BPM Group provides certified BPM training that ensures that Atlantis
customers are able to apply BPM principles
to the maximum effect, making the best use
of SAGETEA Developer.
Satellite Forces also contributes to Open
Source through its Atlantis Developers Kit
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TRADECARD
New York, NY, United States
Disaster Recovery Project
TradeCard, a provider of on-demand supply
chain automation services for synchronizing
global trade, needed a robust disaster recovery plan that would meet the needs of more
than 16,000 customers and 2,500 trading
partners across 40 countries. To contain
costs while delivering outstanding customer
service, the services provider introduced an
EMC continuous data protection (CDP) solution that enables near real time data replication to a secondary site using data compression to minimize bandwidth usage. Replication
of production site data stores continues in
the background during disaster recovery drills,
reducing the time to perform the tests by 70
percent and ensuring that there is no degradation in system availability or data integrity.
The solution automates data reconciliation
and backup and recovery processes, which
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minimized the learning curve and allows
TradeCard to achieve extremely high availability without the need to add staff.
UNIPART
VARONIS
WEBCOR BUILDERS
ZUMIEZ
Oxford, United Kingdom
Herzeliya, Tel Aviv, Israel
San Mateo, CA, United States
Everett, WA, United States
In the next three years, many more companies will be automating their transactions and
removing paper from their processes. With
even more financial data and sensitive information being transacted through hosted solutions such as ours, security and uptime will
become more critical to maintaining the flow
of global commerce.
Consolidation Project
The MoMA Data Governance
Initiative
Palm Treo Smartphones
Extreme Growth with Smart IT
Sourcing
Being recognized for our innovations in disaster recovery validates that our advanced business continuity solution is a reality and core
to our company’s strategic objectives. Today,
using proven and advanced technology, we
provide a securely hosted environment for our
customers even in a disaster. This nomination
brings credibility to the TradeCard infrastructure and to our company as being in the forefront of proactively managing our customers’
data and making sure that it remains secure.
Our nomination publicly acknowledges our
commitment to putting the kind of technology
in place that our customers need to stay in
business after a major catastrophe like 9/11
or the widespread power outages that New
York faced a few years ago. It demonstrates
that TradeCard has a proven solution - something that was tested and actually works.
TXT 4
Pyrmont, Australia
Make Poverty History
The Make Poverty History Campaign demonstrated how premium text messaging was
used to assist in a charitable cause.
Audiences at a live concert held in Melbourne
were encouraged to text a keyword to a short
code to purchase a white arm band. The concert was simultaneously broadcasted on television, radio and online across Australia which
meant a wider scale audience could participate in the initiative.
Proceeds from the arm band were put
towards existing poverty-alleviating programs
of member organizations of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY
The engaging and interactive manner in which
premium SMS was promoted in this campaign,
highlights that the mobile device can be used
to really make a difference in society.
Unipart runs its supply chain business applications across a large and disparate server
environment. As information volumes
increased, more and more pressure was
being put on Unipart’s IT resources which
were beginning to constrain Unipart’s ability
to deliver world-class customer service.
Unipart wanted to consolidate its server environment onto a high-performance information
infrastructure for improved information management and availability. A consultant
approach was taken in helping Unipart
achieve its business efficiencies and a future
scaleable strategy. This approach included
software, hardware and services to consolidate and virtualise their environment.
Further integration of voice/data via mobile and
faster internet, will blur boundaries with personal /work equipment leading to a massive information security & protection overhead.
Unipart’s commitment to innovative IT investments being recognized by fellow IT business
professionals
UNIVERSITY OF
PITTSBURGH
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
University Enterprise Backup
Service Provides Efficient Data
Storage and Recovery
The University of Pittsburgh recently
deployed a new Enterprise Backup solution
for over 500 UNIX, Linux, Novell, and
Windows servers. The system stores data
that was previously backed up to tape to disk
for significantly increased efficiency. This
new solution has enhanced the ability to provide daily off-site tape storage for disaster
recovery. Because all data is centrally stored,
the efficiency of data restoration has greatly
improved. The system not only stores data
previously backed up to tape, but also preserves all enterprise applications and databases utilized by University students, faculty,
and staff.
A strict schedule is being followed to accommodate the weekly backup of over 15 terabytes and growing. The Enterprise Backup
System is comprised of a 52 terabyte Flx380 storage array, a 10 LTO-3 tape drive
robot, and a V890 class Sun backup server.
The system architecture was designed to
scale to meet current and future backup
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The New York Museum of Modern Art controls authorization and data access throughout the Museum with Varonis DatAdvantage
THE CHALLENGE
To optimize the process of data authorization
and access management so that it is highly
proactive, affording granular control over the
revocation and auditing of data users’ rights
throughout MoMA.
THE SOLUTION
Varonis Systems is the foremost innovator
and solution provider for comprehensive data
governance. Data Governance (DG) is an
industry term that defines the people,
processes and permissions that are employed
in ensuring proper data use.
Varonis makes the infrastructure that actualizes data governance. The Varonis system
aggregates user, data and access event information from directories and filers in order to
determine current data usage and the permissions that should be applied to ensure authorized access. Specifically Varonis generates:
• the picture of user/data permissions as
defined
• groupings of users and data as linked by
business need and proper use
• data authorization recommendations and
the means to implement them
With more than $1.6 billion in open contracts,
over 30 job sites, and a large and mobile
workforce, Webcor Builders is a construction
industry powerhouse. To help stay ahead of
the competition, every manager at Webcor is
equipped with a Palm Treo smartphone powered by the Good Mobile Messaging system.
The combined solution provides employees
with real-time, wireless access to Webcor’s
computing and communications infrastructure, allowing employees to be more responsive and productive in the field or where-ever
their job takes them.
Communication technology is an important
way in which we maintain our competitive
edge within today’s information-driven world,
and it is a privilege to be recognized for the
investments we’ve made to enhance our business processes.
Competition and rapid growth spurred
Zumiez, a national retailer specializing in
action-sports clothing and accessories, to
reduce the time required to outfit its new
stores with technology and to replace aging
equipment to accommodate increased transactional data and a business continuity plan.
The company responded by inventing
processes that effectively allowed them to
create a customized IT Infrastructure on a
pallet, which enabled them to create efficiencies across distribution points to ultimately
enable their new stores to start generating
revenue more quickly. These efficiencies
included developing practices with a single
technology supplier to ensure accelerated
product shipments to Zumiez where Zumiez’s
IT team then adds customizations and installs
proprietary software before shipping the
whole pallet to a store.
Additionally, Zumiez is supporting its stores by
upgrading its corporate data center with the latest in blade server technology to improve data
exchange between stores and headquarters.
Currently management and protection of
unstructured data, the documents, spreadsheets and presentations we all use, falls
almost entirely with IT personnel. Their challenge is to apply rightful (least privilege) use
controls to enormous volumes of information
for which they are not the owners and do not
have business context.
Companies like Varonis are putting control of
this data where it belongs, with business owners not IT personnel. In as little as three years,
with the emergence of Data Governance (DG)
as a broadly recognized category, companies
will begin to embrace organization wide (DG)
initiatives that will vastly improve IT efficiency
and data protection.
The very nomination for such an award is an
extreme honor and a testament to the vision
and execution of an exceptional founding
team and development organization, not to
mention the foresight of the customers who
recognized the solution’s potential.
Customer and industry validation of our solution’s
benefits is the very thing that keeps us working
long hours to achieve. The Computerworld
Honors Program for Varonis, means the tangible
manifestation of customer satisfaction.
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Education
BLACKBOARD
Washington, DC, United States
Networked storage consolidation
Millions of teachers, students and administrators from K-12 to higher education use
Blackboard’s e-learning applications to extend
learning programs to remote areas, enabling
students to take advantage of anytime, anywhere access to education.
Blackboard ASP, the company’s hosting division, was run on a distributed environment
which required separate backup and recovery
for each server. The solution was complicated
to manage and prone to lengthy downtimes,
making it difficult for Blackboard to meet its
stringent service-level agreements (SLAs).
By consolidating its storage on the NetApp
platform, Blackboard was able to reduce the
complexity of its storage environment and
realized the following benefits:
• Reduced time spent on upgrades and rollback by 92 percent
• Reduced mean recovery time from as long
as two days to less than one hour
• Achieved SLA target off 99.7 percent availability
• Reduced annual storage costs
• Delivered much needed system scalability
and database growth
BROWARD COUNTY
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, United States
Data Warehouse and Business
Intelligence
Broward County Public Schools is the sixthlargest school district in the United States with
281 schools serving over 265,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, and over
41,000 adult education students. Broward
County Public Schools uses a data warehouse
that was originally designed with an IBM
Reinventing Education grant and Hyperion
Performance Suite to provide centralized,
easy-to-use views of student data for employees, parents and students throughout the district. Data and reports permeate nearly every
aspect of state reporting, monitoring, class
management, test score improvement, and
student counseling. The solution has dramatically changed the way Broward educates students and propels them to achieve as teachers, school administrators, and other district
personnel have the ability to understand the
potential of every student, tailor educational
pathways, and engage in more meaningful
dialogue with students and their families.
In the next few years, cost-effective data storage and processing will continue to proliferate
and along with that comes more data. We’ve
seen that when more data is made available,
consumers want even more. I believe that
wireless technology will come into even
greater use than it is today. It will be possible
to access information even more readily than
it is today. Because of this, data will be
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E D U C AT I O N
E D U C AT I O N
incorporated into every part of life. The field of
content management will become as important as the technology behind it.
Another area of change will be in the ease in
which data from many sources can be integrated into data warehouses. We’ve already
been doing a good job at that. The tools of
the future will make it even easier and therefore we’ll add even more data from more different sources to our warehouse.
The final area of change will be in usability.
Systems and Business Intelligence (BI) tools
are getting easier to use every year. Icons,
buttons, points and clicks-users expect that
level of simplicity in everything. The difference
will be in how much is being done behind the
scene. Ten years ago, clicks made selections
and opened documents. Today, documents or
reports will trigger data updates and calculations automatically. In three more years, more
will happen with fewer user commands.
Broward’s IT and district leadership have been
committed to the vision of better serving our
schools and community through the use of
information for more than a decade. Literally
hundreds of thousands of man-hours have
gone into the system as it stands today. We
get accolades from teachers, administrators,
parents and occasionally students. That isn’t
enough. We want to help others. We’re committed to help any other organization learn
from our successes and mistakes.
The Computerworld Honors program is a way for
more groups like ours to learn about a successful
solution and hopefully be inspired to try it in their
own education or non-profit setting. We have a
story that showcases what is possible. We want
others to see what can be done with data warehousing and BI to deliver accurate, timely information to K-12 decision makers, educators and
administers. Tomorrow’s future is in part dependent on today’s youth. Their learning, success,
career choices and belief in themselves is critical.
Perhaps now more than ever, America is a melting pot of cultures, languages and customers.
Broward is a district that demonstrates the positive outcome of serving those students by effectively using all the information we can. Although
“No Child Left Behind” is a set of National mandates and a rallying slogan, at Broward, we try to
make it a reality. Computerworld Honors can be
the catalyst to bring similar success to educational organizations across the United States, and
even around the world.
CALIFORNIA STATE
UNIVERSITY AT
LONG BEACH
Long Beach, CA, United States
Accessible Internet Site:
Inclusion and Customization
As part of its commitment to diversity, the campus administration has worked since 1949 to
maintain a vigorous equal opportunity program.
That program promotes full inclusion of every
member of the campus community, including
students, staff and faculty with disabilities, and
people experiencing age-related vision or hearing loss. The IT Dept, specifically Dr. Wayne
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Dick, who has had low vision since birth,
thought there must be a technology that could
help students and faculty who have visual,
mobility, and learning impairments have easier
access to Web-based information and applications. He found an IBM Research paper on the
web about accessibility and various technologies to accomodate people regardless of ability
or disability. IBM WebAdapt2Me software was
implemented campus-wide after a pilot, and
software is helping the CSULB community to
easily access the Web from home or from
school, study their online textbooks, and catch
up on news and information. That’s inclusion.
I believe the Model-View-Contorller model will
dominate software archeticture. The
WebAdapt2Me is an example of that trend for
web based information delivery. This problem
leaves the model and control intact and intercepts the view for special needs. I believe that
will be the key to interoperability.
I feel honored. Thank you for inviting me.
CASE WESTERN
RESERVE UNIVERSITY
Cleveland, OH, United States
Cleveland 2.0
Case Western Reserve’s role in the founding
and support of the award-winning
OneCleveland and the NEOhio regional community network OneCommunity are well documented. Case has been successful in reimagining and re-inventing the relationship
between universities and cities using technology to address community priorities. In 2006,
Case launched Cleveland 2.0 which engaged
the community to identify over 50 applications that would run on the infrastructure
(wireless, fiber) that connects 15 counties, 17
healthcare systems, 300+ public schools,
libraries, museums, and all HiEd institutions in
urban and rural communities. Key initiatives
includes wireless, mesh enabled public health
education (diabetes, heart diseases) with the
University medical school & hospitals, a virtual
charter school (second life) with the
Cleveland Schools for regional home schoolers, and a curated virtual Arts Space between
Case’s Department of Art and Art History and
MOCA. Cleveland 2.0 is reference architecture for higher education institutions and their
community partners globally.
In the next three years I believe that we will
have crossed the tipping point in the access
and availability of computing devices and connectivity to the Internet. Not only will more
than 80 percent of Americans have access to
the Internet, there is a significant probability
that one-to-one computing devices with networked access will be commonplace both in
the United States and abroad. While access
and computing gaps will undoubtedly exist,
the major difference in the IT environment will
be that new opportunities in the marketplace
will largely be defined in terms of applications
and solutions services. To the extent that
those offerings are framed in terms of what
broadly might be called customer needs, or as
we have termed, “community priorities,” we will
have entered a significant new era in IT.
Software as a service and application service
provider solutions will begin to move from
generic offerings to a portfolio likely to be
informed by verticals (priority areas) in which
new solutions will help education, non-profit,
health, and government service begin to deliver meaningful and ultimately transformative
experiences. The other important trend line
over the next three years will be the explosion
of self-directed activity on the Internet. Early
endeavors like YouTube and Facebook will
evolve and mature over time, but by 2010
more than 50 percent of Americans will likely
have a meaningful authoring or publishing
experience on the Internet using Web 2.0 collaborative services like blogs, wikis, second
life, and other social networking software.
an opportunity to document and archive the
accomplishments of our great research university and its commitment to Cleveland to support the process of reinvention and reinvigoration. The Honors Program further represents
not only a portfolio of innovation and accomplishment, but also a permanent record of
important contributions to the transformative
potential of technology in addressing community priorities. Case Western Reserve
University is honored to have secured the
ongoing support and nomination of John
Chambers and the entire Cisco Systems
organization reflecting the deep and broad
commitment to partnership.
THE COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING AT
VIRGINIA TECH
Blacksburg, VA, United States
Tablet PC-based Learning
Environment
To facilitate an active and creative learning
environment, in 2006 the College of
Engineering at Virginia Tech became the first
and largest public college of engineering to
require all 1,400 incoming freshmen to purchase Tablet PCs.
Today, both faculty and students use Tablet PCs
inside and outside the classroom. Instructors
use Tablet PCs to make their lectures more
interactive and encourage participation in the
classroom. The pen computing stylus and digital
ink functionality of the Tablet PC has also
proven invaluable in helping instructors introduce students to the countless diagrams, drawings and equations that are integral to engineering study. Students use Tablet PCs to collaborate, working on group sketches and sharing diagrams and notes with individual mark
ups. Tablet PCs have transformed classrooms
into active learning environments with
student/instructor interaction, student participation and student creativity all improving since its
introduction. Students are also getting industry
leading technology experience.
There will be more seamless integration of the
data to conform to a variety of hardware form
factors. Smaller continue to be the theme.
This will afford Virginia Tech the opportunity to
highlight the extraordinary work conducted by
faculty, staff and, administrators with transforming engineering pedagogy and wireless
technology to accommodate the teachers and
learners of today and the future.
DEFENSE
ACQUISITION
UNIVERSITY
Fort Belvoir, VA, United States
DAU Data Mart
Graduating 115,000 students annually, the
six-campus Defense Acquisition University
(DAU) is dedicated to the professional education of the Department of Defense’s global
Acquisition, Technology and Logistics workforce, both enlisted and civilian. Facing the
same challenges of higher education institutions worldwide-i.e.: optimizing use of funds,
maximizing educational results-the DAU has
launched an ambitious program to leverage
student, employee and finance data across
more than 40 disconnected sources to help
drive accountability and positive educational
outcomes. The program hinges on a university-wide data integration and visibility environment that fuses data from defense finance
accounting, budgeting, time-management,
payroll, professor-certification, and defense
training and resources systems-and presents
it on demand to administrators via easy-tounderstand dashboard views and reports (e.g.:
faculty reports on class success and professional development; management reports on
per class costs, and graduation/attrition rates).
Results: more closely managed operating
costs, more effective apportioning of funds,
I think IT will be different in that many of us
will be able to afford to use the latest technologies in the collaboration space. This
would include being able to work from anywhere on the globe without a tower nearby
and utilize handheld mobile devices to access
servers via VPN networks.
Being part of the 2007 ComputerWorld
Honors Program is a terrific privilege to showcase the hard work and outstanding collaboration being exercised within a government entity
to make sound data driven business decisions.
As a participant in the awards program, DAU
stands among the cutting edge technology
leaders and would be truly honored to win
this prestigious award.
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DEUTSCHE
NATIONALBIBLIOTHEK
Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
kopal - Co-operative Development
of al Long-Term Digital
Information Archive
Making digital documents available long-term
is one of the unsolved problems of our information society. With the increasing number of
electronic publications, it’s becoming critical
that we reliably archive them. In the course of
technological development, new digital file formats which are dependent on specific hardware and operating systems are continually
being developed. Thus, older data are often not
usable with current hardware and software.
This project is dedicated to find a solution to
this problem in forming a cooperatively developed and operated long-term archive. The
German National Library, the State and
University Library Goettingen, the Gesellschaft
fuer wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH
Goettingen, and IBM Deutschland GmbH are
working in close cooperation on a technological solution for long-term archiving that has as
its goal not only archiving of digital documents,
but more importantly preservation of digital
documents so that they will be accessible in
the future even if technology changes.
It is very difficult to predict any changes that
might occur in the IT field. Presumably, the
range of information products on offer will be
vastly larger than today. That means, a closer
networking of institutions and of IT services
will be needed and eventually been implemented. In the field of archiving, the co-operative efforts will prevail over the many singleissue and/or single-institution’s efforts. The
rising problem will be that of co-ordinating the
large projects and large-scale efforts in order
to evenly cover all needed areas but not to
neglect others while at the same time achieving a maximum effectivness in solving a higher number of small-scale issues that often
hinder joint efforts inner- & cross-country.
We were gladly surprised to be nominated for
the Computerworld Honors Program. We feel
that as a support for our project to be recognized by a broad community of memory organizations and IT institutions. The Computerworld
Honors Program exactly matches our proposition, i.e. to benefit society in the field of our
digital heritage. Therefore, we are pleased to
submit our kopal project to the program.
GLOBAL NOMADS
GROUP
Currents
Non-profit Global Nomads Group is dedicated
to fostering cross-cultural dialogue and understanding among youth. Using Polycom video
conferencing solutions, it moderates conferences between K-12 classes in different
countries, organizes virtual lectures, and conducts remote broadcasts from the world’s historical and cultural sites.
The GNG founders were a group of young,
ambitious and idealistic college students that
gravitated toward one another because of the
shared experience of traveling the globe at
relatively young ages. They saw the changing
state of the world, culturally, politically and
from a business perspective. Global markets
were expanding in unprecedented ways and
would require an international skill set for
competing effectively in the global workforce.
And with technology shrinking the world
seemingly every day, tolerance and respect for
all cultures was growing ever more important.
GNG has directly connected thousands of
youths in over 25 countries and hundreds of
thousands more through its web casts.
By 2010, I believe we will take for granted
technologies that until recently were not
mainstream enough to be considered commonplace. Video conferencing technology,
for example, will be so widespread by
2010 that it will begin to compete or
merge with “traditional” modes of communication such as mobile phones. As such
technologies gain widespread use, so will
costs of operating them decrease. We
have already seen drastic changes in this
direction since creating our organization in
1998, and expect that momentum to continue in the future.
Best of all, new Information Technologies will
provide social entrepreneurs with new
opporuntities to apply their passion for making the world a better place.
These are exciting times where we are seeing
incredible applications of Information
Technology for the good of society by social
entrepreneurs. I’m happy to see that such an
Honors Programs exists to honor and promote
the work of such entrepreneurs. It is both
inspiring and encouraging.
GWINNETT COUNTY
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Suwanee, GA, United States
Information Access
Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) is the
largest school district in GA with 100+ facilities and 152,000+ students. As one of the
largest businesses in the state, GCPS manages the state’s largest network of computers
supporting 70,000+ devices, 1300+ servers, a
mainframe and 800+ applications. Additionally,
GCPS is implementing an integrated ERP system, migrating to a new network operating system, upgrading from hub to switched networks
(fiber to schools), integrating data warehousing
and moving to portal technology.
GCPS pursues instructional excellence in academic knowledge and measures itself on
world-class standards. The district positions
itself to offer a fully integrated technology
solution by architecting and deploying technol-
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ogy infrastructure, providing technology skills
and solutions, and managing complex information needs. In this Age of Information,
Gwinnett County Public Schools drives toward
a strategic vision of providing users access to
the information, skills, and tools they need to
effectively perform anywhere, anytime.
By 2010, the growing demand for information
and access will likely impact the type of
instruction delivered to students, the types of
technology components utilized for teaching
and learning and the volume of information
transmission via technology. Some examples
include: increased bandwidth to support
streaming video, a shift toward individualized
computing and continued delivery of information anywhere, anytime. In 2010, we may see
learning capabilities continue to resonate
beyond the four walls of classroom while providing enhanced flexibility to meet the challenges of the digital divide.
Technology has changed the world and the
way we do business. Participating in the
2007 Computerworld Honors Program provides an opportunity to support current information technology initiatives as well as
acknowledge the positive impacts it has
made on businesses, organizations and communities. This program enables Gwinnett
County Public Schools to contribute to these
stories and share our experiences using
technology and the progress we have made
in the school district. We have enabled
access to information and will continue to
use information technology to deliver worldclass education at GCPS.
One of the major driving forces in technology
today is the integration of security into previously simple networking equipment. Switches,
routers, servers, and applications are now all
part of the evolving security ecosystem, with
many playing the roles of both victim and protector. As technology continues to evolve over
the next years, we expect to see core components of our network topology integrate many
of the security features and functionality for
which we currently deploy dedicated systems
(such as the IPS). Combined with effective
solutions for Network Access Control, we
expect to close, substantially, the window of
exposure to walk-in worms, physical tampering, and direct attacks.
We realize there are other school system networks with many difficult to control endpoints
or other enterprise networks that are similar to
ours. We would like to share the approach we
took to resolve some of the security problems
we had faced. We believe the solution we have
implemented provides us effective protection to
our network, applications and networked
resources. It was also the most cost effective
way for us to implement the major security system, optimizing the total cost of ownership. We
hope others can benefit from sharing our experience in implementing this project we strategically planned and implemented.
HESPERIA UNIFIED
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Hesperia, CA, United States
Mobile Information Project
HAWAII
DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION
Honolulu, HI, United States
Hawaii Safeguards Schools
Statewide Using Intrusion
Protection Prevention Systems
Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE)
needs to provide protection for its entire network consisting of many school networks that
are all connected to the HIDOE’s wide area
network (WAN). In 2004, an infected school
network flooded HIDOE entire infrastructure,
infecting schools throughout the state and
forcing HIDOE to send IT teams to travel to
each infected school to manually cleanse the
school network of the malicious software. As
the nation’s 10th largest school district with
300+ sites dispersed across the state’s seven
islands, HIDOE realized the need for upgrading its network security infrastructure that protects all school networks from each other and
from the perimeters of the HIDOE network.
HIDOE’s implementation of intrusion prevention system (IPS) to its WAN gateways of
each school and to its Internet gateway has
proven to provide effective protection to its
network infrastructure, applications and network performance.
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Hesperia had a complex set of needs.
Incorporating twenty two campuses and
22,000 students, the district needed to develop the most cost-efficient, mobile and secure
student information system in order to benefit
student safety and staff efficiency. The challenge was to find a Web-based, mobile data
system that student information could be
accessed from--but not stored upon should
one of the devices be lost or stolen. And to
create a system which is both secure and district/campus-wide. Hesperia realized that
using 802.11-based wireless Ethernet LAN,
low cost PDAs and a custom HTML interface
would provide a scalable system that delivered
only the most pertinent information about
pupils, and can be provided on an
anywhere/anytime basis. The IT staff wrote a
custom application/program, which creates a
student portal. Today, staff can roam throughout the campus, encounter pupils, log in to the
system for key identity and safety information.
Mobile information systems are a trend that
will continue far into the future. Technologies
just over the horizon, such as 802.11m, WiMax, and next generation cellular services will
greatly increase the likelihood of having a
portable “always on” connection. Wireless
mobility will be an expected part of handheld
devices, effectively killing off tethered synchronization technologies for many applica-
tions. As telecom giants like Verizon and
AT&T achieve increased market penetration
with mobile data services, end users will begin
to expect similar services from their enterprise
applications. The future is portable and the
connections are persistent.
The trend towards web services is already
well established. Increased capabilities on
handheld devices will create a revolution as
richer web interfaces are deployed on mobile
platforms. The clunky browsers available on
cell phones today will be supplanted by slick
interfaces delivering “Web 2.0” content.
Major web service providers, like Google and
Yahoo! will be the first to exploit this growing
market. One of the killer apps leading to
widespread corporate adoption will undoubtedly be mobile CRM. This technology will
eventually trickle down to the education market, however it will probably be spearheaded
by student information systems vendors
rather than individual districts.
We see the Computerworld Honors Program
having several benefits to our team and
school district. The program helps to recognize our development team and IT Staff for
their hard work and support of the students
and programs in the Hesperia USD. In addition, confirmation as a Program Laureate provides greater awareness to our School Board
and Administrative Cabinet of the innovative
ways our IT team provides support for the district’s core values and the district’s programs,
students, teachers and staff. We hope such
increased awareness will provide greater support and funds for completing this project as
well as new initiatives we’ll propose in the
coming months.
NETWORK FOR
INSTRUCTIONAL TV,
INC. (NITV)
Reston, VA, United States
PreSchoolFirst.com
PreschoolFirst is an on-line, observationbased assessment and curriculum tool that
Early Childhood educators can use to
observe the development of young children
from birth to age five. The basic framework
contains approximately 500 individual
behaviors to track across various skill
domains, which children should master
before entering school. The system has a
resource base of hundreds of creative curriculum ideas that are available as age
appropriate theme-based activities as well
as simple specific play behavior activities
ready to merge into an existing curriculum.
PreschoolFirst improves the effectiveness of
teachers, allows parents to become better
connected to the school, and allows administrators to observe and document the
important developmental milestones that
each child accomplishes.
Two trends taking hold today will have a major
impact on technology in 2010. Those trends
are: 1. wireless connectivity, especially wireless
broadband, and 2. collaborative applications.
We love to be “un-tethered” and yet connected. Cell phones and PDA’s have become
ubiquitous but bandwidth constrictions have
generally kept applications restricted to voice
and limited sized text files. The roll-out of
broadband speeds over a cellular wireless
platform will change the design, capabilities
and applications of portable devices available
to us in 2010.
The Internet is changing from an “ask and
receive a download of information” service to
a more collaborative “let’s join together and
create” community. Software applications for
wikis, blogs, and “My Space” communities
have grown because technology savvy users
are embracing collaboration.
Broadband wireless interaction, whether
between people or between users and appliances at a distance, will be a major part of
information technology in 2010.
Being nominated for the Honors Program is
very gratifying to us because it provides
recognition to a small non-profit that created a
product and service for an audience not typically spotlighted for an award, namely preschool children and the adults who teach
them. Placing NITV in the company of “men
and women, organizations and institutions that
are creating the global best practices in leading the world’s ongoing IT revolution” is especially meaningful to us. This tribute reinforces
the commitment of our board and the dedication of our staff to provide every child with the
foundation necessary to enter school prepared
to learn. NITV staunchly believes in the value
of education and the role of technology to
enhance and enable it. We are very grateful
that the members of the Chairman’s
Committee, through this acknowledgment of
our efforts, share that philosophy as well. We
thank you for this honor.
NORTH CAROLINA
STATE UNIVERSITY
Raleigh, NC, United States
Virtual Computing Laboratory (VCL)
Getting to the needed computing resources
may be a challenge for students who live
off campus or wish to work at night - particularly if they need specialized high-end
applications that can only run on the latest
university equipment. The visionary developers of the NC State College of Engineering
and the NC State Information Technology
Division knew there had to be a better way.
The answer lay in separating the software,
encapsulated into “images,” from the hardware. For that, NC State needed a technology partner that intimately understood on
demand computing. The objective was to
create a utility computing environment that
has ability to a) provide a wide range of IT
resources in a very scalable, secure, and
versatile way, b) significantly reduce IT
administrative and maintenance costs, as
well as end-user IT overhead, and c) provide
these resources seamlessly to even the
most remote areas of North Carolina.
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Wireless networking will become more stable
and pervasive than it is today. Use of virtualized resources will be commonplace and
cyberinfrastructure will become an even more
integral part of everyday life.
We are very pleased and honored to have
been nominated for this program, and are
looking forward to the 2007 CHP events.
ORANGE COUNTY
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Orlando, FL, United States
Project Passport/EFI
Florida’s Orange County has a robust economy
that puts growth pressure on its K-12 school
system, already the twelfth largest in the
nation, by adding 7,500 students annually to an
enrollment of 175,000 students. To help meet
the daily administrative needs of this growing
district, Orange County School District
launched Project Passport/EFI - an undertaking of massive scale - to upgrade the business
processes and technology that supports the
daily work of the system’s 1,700 ERP users.
By implementing more efficient hardware and
software at the same time, OCPS effectively
replaced customizations and workarounds that
greatly improved supportability, efficiency and
productivity that lead to significant bottom line
cost savings. But what is most notable about
Project Passport/EFI is the incredible change
management and executive leadership that
helped OSPS meet and/or exceed all goals of
the implementation while finishing ahead of
schedule and under budget.
The leaps and bounds of technology are
almost as hard to predict as they are to implement! The year 2010 may bring new methods
of interacting with technology to help those
with limited physical capabilities... it may bring
super-computing power that helps us solve
previously un-describable problems... it may
bring virtual communication techniques and
technologies that bring humans across vast
geographic areas even closer together. In any
case, no field can rival education for the promise of results if we apply that technology.
As we are fond of noting in the education field:
“If you can imagine it, you can do it”. So bring
on the innovation, we are here to put it to good
use in educating kids for this new century.
The Orange County Public Schools Passport/EFI
team members are grateful for the opportunity to
have their project recognized by the Computer
World Honors Program. We are also honored
that our business partners at SAP would recognize the district’s efforts to apply innovative software tools to the business processes of one of
the largest districts in the country.
This nomination also brings to light the quality
work that is being done every day by information technologists and business professionals in
the education arena. While the public sector
and K-12 education fields may not be as lucrative for us as professionals, it no less rewarding.
And while most of us will not have the direct
impact on student achievement of a teacher, we
all believe our work supports the educational
process and makes a difference for our future.
It also brings us honor to know that Orange
County citizens are realizing the value of their
education investment when they trust us to
deliver on complex initiatives like project
Passport and the follow-on Extended
Functionality Initiative program. To be recognized at a national level is truly an honor we
did not expect when we took on this challenge!
PENNSYLVANIA STATE
UNIVERSITY
University Park, PA, United States
Workflow Modernization
Supporting 16,000 employees and 80,000
students across 24 campuses, the 15-yearold, homegrown workflow system at
Pennsylvania State University was causing
serious data integration issues and crossdepartmental process inefficiencies.
PSU decided to replace its outdated workflow
system and standardize on one Business
Process Management solution; the first application to be deployed on its Service Oriented
Architecture. Deploying the solution on an
SOA would allow PSU to leverage its IBM
mainframe back-end while offering flexibility
to expose services through web-based applications and user interfaces.
Dubbed “Workflow” by the University, the
new BPM/SOA solution, designed and
implemented by Software AG, provides
improved access to the university’s business applications through a single user
interface. Role-based access and process
controls are integrated into Workflow to
simplify IT support for various approvals
within its hundreds of business processes.
Deployed in the fall of 2006, Workflow is
significantly reducing IT costs and improving process efficiency.
The trend towards automation of business
processes will continue as C-level executives in all markets realize the cost-savings
associated with it. Additionally, the benefits
of leveraging an SOA based platform that
provides extensibility for future solution
deployments is key to ensuring that organization’s aren’t locked into a vendor-centric
solution that might end up being a future
legacy system in 10 years.
To be a part of the ComputerWorld Honors
Program is an honor in itself because having
worked in this industry for a long time I know
there a lot of other higher education institutions
that have also implemented some amazing projects. Having made it this far in the selection
process means that our team and the project we
worked hard to implement stands out as an
innovative initiative among our peers in higher
education. What’s great is that it has been very
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successful and through the process we have all
grown tremendously adding to the value that we
provide to Penn State. We’re just excited to have
made it this far in the selection process because
it has given us a moral boost with the validation
for our hard work. Innovation is a never-ending
process but we’re pleased to have come this far.
RUSSIAN ECONOMIC
ACADEMY OF G.V.
PLEKHANOV
Moscow, Russian Federation
University education process control system
The Russian Economic Academy created an
innnovative solution to handle the
Academy’s criteria evaluation system. The
project provides a structural module for the
multiple criteria system used to evaluate the
qualty of the education system. This technology solution provides students at the
academy the opportunity to choose their
own academic path, by surveying the choices available to them, they can make
informed decisions about their future. The
system also allows faculty the flexibility to
focus on each individual student
rather
than bureaucratic procedures such as criteria evaluations. The Academy’s implementation of this system simplifies the processes
‘behind the scenes’ which is in-turn benefiting each student’s educational experience.
We believe that wide spread use of data warehousing and data mining technologies based
on Sybase IQ for education systems will significantly change the future of education management systems. This will positively result the
ability to efficiently estimate the future direction of the development of university education.
Service oriented architecture (SOA) applications
for interaction with distinct and foreign university’s branches like ones in Mongolia and
Uzbekistan and also with business partners. SOA
also will be used in organizing online students’
labs, meeting and so on with distant server.
Text mining and semantic web applications
will be used for education content creating
and for different educational program preparation for dynamically formed student groups.
We see this opportunity as a rewarding the
cooperation between Sybase and The
University which together solves three tasks:
• Implementation of the modern information
technology in the university’s education
process control and by such makes possible
for university to enter a world education space
• Involving students in taking part in real projects, studying and competence achievement advanced information technology
• Promoting advanced information technologies between tomorrow’s IT projects managers and users;
We have experienced much interest in our
system at various exhibitions. Therefore, we
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know that there is a large demand for similar
systems in other universities throughout
Russia. The ComputerWorld Honors Award
would be an opportunity to display the system
as a template to other universities who would
also benefit from this system.
SCOTT COUNTY
SCHOOLS
Huntsville, TN, United States
Scott County Goes Interactive - A
Distance Learning Initiative
Scott County Schools is a small school district in rural Tennessee, with less than
3,000 students. Like many small school
districts, Scott County lacked the
resources to hire and retain advanced level
teachers. Many required classes were held
at a single facility, forcing students to bus
between schools for classes required for
graduation. Most days students lost 45
minutes of instructional time. In June
2004, the county began to make improvements in its technology initiatives, developing a distance learning solution to streamline instructional resources. The results
have been dramatic. Students are saved
hours of bus travel and still receive a faceto-face educational experience.
Specialized teacher resources are now
widely available across the district in a
cost-effective and engaging manner.
Students actively participate in the video
classes, enjoying the technology as well as
the content. Scott County School District
has embraced distance learning, and looks
forward to expanding its capabilities.
In mathematics you learn about a topic
called the exponential growth function. I
have been working with technology since
placing the first two TRS 80 Radio Shack
computers at Scott High in 1979. In contrast, I had the privilege of helping install a
30 station networked lab at one of our
schools just two months ago. This brought
the number of computers in our small system to slightly over 1200. It has only
been in the last 10 years though that the
growth for us really took off.
I see the IT world exploding in similar fashion
over the next 3 years. Since I work in education, I prefer to talk about how IT will affect
schools. We already have to have data systems in place in order to receive state funding. Online courses are popping up all over
the place making it easier for students to
work in the virtual world instead of face to
face. Videoconferencing technology is
already in place to bring together resources
from all over the country.
I visualize the growth of high-speed broadband to include the majority of the nation and
at a small cost so that it will be affordable for
the masses. It may not happen in the next
three years, but the school concept from
home will not be far behind. Classes will be
more of facilitation versus presentation as
software companies will develop the curriculum you need to master any subject that is
required for promotion.
Thus, my prediction for IT over the next three
years might still be categorized as growing
pains, where the division of the “Haves” and
“Have Nots” is still prevalent. I am just trying
to make sure that Scott County does not fall
into the latter category.
itself distinguishes Sheridan College Institute
of Technology and Advanced Learning from
many other organizations. Being recognized
affirms that we are working on the right types
of projects for the benefit of many.
When I found out that Scott County had
been nominated for a ComputerWorld
Honors Program award, I must be frank in
admitting that I did not know much about
the awards program. After doing just a
small amount of research, I must also admit
feeling very intimidated. It was like going
from the senior play in high school to the
Academy Awards!
STANFORD
UNIVERSITY
Receiving an award from this prestigious
organization could be likened to taking home
one of those Oscars. I know it has been stated by many individuals and organizations, but it
really does feel wonderful just to be nominated.
I enjoy traveling around the state talking
about our successes in Scott County. I
spent the last several months trying to
help other systems similar to ours learn
about the USDA grant opportunities that
are out there. If we were to be fortunate
enough to be listed as a recipient of the
Computerworld Honors Program, it would
mean expanding our role to include a
much larger demographic. We would be
able to help other systems not only
throughout the state, but across the nation
learn that if it can happen to Scott County,
it can happen to anyone.
This notoriety would also generate more publicity as we seek to partner with other individuals and organizations that could benefit our
students. We are still a very small system
with a lot of needs.
SHERIDAN COLLEGE
INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY AND
ADVANCED
LEARNING
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Enhanced Communications &
Collaboration
To enhance enterprise communications and
collaboration using visual communication technologies. Also, to fascilitate the video integration of all educational institutions for the purpose of improved learning opportunities.
I think people will expect to be able to communicate with multiple forms of media while being
fully mobile. I think video streaming technologies will become the standard for personal
communications, entertainment and marketing.
It is an honor just to be nominated. That in
Stanford, CA, United States
Stanford School of Education
Provides Secure Access for
Faculty, Staff and Students
Dr. Paul Kim has been intramental in implamenting a secure and safe environment for
his faculty, staff and students at one of the
most well known universities in the world.
Because of Stanfords prominence its a constantant focus for malicous attacks. Dr.
Kim’s dedication and focus has allowed him
to build a bullet proof network leveraging
Juniper’s latest best in class network security appliances.
We are honored that Juniper Networks would
nominate us for such a prestigous award
ty and use alternatives. In this project, we
are working to develop and position optimal business utilization of technology several years out. So rather than “predicting
what technology will be in 2010” we are
analyzing “successful business strategies
for utilizing today’s emerging technologies
in the year 2010.”
The University of Connecticut is in the information dissemination business. The
University strives to share innovative
research findings and successful programmatic advances. The GE/UConn edgelab
partnership has benefited us all and its innovativeness and record of success suggest
that ir might serve as a new model of public/private partnering. Recognition from the
2007 Computerworld Honors Program provides an opportunity to spread the word
about the potential for private/public partnering at a new level. We appreciate this opportunity to share our ideas and our record of
partnering success.
UNIVERSITY OF
PITTSBURGH
Piitsburgh, PA, United States
UNIVERSITY OF
CONNECTICUT /
GENERAL ELECTRIC
Stamford, CT, United States
edgelab
Edgelab, a joint program of the University of
Connecticut (UConn) School of Business
and General Electric (GE), offers students an
incomparable research facility and an
unmatched learning and applied research
experience that transcends the standard curriculum. The benefits far exceed those of
more typical learning initiatives because lab
projects, initially submitted by GE business
units, are often subsequently implemented by
GE with tangible results. As an added advantage, faculty members sharpen their skills
and update their knowledge through exposure to real-world business projects. Each
semester, UConn MBA students are colocated at the edgelab with UConn faculty
and GE executives, working together on
challenging problems across areas such as
information technology, e-business, marketing, finance and new product development.
According to faculty member Tim Dowding,
this project influences GE, a corporation
referred to as a singular bellwether of the
American economy; this lab is “in turn influencing the American economy.”
Predicting the course of information technology is an extremely difficult endeavor.
What we are trying to do with our continuing edgelabEmergeNow project is to identify key emerging technologies and investigate their potential for business practicali-
111
Supporting University Applications
Through Enterprise Monitoring
The Network Operations Center Enterprise
Monitoring system was first implemented in
2003 to manage and monitor all University
network infrastructure and key supported
services. While the original focus was to
monitor network and server health and
availability, the NOC has added the capacity
to monitor mission critical applications.
Extensive knowledge of the end user experience of application response is crucial to
providing high quality service. With this in
mind, the NOC implemented a Windows
Application Monitor (WAM) that simulates
typical user interaction with several
University applications. The WAM measures
each click and result from the perspective
of user navigating through each application.
The NOC uses the WAM to respond to
unusual delays or outages as measured
against an application response benchmark.
This gives the NOC the ability to detect and
resolve application problems before users can
be affected. The overall health of the network
and University application servers
VIRGINIA
COMMONWEALTH
UNIVERSITY
Richmond, VA, United States
ePhones@VCU: Communications
Transformation
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is
implementing a state of the art communications platform that will provide a converged
LAUREATES 2007
E D U C AT I O N
and consolidated infrastructure at lower costs
to the University. More importantly, VCU is
building a secure, open architected platform
that will be leveraged to support innovative
collaboration and communications tools to its
constituents. Communication tools include:
Anytime, Anywhere Messaging Access for
voicemail and email, Extension to Cellular,
Computer based phones with video support,
On Demand conferencing, “Next Generation”
e911 port discovery, Instant messaging with
“Click to Talk” and “Click to Conference” feature sets. The build out of VCU’s communication system includes the integration of their
Contact Center, servicing both the hospital
and university, allowing for real time expansion
of the services - such as in times of disaster
or emergencies. VCU is being nominated
because of their innovative way to utilize technology to improve safety, productivity, collaboration, and learning.
Communications technologies have made significant advances in the past five years and
will continue through 2010. Wireless will
become even more pervasive and integrated.
We will begin to see less demand for wired
voice and data services in favor of cellular and
wireless broadband technologies. Users will
begin to consolidate their communications
choices. For example, most users will eliminate their landline phone and cable services
and focus on wireless and satellite communications. Worldwide standards will take hold
allowing interoperability between U.S.,
European and Asian carriers.
The year 2010 will begin the expansion of
biotechnologies including mainstream use of biometrics. Human-technology interaction will
change significantly. For example, authentication
processes will be simpler and more accurate.
Mechanisms for imputing and receiving information will move away from the keyboard and
screen to more natural and intuitive models, such
as speech recognition and artificial intelligence.
The development of biochips and neurotechnologies will also begin a rapid escalation for
use in health care research and services.
This will lead to major advances in the understanding of human health and development
and the treatment of diseases.
The nomination for the Computerworld
Honors Program came as a complete surprise
to the Technology Services staff at VCU. We
are honored to be a part of this program.
While our primary motivation has been to
improve our technology systems and services
within VCU to better support the University’s
missions of instruction, research, public service and health care, we hope that other organizations, particularly in higher education, can
learn from our experiences. Our strategy of
leveraging a straight-forward IT project into a
broad scale redesign and integration of communications and security infrastructures can
be easily adopted by other institutions.
Despite risk, complexity, scope and tight deadlines of this undertaking, VCU has shown that
it can be done successfully.
The award nomination is also a validation of
the innovative ideas, hard work and dedication on the part of our staff and partner vendors on the ePhones project. Staff in the
trenches are often so focused with the tasks
at hand that they do not realize or appreciate
the broader contributions that they are making. It is gratifying that our VCU staff and
vendors are getting recognition for their
efforts and ideas.
WEST CONTRA
COSTA UNIFIED
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Richmond, CA, United States
Enhancing Education Through
Technology
School districts across the country are tasked to
provide their students with the education they
need to prepare them for a demanding future.
For West Contra Costa United School District,
this challenge is made more difficult as the district is faced with high drop-out rates, a large
percentage of students who are not proficient in
English, and the need to bolster its below benchmark performance on California state tests. The
district needed a way to equip teachers with
tools to engage students to keep them interested in school, and connect with parents to involve
them in their children’s education.
Technology is used to as the ‘hook’ to lure
children into learning and to get the parental
involvement that is critical to the success of
the next generation. The project provides a
district-wide network providing increased
capacity and reliability for streaming video,
videoconferencing, messaging and remote
access, enabling all-new instructional
and doing the very best that we can for the
children of our District.
It represents a glimmer of hope for the
District. So often, the District in ‘in the news’
for the bad things going on; violence, gang
activity, etc. - but now, we’re recognized for
the good that we are doing.
We hope that our District’s story will inspire and
motive other urban districts to give technology a
chance. By giving technology a chance, it will be
giving the children a chance for a better tomorrow. By incorporating technology into the curriculum, the children are really engaged and excited
about learning. This is a program that works and
getting tremendous results, we are happy to say!
It feels right to share our learnings with other
School Districts and to provide hope, not hype on
a better education for inner city children.
This is a program that I personally believe in
and it feels great to see the enthusiasm of the
children and educators alike. The scores are
improving, the children are engaged and the
teachers are energized by the children desire
to learn. The technology has really enabled a
new model for learning and succeeding in the
West Contra Costa Unified School District.
On behalf of the entire District, I would like to
reiterate how delighted we are to be a part of
the Computerworld Honors Program. It is truly
a wonderful honor and we are flattered to have
our Enhancing Education Through Technology
program recognized. We are humbled to participate in such a prestigious awards program.
Thank you for the opportunity to tell our
amazing story!
In the year 2010, technology will have a significant impact on education. Schools are setting the
stage for an environment that can capitalize on all
the good that technology can offer. Educators will
be taught how to incorporate technology into the
traditional teaching methods - today that is not
the case. Technology will allow students to excel
and to increase the benchmark established by
the ‘No Child Left Behind” policy. Technology
engages children and as such, they do better in
school - thus raising the bar for future benchmarks…creating a positive cycle! This will help to
better prepare children for the 21st century.
Additionally, educators have the opportunity to
use technology as a vehicle to develop their
skills and effortlessly continue their professional development.
When building or expanding on to existing
schools, technology will be part of the upfront planning as compared with an ‘after
thought’ as it was in the past.
Being a part of the Computerworld Honors
Program is a tremendous honor for the West
Contra Costa Unified School District. It reaffirms that fact that we are on the right track
112
Environment, Energy and Agriculture
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
E N V I RO N M E N T, E N E RG Y & A G R I C U LT U R E
BP
Hurricane Management System
BP is one of the world’s largest energy companies, providing its customers with fuel for
transportation, energy for heat and light, retail
services and petrochemicals products for
everyday items. BP has transformed: growing
from a local oil company into a global energy
group; employing more than 96,000 people
and operating in more than 100 countries
worldwide. Its business is to find, produce,
and market the natural energy resources on
which the modern world depends. Hurricanes
Rita, Katrina and other natural disasters created an immediate need for BP to be able to
track weather patterns and track company
assets to maximize production, reduce costs
and increase the safety of its employees.
We envision using IT to enable a more integrated way of running our business. The traditional IT approach has been to provide point
solutions to specific problems. That’s resulted
in isolated databases and applications that
couldn’t readily be shared by groups of
employees-so employees sometimes lacked
meaningful access to the information they
needed. The integration of our data and solutions requires us to ensure we have the most
accurate and up to date data, and that we have
solutions that are readily accessible to all, without special training or client-side software.
Over the next few years, IT and Service
Oriented Architecture will increasingly allow
us to encode our ways of doing business into
our solutions. That’s especially important to
the energy industry, which anticipates that 40
percent of employees will retire over the next
10 years. As a new generation of employees
take their place, our new solutions will help
guide them to success.
When we started this development effort, we
just thought we were solving a specific business problem for BP. We didn’t realize we
were doing anything special, anything that
would have such broad impact. For Microsoft
to recognize our work in this way, by nominating us for the Computerworld Honors
Program, is deeply rewarding and humbling.
BULGARIAN
NATIONAL ELECTRIC
COMPANY
Sofia, Bulgaria
Web Portal for National
Dispatching Center
The development of a Web-site Portal for the
National Dispatching Center of the Bulgarian
National Electric Company is the first successfully completed enterprise solution of
that kind. The Web-site Portal provides both
real time overview and specialized technical
information for the electric power system network in Bulgaria to the general public. Users
may use various technical data via
internet/intranet connection - frequencies,
loads, generating power, inter-system
exchange, status of the local power energy
market, transferable capacity, legal documents and many additional informative issues.
The entire solution provides a set of advantages such as unified single point of entry and
easy information publishing, possibility for management and rights personalization, compatibility with the available information systems of the
Transmission System Operator - search, classification, security and accessibility. The high security level upon confidential information access is
assured through digital certificate authoring.
We expect full implementation of Web Based
technologies all over the Enterprise
Being part of the 2007 ComputerWorld
Honors program allows our organization to
prove the importance of the Bulgarian TSO to
all its international and national customers.
FLUOR HANFORD
Richland, WA, United States
Project Hanford
By any definition, Project Hanford is a massive
undertaking. It is the world’s largest environmental cleanup project. Managed by Fluor Hanford,
a subsidiary of Fluor Corporation, the project’s
goal is to restore and remediate Hanford’s
atomic legacy and bring economic diversification
and environmental health to the Columbia Basin.
A US Department of Energy site, Hanford covers more than 586 square miles.
With more than 3,500 Fluor Hanford employees on site along with numerous other subcontractors and government officials, managing content and ensuring regulatory compliance is a major undertaking. To make that
process significantly easier, Fluor Hanford
recently deployed what it is calling IDMS integrated document management system that
already contains more than 100,000 pages of
information. Now instead of driving paperwork
around the massive site, signatures on official
correspondence can be obtained electronically,
saving time and improving productivity.
Much more web service interface on end user
desktops, Enterprise Content Management
more wide spread use. More integration with
other products and more partnerships forming
to deliver more, faster, and cheaper to customers. Location will not be a barrier to
doing business anywhere.
114
It tells us as a company that we are using our
IT budget in an effective and innovative manner to help the company as a whole improve
business processes better, cheaper and faster,
which translates into more revenue and business opportunities for the company. It is an
honor to be recongnized in the IT world.
THE INTERNATIONAL
SMALL GROUP AND
TREE PLANTING
PROGRAM (TIST)
Tulsa, OK, United States
Palm Handhelds and
Smartphones
The International Small Group and Tree
Planting Program (TIST) empowers Small
Groups of subsistence farmers in Tanzania,
Kenya, Uganda and India to combat the devastating effects of local deforestation, poverty
and drought and also help reduce global
Greenhouse Gas emissions. Local TIST
Participants use Palms to capture the reforestation efforts of its 30,000 plus isolated
subsistence farmers located throughout those
4 countries. TIST relies on 50 Palm Zire 71
handhelds with GPS attachments and Treo
650s to record and audit millions of trees
planted across thousands of locations that
have no electricity, telephones and paved
roads. Accurate data and photographs
enable the subsistence farmer to create a
new “virtual” cash crop -- Greenhouse Gas
Credits and benefit from a new long-term
source of income. Palm handhelds were easy
for people to learn to enter and manage data
even without typing or computer experience.
Hardware will be smaller, faster and have
more features. There will be improved connectivity in developing countries and faster
connections in the developing countries.
Software will have more features and applications but will often become overly complex,
bloated and difficult to use.
It would mean that the enormously hard work
to bridge the isolated villages in the developing world with highly sophisticated internet
users and potential carbon buyers was recognized by people with a great technical knowledge. While we believe this internally, external affirmation would bring another layer of
credibility to the program that will help others
understand how difficult it was to combine
the hardware, software and people to get the
results we have achieved to date.
The award will also give TIST higher visibility
to those that want to make a difference in
the world. With almost half the world at
poverty level, millions of acres being deforested every year and the world threatened by
catastrophic climate change, TIST with its
ability to replicate may finally have the opportunity to expand to its full potential.
IOWA STATE
UNIVERSITY
Ames, IA, United States
Cracking the Corn Genome Code
Iowa State University researchers, in collaboration with other institutions, are using National
Science Foundation and internal funds to
sequence the corn genome which is considered the most complex sequencing project
attempted to date, due to its 30 million to 60
million small pieces. Results expected are
improved corn characteristics for use in industrial raw materials, higher energy content for
renewable fuel production, enhanced nutrient
composition for better food and feed, ability to
modify corn so it uses nitrogen more efficiently
and resists drought, and other unknown benefits of understanding the genomic value of
corn. This project can have an impact on world
hunger, which can promote world stability, and
decrease our requirement for foreign oil. Dr.
Srinivas Aluru will play a major role in assembling the DNA sequence data.
The following technological changes will likely
be in place by 2010:
1) Miniature devices that show convergence
of all voice/audio/video/communication/control needs. These devices will be interoperatble, can communicate with each other and
networked on the fly.
2) outsourcing of information technology
functions and storage such as google mail
and external data storage.
3) Proliferation of multicore technology leading to new developments in compilers, operating systems, and computational methods.
4) Crossing the petaflop barrier.
5) A parallel internet of internetworked sensors for military, commercial, safety and science applications.
It is an honor to be nominated for the program that catalogs information technology
innovations of significant impact to society.
MET OFFICE
Exeter, Devon, , United Kingdom
Met Office helps COPD patients
The Met Office are one of the world’s leading
providers of environmental and weather-related services. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease (CODP) is a medical condition that is
exacerbated by exposure to cold weather
conditions. The Met Office issues weekly
COPD forecasts in the United Kingdom
which indicate elevated risk when cold weather is expected, or when there are high levels
of respiratory infections in the community. In
an effort to improve communication of this
information to those for who it is most relevant, the Met Office has teamed-up with
Medixine, a Finnish telemedicine company to
provide an interactive automated telephone
service to contact people with CODP during
high-risk periods. When high-risk weather
conditions are forecast, the Met Office will
activate the system and the patient will
receive a phone call.
MIDWEST
INDEPENDENT
TRANSMISSION
SYSTEM OPERATOR
Carmel, IN, United States
Midwest Independent Transmission
System Operator Maintains 100
percent Uptime Using a Joint
Storage Solution from Hitachi Data
Systems and Sun
The Midwest Independent Transmission
System Operator (Midwest ISO) is the
nation’s first Regional Transmission
Organization (RTO) to receive approval by the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC). It is responsible for operating the
electric transmission system that delivers
power from generating plants to the load
serving entities that deliver power to residential and commercial customers. On average,
the Midwest ISO clears approximately $3-4
billion of wholesale energy trades per month.
Therefore, enhancing the reliability and maintaining operational excellence in a 24x7x365
data center environment is essential.
To meet increasingly stringent government
regulations, Midwest ISO chose to replace its
existing storage platform with a Hitachi Data
Systems (HDS)/Sun TagmaStore solution
with help from WiPro Technologies. The
HDS/Sun tiered storage solution allowed
Midwest ISO to deliver 100% uptime of mission-critical applications and enhance performance, availability and reliability to literally
“keep the lights on” in 15 Midwest states and
one Canadian province.
Technology advances in the next few years
will make computing in 2010 much more
mobile and integrated Multi-core processing, solid state disk and advances in battery technology will take Information
Technology to the next level. Security will
be managed mainly through advances in
biometric scanners. Overall computing
power combined with advances in voice
recognition technology will set the stage
for movement away from the keyboard and
mouse. The advances in multi-core pro-
115
cessing offer the possibility of smaller and
faster machines with the power of today’s
supercomputer. With changes in speed,
friendlier interfaces and extended battery
life, PC’s are likely to become a repository
of information covering every aspect of our
daily life. The computers of tomorrow
might include such uses as total home
control, smart refrigerators that track
inventory and automatically place orders
and energy conservation control. The 2010
computer will become more and more untethered by wires and electrical outlets
and could metamorphous into a key that
unlocks the safety deposit box of our lives.
The Midwest ISO is proud to submit its
application to the Computerworld Honors
Program. We take great pride in our
accomplishments and sharing them with
our peers and interested parties. As leader
in the Power Energy Sector, Midwest ISO
values this award as recognition of implementing leading edge technology in support of the high standards required for our
business operations. This award would also
recognize the excellent leadership of our
technical staff who selected, planned, and
implemented critical core technology without disruption, on time, and within budget
while improving system reliability, availability and performance.
MUSTANG
ENGINEERING
Houston, TX, United States
Mustang Engineering Corrals
WAN Costs with Juniper WAN
Acceleration Solutions
Mustang Engineering needed to provide engineers in remote offices with higher levels of
application availability and response time for
AutoCAD, InTools, Windows File Services and
Microsoft Exchange. Mustang also sought to
make more efficient use of available WAN
bandwidth and overcome latency on highbandwidth connections to maximize WAN
investment. Finally, Mustang IT support team
wanted to centrally manage the WAN while
improving visibility into the network.
We’ve never been nominated for something
like this before - we’re extremly honored.
LAUREATES 2007
NATIONAL
FEDERATION OF
COLOMBIAN COFFEE
GROWERS (JUAN
VALDEZ/CAFE DE
COLOMBIA)
Bogota, Colombia
Contact Center efficiency
With the call center solution, thousands of
coffee growers in the different rural towns in
Colombia can now call into the Federation’s
contact center to find out the day’s price (set
by the NYSE) for their coffee beans. This
helps the coffee growers to improve their
income by making better business decisions,
because they now know the exact price that
the Federation is paying in their little town, in
comparison to the price set by a local buyer.
The Federation provides public phones so the
coffee growers can access the system, and in
2006, the call center technology was also
used to poll coffee growing members on
Federation business. This communication
solution was able to help eliminate geographical barriers and, for the first time in its history, enable over 50,000 small farmers, far
away from urban centers, to vote for the candidates that represent them in the Federation.
As has been shown by the increased penetration of mobile phones in Africa, Asia and all
over the third world, we believe that we
should prepare ourselves for the use of
mobile technologies to help our cofffe growers achieve their needs.
The Federation believes that it is very important
to be a part of this Program, because we
believe we have a high degree of successes in
matters of access and use of technology to
sectors of the population that are not frequently
targeted. This example can be used by others
around the world. Hopefully, this will positively
influence the creation of models of technological access for the rural population in other
developing countries. There is a great story
behind the Juan Valdez brand, and this is one
of the most interesting chapters of that story.
In this sense, we are developing a strategy that
will incorporate the expanded use of wireless
connectivity in rural areas, so that we can provide additional services such as hedging, cost
benchmarking, extension services and traceability. Voice IP systems will also be crucial to
receive and manage coffee for sale offers. Elearning, which we are currently using, will also
be another tool that we will expand, with the
aim of consolidating,by 2010, a virtual community 100% connectivity, access, and use of
technological tools that make our services
available to all the coffee growers.
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Finance, Insurance & Real Estate
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
F I N A N C E , I N S U R A N C E & R E A L E S TAT E
ACCOR NORTH
AMERICA
ADVANCE AMERICA
Carrollton, TX, United States
Advance America Grows with
Oracle Enterprise Grid
Credit Card Protection
Hotel operator Accor North America needed to
protect its guests’ credit card information-a
responsible business practice and requirement
for compliance with Payment Card Industry
(PCI) standards. Because Accor North America
has several different systems that share credit
card information on a daily basis, the company
needed a solution to seamlessly encrypt data
both at the point of sale and centrally.
By deploying RSA enterprise-wide encryption
technology, Accor North America has been
able to automatically encrypt credit card information at every point where it is captured. As
a result, Accor North America is now better
equipped to protect consumers and its own
business from the exorbitant cost of fraud
and identity theft. In addition, RSA’s lifecycle
key management enables Accor North
America to set policies for key generation,
retirement, and replacement for all of its
properties from a centralized location, thus
ensuring ongoing protection of consumer
credit card information.
By 2010, we envision a largely wireless world
with virtually ubiquitous access to communications and information. Such a world, however, will present new challenges to information technology professionals responsible for
protecting information. The threat landscape
will expand dramatically with more and more
data stored on mobile devices. The challenge
for data security personnel will be to ensure
that private data stays private, and is not
removed from where it belongs.
The answer will be a balance between access
and security-to make sure people can get the
information they want, easily and efficiently, but
ensure that access is provided only to the individuals with the appropriate rights and privileges.
It is a great privilege to be a part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program. It is unusual that the individuals “behind the scenes”
gain recognition for the work they do, even
though that work has important value to consumers and businesses. So, to be recognized
by a group of peers for our contribution to
improve the trust and confidence of consumers staying at our hotels is very gratifying
and rewarding. We also feel it is important to
publicize the good work that companies like
Accor North America are doing as a model
for our industry and hope that it will inspire
other hotel operators to follow our example.
Spartanburg, SC, United States
Advance America is the largest provider of
payday cash advance services in the U.S.,
operating more than 2,600 retail centers in
37 states. In recent years, the company’s
fast growth started pushing the limits of the
company’s legacy client-server IT platform,
creating critical obstacles to growth and profitability. In response, Advance America invested in an Oracle grid computing solution that
links each center over the Web to a consolidated database and applications platform.
The investment yielded a range of benefits,
including sharply lower branch-startup costs,
streamlined IT support, and faster access to
business-performance data. Today, Advance
America is on track to realize nearly $3 million in benefits while unleashing revenue
potential by leveraging the platform to launch
innovative Web services. It also uses the
fault-tolerant grid to enhance regulatory compliance and boost overall investor confidence.
Looking back over the past 25 years, it is
interesting to see that the technologies used
by smaller businesses and larger business
are beginning to converge. The days of stand
alone computers operating in isolation from
the corporate central information system are
rapidly coming to an end. At the same time,
large mainframe systems with reliance on a
single hardware platform are also fading into
the past. What is replacing them is lowercost, highly scalable and highly reliable clusters of smaller computer systems. Access to
these systems requires nothing more than an
inexpensive appliance running a web browser
or remote desktop connection to a terminal
server cluster.
We already see the proliferation of smaller
devices providing convenient and reliable
access to data. Devices such as thin-client
notebooks, blackberry handhelds and the like
are supplementing traditional connectivity.
Certainly the next 25 years will bring even
more change with greater access to information while providing better security and control over that information.
In our view, the Computerworld Honors program is one of the most prestigious forums
for recognizing and sharing the very best
examples of information technology and its
creative and effective deployment in the real
world. The Advance America team is thrilled
to participate in this year’s program and we
look forward to sharing our innovations and
lessons with colleagues around the world.
ALLIANCE &
LEICESTER PLC
Leicester, United Kingdom
Prevention of Internet Banking
Fraud and Identity Theft With
Adaptive Authentication Web
Security Solution
In March 2006, Alliance & Leicester plc became
the first UK bank to implement an innovative
Adaptive Authentication for the Web security
solution from RSA, the Security Division of
EMC. Specifically designed for consumer banking, the system combines several countermeasures against online fraud and identity theft in a
single security solution. It enables customers to
log in to their online accounts in a simple and
secure way, protected from threats such as
phishing and pharming. Features include
ground-breaking two-factor user authentication,
unique site-to-user authentication, and background monitoring for proactive risk management. The new security is free and customers
are not required to purchase or carry a token or
a fingerprint scanner. Alliance & Leicester is the
first bank worldwide to roll out such a security
solution to its entire Internet banking base.
Improved user confidence has resulted in a 25
percent increase in online transactions.
Alliance & Leicester launched two major technology programs in 2006 - CORE (the
replacement of our core banking systems) and
Connect (Telecommunications Transformation
Program). The CORE program will replace
many of our older systems and business
processes with a proven, modern way of doing
business, with true ‘real-time’ banking. The
Connect program will put in place the most
appropriate telecommunications infrastructure
to support our unique direct model.
These two programs will eliminate many of
the constraints that today inhibit how we run
our business. They will improve our customers’ experience of dealing with us and
drive real value, helping to meet our goals of
having a low cost/income ratio by 2010,
increasing the speed and reducing the cost
of getting new products to market.
For our customers, the use of home computers,
particularly for Web shopping, will have become
even more widespread by 2010. Companies,
including financial institutions like our own, that
have not embraced new technology to actively
sell and service via the Web will clearly lose out.
Portable PC devices and WAP-enabled
mobile phones continue to become more
sophisticated, and by 2010 these devices are
likely to be in greater use and available at a
proportionately lower cost than today. Mobile
phones are likely to morph into fully multifunctional devices, with users beginning to
embrace them for online shopping much like
a home PC today.
In the home, PC manufacturer’s focus on the
low-end of the market is likely to continue, and
this coupled with developments in ‘information
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appliances’ -- such as Web-interactive televisions and kitchen appliances -- will drive still
broader use of the Internet. This will all feed
the desire of our customers for direct service.
Being nominated for Computerworld Honors
is very meaningful to Alliance & Leicester
because it acknowledges our commitment to
providing the broadest, most comprehensive
security solution possible for our online banking customers. It also represents recognition
that our technology innovations have potential
far beyond the benefits to our company to
affect others at a global level, as other online
providers emulate our market-leading security
solution to protect their own customers and
make their businesses more competitive.
AMERICAN MODERN
INSURANCE GROUP
Amelia, OH, United States
Enterprise Data Warehouse
American Modern Insurance has worked on
developing a data warehouse strategy that
has been born from the start of a data
model to a fully developed information warehouse, data marts, and executive dashboards accessed through a portal out to a
number of internal and exernal customers.
The buy-in from the business has been a
great industry example of bringing value to
the business, supported by a strong business case along the way.
In the year 2010, technology will continue to
play an instrumental role in shaping the business strategies of organizations. Technology
will become an integral part of the business
processes, resulting in technically savvy business users. Consequently, Information
Technology professionals must become more
business savvy in order to succeed.
Further, Information Technology will be different in two other areas:
Knowledge Management
With the ever-increasing data demands in the
insurance industry, the following initiatives will
play a bigger role for American Modern:
• Information Technology must work with the
business community to help them make the
paradigm shift from data gatherers to data
consumers.
• Metadata management will play a bigger
role within both the Information Technology
community and the business community.
Information Technology activities include
collecting and assimilating the technical
metadata that is necessary to optimize the
delivery mechanisms needed to address the
business needs.
• Content Management will be even more
critical to ensure that the organization has
access to the strategic information needed
to make timely business decisions.
Business Intelligence Tools
The capabilities of the information delivery
and business intelligence tools will continue
to play a bigger role at American Modern.
• Workflow will start to blend the lines
between operational day-to-day reporting to
more traditional analytical OLAP. Traditional
operational reporting will yield to more analytical responses. From an information
delivery perspective, a toggle from a report
to an OLAP feature is the vision.
• Pre-emptive alerts and prompts will also
play a bigger role.These business intelligence tools can provide system generated
alerts to the appropriate business area so
that appropriate action can be taken.
• Data Mining and information delivery tools
are converging. More in-depth multi-variate
analysis is envisioned to play a bigger role
in helping the actuarial, claims, and product
management departments better manage
the business.
icine and care for their patients with the
peace of mind that they have reliable coverage at the lowest possible cost. Doctors are
more free to be doctors and less burdened by
business obligations.
American Modern is very proud to be
nominated as part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program.
American Modern strongly believes that it
can achieve, and sustain, a strong competitive advantage through the strategic
deployment of technology. The implementation of a Knowledge Management
Architecture is a true success story for
our organization. It represents the realization of a vision American Modern had for
its data technology future.
To be part of a program that recognizes
the notable accomplishments of organizations in the Information Technology field is
a fitting way to say, “job well done” to the
team that worked so diligently, and
believed so strongly in this project.
However, the recognition extends beyond
personal validation of what we have
accomplished. It represents expert confirmation of how we are continuing to leverage technology to the benefit of key producers and business partners…validation
that has important business implications
for our company.
Being nominated was somewhat of a surprise, especially since we are such a small
company in comparison to some of the
past honorees. We definitely have worked
very hard on our data warehouse, business
intelligence initiative, and it has been very
successful project for our company. Being
a part of the 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program reinforces our plan on using technology to become a leader in providing
services in the Medical Malpractice
Insurance Industry. Our competitive advantage is really our people, and our people
need the right technology to provide the
highest level of service that our insureds
expect and deserve.
AMERICAN
PHYSICIANS
INSURANCE
Operational Business and
Competitive Intelligence Initiative
American Physicians Insurance (API) provides
doctors with affordable, quality insurance
enabling them to focus on patient care
instead of risk factors and tort reforms. API’s
IT system provides sophisticated insights into
myriad factors to determine the most appropriate coverage for each individual doctor.
This streamlines coverage - and unburdens
the healthcare system of unnecessary costs.
In short, API enables doctors to practice med-
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As the use of Business Intelligence, dash
boarding, and score carding, increase companies will become even more competitive.
In business today you really need a 360
degree view of your customer and without
that companies will be unable to adjust to
the ever changing needs of the people
they provide goods or services for. With
more vendors entering the Business
Intelligence space I see more small to mid
size companies taking advantage of what
Business Intelligence has to offer. It’s in
the small to mid size companies that I see
a real competitive advantage to the use of
Business Intelligence.
CAJA GENERAL DE
AHORROS DE
GRANADA
Granada, Granada, Spain
Reto 2009
Adapt a Director Plan to the environment and
to the new strategic management which will
provide a new strategic management model ,
that will give a more integrated vision of the
functions of the company. This tool will help
to engage and commitment to all the people
of the organization.
SOA will be a revolution for the companies
and the communication between them.
International recognition in the IT world.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
COLONIAL LIFE &
ACCIDENT
INSURANCE COMPANY
Columbia, SC, United States
Supplemental insurance products
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C, and founded
in 1939, Colonial offers a broad line of insurance products including disability, accident, life,
cancer, critical illness and hospital confinement.
Colonial Life has approximately 3,500 independent insurance agents in North America.
These agents use laptop computers to enroll
individuals in Colonial’s supplemental insurance products. Because these agents are in
the field it is imperative that the technology
they use is both secure and reliable. Agents
rely on technology that performs all necessary critical management functions along with
full disk encryption capability, keeping all of
the customers’ personal data protected.
We believe their will continue to be a convergence in technology types to facilitate business use of the internet. We also believe that
their will be further stabilization and standard
setting around the rules of the information
security environment.
This program acknowledges our leadership in
this effort while validating our concerns and
actions. We are proud to be a part of this program and are honored for the consideration.
DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSING AND
URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
Department of Housing and
Urban Development Information
Technology Services (HITS)
HUD began the 21st century with a clearly
defined strategic agenda for business transformation. Critical to this vision was the challenge of improving the HUD IT infrastructure
so it supports transformation through a
shared services environment and produces
measurable improvements.
HUD’s transformation framework recognizes
four stages: rigidity, consolidation, streamlining, and agility. In the rigidity stage, the
intense “care and feeding” of the technology
infrastructure yielded less than desirable outcomes. Over a four-year period of consolidation, streamlining and agility improvements,
the transformation produces a long list of
positive outcomes, while technology becomes
a flexible tool supporting shared services.
HUD’s business will move incrementally from
a position of being constrained in its process-
es by IT, to a flexible, service-oriented enterprise where IT is a valuable enabler of business change. Today, HUD is well into the
consolidation stage, and many planned objectives are already achieved.
All in all, I do not believe that IT will be much
different in 2010 than it is today. Incremental
efficiencies will continue to occur in hardware
and software products, and concepts such as
SOA and shared services may become even
more so the “standard” for businesses and
government agencies than it is today.
The most dramatic changes will likely involve
wireless IT technology. The public continues
to demand convenient access to ever more
information without having to “plug-in”. The
distinguishing features between laptops, cell
phones, hand-held devices and TV’s are disappearing rapidly. The features and functionality that helped distinguish one device from
the other have begun to blur together. The
ultimate success or failure of many of these
wireless devices remains to be seen, and
their appeal to mass consumers may depend
as much upon the innovative marketing of the
product, as it does the technological benefits
reaped by the consumer.
Being part of the 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program allows us to promote the IT successes of not just a few individuals, but all of HUD.
The hard work and day to day efforts of many
individuals can not only be recognized and
acknowledged by peers in the industry, but the
ideas and concepts presented through this
program can be leveraged by other organizations to help improve their IT environments as
well. The Honors Program not only acknowledges success stories, but it becomes a vehicle by which collaboration between some of
the industry’s best people can occur.
And finally, having been nominated to participate in the Honors Program is affirmation
that HUD not only has developed the right IT
roadmap, but that HUD is executing the
roadmap with enough precision so that real
benefits are being derived for both HUD and
the people that HUD serves.
ERICKSON
RETIREMENT
COMMUNITIES
uses dashboards to provide management with a
quick view of costs against budget. Traffic lighting
in the dashboards, with red indicating costs above
budget, yellow signifying an acceptable margin
within budget, and green representing costs are
less than budget allows users to quickly pinpoint
areas that need attention. Using dashboards,
Erickson is able to drill down to details and compare metrics across all of the campuses and highlight best practices. Erickson identifies communities that consistently exceeded benchmarks and
maintain customer satisfaction, and then uses that
as a model for other communities.
5 years in the technology industry is a lifetime.
New protocols for wireless data transfer will
eliminate the need for wired connections. The
web will host our word processing systems as
well as our major ERP and Medical systems.
Customizable computer interfaces that enable
everyone to view the data they need and want
will be the norm. Data, from Heartbeats per
Second to Defects per million, will be captured
with purpose and utilized to track results.
Today most of us utilize the web for information,
ecommerce, and recreation. Many software application have a web interface that allow them to
manipulate data over the web. This trend will
continue and more and more applications will
have web enabled interfaces. Unfortunately, we
still need PC’s with massive amounts of memory
and processing power to run a local operating
system and many desktop applications. Right
now companies like Google and Microsoft are
trying to change that model. In 5 years, the desktop application (word processing, spreadsheets,
email) will be deployed via the web. Security
issues and upgrades will be a thing of the past.
This new era of web based Operating Systems
will facilitate mass customization. Individuals will
be able to pick and choose applications that they
need ala carte. Desktop operating systems will
no longer dominate the business landscape, which
will open doors for new and different technologies.
It would mean a great deal to my Company
and the implamentation team to be recognized
with this award. We have invested tremendous time and effort, and taken many professional risks along the way. We feel that we
have an outrstanding success story that combines both technology and process design.
We appreciate being considered for an award.
FIFTH THIRD BANK
Catonsville, MD, United States
Cincinnati, OH, United States
Using Technology to Help Deliver
Affordable Senior Housing
Business Continuity, Backup,
Recovery, and Archiving
Erickson Retirement Communities is a national
developer and operator of senior housing communities, with more than 17,000 residents living in 14
campuses. With a focus on affordability and quality,
Erickson uses Hyperion to ensure budgets are
met, to ensure community quality standards are
met, and to help maintain monthly fees below the
government cost of living adjustment. Erickson
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Fifth Third Bank was facing rapidly growing
volumes of data and a tape-based solution
that could no longer satisfy its objectives for
information protection and recovery. To
address these challenges, the bank implemented a comprehensive business continuity,
backup, recovery, and archiving solution.
Employing a unique three-way protection
strategy based on EMC Symmetrix DMX
storage and EMC Symmetrix Remote Data
Facility/Star (SRDF/Star) software, the solution provides continuous, concurrent synchronous and asynchronous data replication
between Fifth Third’s production data center
and two geographically separate recovery
sites. With this unique solution, Fifth Third
can ensure that all of the bank’s critical customer-facing applications can be recovered
within two to four hours with zero data loss
and perfect data consistency. As a result,
Fifth Third’s customers can rest assured that
the Bank is able to operate effectively in a
disaster situation.
In 2010, Fifth Third sees the current trend
toward IT complexity continuing, as layers of
technology solutions build upon one another
to address growing enterprise requirements.
As this complexity grows, organizations will
need more specialized people to manage IT.
Tools and technologies will always be
evolving faster than humans can respond
and implement them to their fullest. Yet, on
the technology continuum, there will be a
net improvement in the way we retain, protect, and preserve information. Information
will become increasingly critical as a core
business asset and, therefore, technologies
will focus on maximizing the value of that
asset through improved access, security,
and protection.
Being part of the Computerworld Honors
Program is valued recognition of the achievements and hard work Fifth Third IT staff have
contributed to implement a solution that not
only provides value to Fifth Third, but also to
businesses and consumers throughout the
banking industry. It is also an important
acknowledgment of the commitment Fifth
Third senior management has made to protect the interests of its customers.
GRANT THORNTON
Oak Brook Terrace, IL, United States
Assurance Compliance
As the 5th largest accounting and tax business advisory organization in the U.S.,
Grant Thornton has found a way to simplify
compliance to strict regulations set forth by
the government relative to tax updates. As
updates are issued, Grant Thornton needs
to ensure that these government rules and
regulations are current and referencable by
their financial advisors at all times. When
updates are issued, Grant Thornton adds
their own protocol and then pushes these
updates out to their 3,000+ advisors
across the USA.
In the past, the need to distribute large
files has been an arduous and time consuming process as many of the files being
transferred were very large and could
affect carriers’ networks in various parts
of the country. The organization has
replaced their distribution model to solve
this challenge, and ensured that advisors
and ultimately clients achieve tax compliance in a timely manner.
Most key communications are no longer
“store and forward,” but “real time.” Clients
will expect answers now, not tomorrow.
Changes within the market are also more
fluid and require real time response from
trusted advisors. The virtual enterprise continues to take shape. Professionals spend more
time with customers than sitting in the firm’s
offices liking up with the business. We will
see continued growth of services to enable
an ever-increasing mobile workforce.
As competition increases in the professional
services industry, the firms that can successfully extend the greatest value of their
enterprise knowledge to their “client site”
staff will have a significant competitive
advantage. Our infrastructure goals at Grant
Thornton LLP are to stay ahead of this
challenge by developing and deploying the
building blocks that will enable the extension of the mobile workforce.
We are very excited to be nominated as part of
this program. Although not related, in the past
three years, we have participated in the
Computerworld Top 100 Places to Work in IT and
have placed 26th, 18th, and 5th, respectively.
LOANPERFORMANCE
Predictive Analytics Reporting
LoanPerformance provides state-of-the technology, predictive analytics and reporting
capabilities to the world’s leading financial
institutions that trade in mortgage risk.
LoanPerformance’s technology solution
enables it to offer unparalleled Web-based
analytics services and information from the
industry’s largest, most comprehensive database at lightning fast speeds. With
LoanPerformance’s services customers have
the resources and ability to manage their portfolio more efficiently, and when portfolios are
benefiting, our economy is at an advantage.
M&S MONEY
Chester, United Kingdom
Credit, Savings & Insurance
Financial services firms have many compelling reasons to ensure data quality, customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance
being high on the list. M&S Money, a leading
UK financial services company, looked at its
Basel II compliance deadline as an opportunity not just to deliver high quality data to
ensure successful risk management, but also
to drive improvements in CRM operations.
Needing to be constantly ‘aware’ that its data
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was of appropriate quality and that it could
always demonstrate clear management of the
data, M&S implemented a unified data quality
management platform to ensure that its disparate in-house and third-party data sources
delivered accurate data. Armed with quantitative measurements of the quality of its data,
M&S met Basel II stipulations a year ahead of
the deadline, accelerated its BI analysis cycle
by up to 40%, and increased its confidence
that customers and prospects would not be
surprised and annoyed by wrong data.
OPPORTUNITY
INTERNATIONAL
Oak Brook, IL, United States
Microfinance Reporting Project
Opportunity International is using Hyperion
Essbase to build applications to analyze the
financial and operational performance of our
45 microfinance partners in 28 developing
countries. We are using Hyperion Financial
Data Quality Management (FDM) to bring
data from disparate accounts and formats
together into Essbase quickly, efficiently and
with the uniformity necessary for global
analysis, consolidation and comparison.
As a result of the Microfinance Reporting
Project, Opportunity International has the critical financial and operational information necessary to make timely business decision, to
better meet customer needs, and to expand
our services to more poor entrepreneurs
around the world.
Information technology is increasingly intertwined within every aspect of our business,
but there are two areas where it is especially
critical and where we see a number of opportunities in the next few years. The first is the
ability to turn data into information. We deal
with many millions of very small transactions
every month, and are only beginning to
understand how we can utilize technology to
turn all that data into useful information.
Improving telecommunications around the
world, inexpensive data storage, and powerful
data analysis software mean that we have a
great opportunity to convert all that data into
a better understanding of our customers,
more efficient operations, and a greater
impact on the world.
We also are using technology to drive down
transaction costs and increase our outreach,
and expect that advances in technology will
continue this trend. Ten years ago we disbursed loans and received payments in cash.
Today, many of these transactions are electronic, utilizing ATMs, debit cards and biometric smart cards. In a few years, we may transfer loan disbursements to stored-value SIM
cards in mobile phones, with customers making payments via SMS messages.
First of course it is an honor to be nominated.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
This is the first program we’re aware of that
acknowledges the significant real and potential contributions technology can make to the
betterment of society, and it is exciting to be
a part of it.
on the backend or like Parish, where it’s implemented in-house, there’s no question about the
need to do it. Continuous data access will continue to become increasingly valuable for every
organization.
The exercise of completing the case study
has also been a good opportunity.
Technology is constantly changing, and sometimes before we finish one project we’ve
moved on to the next. This exercise provided
us the chance to step back and evaluate the
project, and in the process we became aware
of some things we hadn’t before.
Significant changes in the wide-area network
(WAN) infrastructure will have to take place
to reduce costs of point-to-point links or lose
business to Internet-based communications.
With privacy issues already addressable, even
the most conservative financial environments
will consider using encrypted tunneling to
communicate between branches and an operations center across the Internet.
PARISH NATIONAL
BANK
Participating in the Computerworld Honors
program acknowledges the efforts of management, employees and IT staff at Parish
who have worked hard to identify and implement a sophisticated multi-site recovery plan
in the wake of a major hurricane.
Covington, LA, United States
State-of-the-Art Recovery
Management System Across
Multiple Sites for Business
Continuity
Parish National Bank, a community bank with
over $750 million in assets, serves the New
Orleans area. Because of its location, the bank is
subject to extreme environmental conditions and
needed a state-of-the art recovery management
solution across three data centers to ensure uninterrupted operations. When Hurricane Katrina
stuck the region, the devastation served as a catalyst in accelerating the bank’s implementation of
an existing recovery management initiative.
Parish successfully implemented a tiered
multi-site recovery strategy, dramatically consolidating storage and server environments,
using an innovative combination of enterprise
technologies. These included VMware® ESX
Server virtualization software to consolidate
its servers, EMC® CLARiiON® for networked
storage, and EMC RepliStor® and AutoStart®
for replication, monitoring and automated
failover. In just a few short months, even in
the aftermath of Katrina, the bank achieved
its goals of minimizing operational disruptions
and virtually eliminating downtime and data
loss for its critical applications.
Aggregated server farms will be more widely
deployed over the next three years.
Virtualization will proliferate as companies
realize the benefits of reducing both hardware and support costs by deploying more
services across fewer pieces of hardware.
Some form of server and storage consolidation and virtualization will be deployed in nearly every IT shop of moderate size - five servers
or more. Ultimately, what we’ll see is some
type of aggregation or consolidation on fewer
pieces of hardware that constitute the “new
server farm.” That will be coupled with replication of that aggregated server farm elsewhere
for disaster recovery or high availability.
All businesses have to function 24/7 in today’s
global economy, so continuous operations is a
“must have” rather than a “nice to have” feature.
Whether that availability and ability to recover
from disaster is achieved with a service provider
Parish is pleased to make a wider audience
aware of the project and how the tiered
recovery strategy was deployed so quickly
and cost-efficiently in the face of enormous
post-storm environmental challenges. The
bank would like to share the project’s challenges and successes with IT organizations in
enterprises across all sectors, in the hopes
that they can benefit from Parish’s experience. Even more importantly, this gives
Parish the opportunity to showcase the solution for its own employees and customers making them aware of all that the bank is
doing to support continuous operations,
improve the banking experience and enable
better customer service.
It’s an honor for Parish to be acknowledged
as an innovator in the IT world - and in the
area of disaster recovery. Nowhere is the
application of technology more critical than in
this area of ensuring business continuity in
catastrophic situations. At any time, anywhere in the world, there’s some sort of natural disaster just waiting to happen. While
employees, their laptop computers and even
their communications are mobile, the data
they need to access is housed in a server
farm in a data center. And those servers are
not mobile. Computerworld Honors allows
Parish to showcase how the RMS project
makes the data, services and applications on
those servers “mobile” through a multi-site
disaster recovery system.
PHILADELPHIA
STOCK EXCHANGE
Philadelphia, PA, United States
Philadelphia Stock Exchange
Debuts State-of-the-art Equity
Cash Trading Network Based on
Lightning-fast Juniper Routing
Infrastructure
Bill Morgan, CIO at the Philadelphia Stock
Exchange (PHLX) had the difficult task of
making the PHLX equity cash a world class
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trading system that would operate even faster
than its own options network. Levereging
Juniper’s M-Series routers Morgan was able
to set up the equity cash system to complete
trades in less than five milliseconds, Making
PHLX one of the most advanced exchanges
in the world.
We predict that Information Technology in
2010 will not be dramatically different than
what it is today.
It is a great honor to be associated among
those companies that take part in the
Computerworld Honoros Program. It signifies
the creation of global best practices in leading the world’s ongoing IT revolution.
The PHLX feels it has met that goal by creating one of the most dynamic sites in the
industry. As you browse PHLX’s site, you will
find updated contract specifications on
PHLX’s exclusive products, current news
releases, text from key PHLX publications
and newsletters, as well as information on the
many free educational conferences and seminars hosted by the PHLX. In addition, PHLX’s
Web site also provides hyperlinks to other
securities-industry related Web sites.
In terms of its development, the Exchange
has evolved a long way from its early days.
Through foresight, creativity, and its willingness to explore uncharted territories, the
PHLX remains committed to uphold the tradition of innovation begun over two hundred
years ago by its founders.
PRAETORIAN
FINANCIAL GROUP
Nexus Infrastructure
Consolidation and Virtualization
Praetorian’s Nexus project addressed this
leading specialty insurance company’s need
to improve business responsiveness, meet
regulatory requirements and reduce costs. To
meet these goals, the company consolidated
its entire IT operations into a single, centralized and virtualized data center. VMware virtualization technology and Citrix application
delivery software were used to increase
resource utilization and application accessibility. Praetorian also implemented EMC
CLARiiON storage and EMC RepliStor recovery management software to protect vital
data and enable rapid disaster recovery. As a
result, Praetorian increased server utilization
from 8 - 10 percent to 80 percent, lowered
total cost of ownership (TCO) by 50 percent,
and achieved a return on investment (ROI) of
nearly 600 percent. Most important,
Praetorian now provides its distributed user
population with easy and secure access to
the business services and information they
need to serve customers, while protecting
vital information assets, reducing costs and
simplifying management of IT operations.
By 2010, Praetorian believes that many more
organizations will adopt enterprise-wide virtualization. Entire infrastructures will be delivered as services. Much as Praetorian has
done, enabling organizations to be comprised
of people anywhere in the world. The only
requirement for conducting business will be
having a network connection since all business services will be delivered over the network. Back-end functions such as storage,
security, data protection, and recovery management will be provided as part of the infrastructure service, allowing organizations to
run very lean with optimally efficiency.
In addition, we may see an entirely new breed
of virtualized companies. For example, a
start-up may assemble business functions
such as accounting, legal, human resources,
and IT all as services run by separate specialized enterprises. The start up will then
require minimal desktop terminals and hire
only staff with specific expertise in the intellectual property they intend to market.
Companies will be able to focus all their energy and resources on differentiating offerings,
rather than supporting operations.
Being a part of the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program is really about recognizing
the advances being made in the insurance
industry, which rarely is considered a source
for technological innovation. Above all, it is
well-deserved recognition for the Praetorian
IT staff who worked tirelessly to see our
vision through and achieve results well
beyond our original expectations.
We feel the 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program is an important way to demonstrate
the direction the insurance industry is headed,
and in many ways, all enterprises are headed.
We believe that we have developed a more
efficient and effective way of running a business infrastructure and want to share our
success with others. We also want to show
that positive things can come from the insurance industry. Too often, we are associated
with tragedies-accidents, hurricanes, disasters-but now we hope the public can see the
contribution insurance companies can make
in technology and the valuable impact we can
have on business and society at large.
PRIMERICA
FINANCIAL SERVICES
Duluth, GA, United States
Agents of Primerica, a subsidiary of Citigroup,
Inc., use 31,000 Palm handhelds and smartphones to complete insurance applications in
the comfort of a client’s own home. Primerica
developed its own customized Palm OS application - called TurboApps - to run on a variety
of Palm devices, including the latest Palm
handhelds and Palm Treos. Primerica now has
over 31,000 activated users able to run the
custom-built TurboApps application which
helps Primerica agents minimize errors and
incomplete applications by guiding them
through the process; provide clients with the
best service possible; keep client information
more secure; save time not having to enter
redundant data or wait for postal deliveries;
speed turnaround time; submit applications as
soon as their next synchronization; and submit
client payments faster. Over 190,000 electronic life applications have been processed
since the release of TurboApps and over 50%
of the company’s life insurance applications
are now submitted electronically.
Confirmation that Primerica is a leader in
delievering real-world technology solutions for
it’s sales force and clients, leveraging technology wherever and whenever possible to automate tasks and eliminate paper to the maximium extent possible.
SHINHAN BANK
Seoul, Gyeonngi-Do, Korea
The Shinhan Bank’s New Banking
System
When Shinhan Bank, Korea’s second largest
bank, acquired Choheung Bank, it viewed this
transition as an excellent opportunity to transform its legacy mainframe banking system
into a state-of-the-art UNIX-based environment. The new centralized core banking solution includes retail and corporate banking
modules and introduces an innovative technology infrastructure that supports a new range
of business services for customers. To support the new system, Shinhan consolidated
the two banks’ disaster recovery centers and
implemented a tiered-storage architecture.
With real-time remote replication of Shinhan’s
information assets, the bank is assured of
rapid recovery from a disaster. Shinhan integrated 450 terabytes of data into the new IT
infrastructure, which now stores over one
pegabyte of storage. This project has gained
industry-wide attention in Korea, given its
massive data volume, scale, and complexity.
In the future, companies will no longer make
hardware and software acquisitions without
taking into account the total cost of ownership (TCO). Lowered TCO will be factored
into everything from people and management
costs to required resources for integration
and training.
It is a great honor for Shinhan Bank to be
part of the Computerworld Honors Program.
We are delighted to share our successful first
project of its kind with other IT innovators.
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ST GEORGE BANK
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Customer Risk and Compliance
Management Solution
St George Bank has developed a groundbreaking solution addressing Credit Risk
Monitoring and Management; Management
Reporting; Loans Management; Consolidation
and Regulatory Reporting (largely, as a result
of the BASEL regime); and Default and
Compliance Management.
The solution provides a more efficient and
proactive way of conducting portfolio reviews,
with online access to past inspection comments and real-time access to current
reviews. An intuitive, visual workflow-related
interface enables users to conduct ‘train of
thought’ analysis and stay focused on the
business objective with automated distribution
of issues intuitively guiding users to areas of
concern. Time and Money Savings have
resulted through reduced administration and
portfolio review preparation (e.g. with data
collection, collation, filing, storage); decreased
paper volume (500 to 1000 pages down to
nil); a 40% reduction in the number of annual
reviews required; and a simplified user experience requiring less support.
Traditionally, Group Credit has focussed on
the business of managing credit, not systems.
The many changes with Basel/IFRS have
required the department to increase its attention to the business systems that are used to
support policy and process, as inefficient systems / processes have implications for data
quality and compliance, and ultimately affect
the capacity of the Bank to manage the quality of its credit portfolio. (i.e. model analysis,
market and prudential disclosure)
The increased focus has better positioned the
department to work with IT to find improved
solutions for integration of legacy systems
with new front-end processes that support
the end to end credit process. We are seeking for these solutions to:
• deliver greater control and flexibility to the
business;
• improve business process and workflow
efficiencies;
• enhance our capacity to measure, model
and manage outcomes;
• increase opportunities to improve service
delivery (both internal and external).
The solutions must be flexible and adaptable
to the ever-changing needs of the business.
As a by product to the above, we envisage that
by 2010 there will have been an increased
alignment of IT and business operations, delivering a more integrated approach to processing and customer service improvements.
As we move further down the path of enterprise intelligence, we envisage a significant
reduction in the gap between business
knowledge and technology solutions. As a
result, reduced project time devoted to bridging the gap between IT and the business
requirements will enhance the ability of the
LAUREATES 2007
company to more efficiently develop and
deliver business solutions.
Nomination to the prestigious Computerworld
Honors awards program is a chance for the
whole team to reflect on its recent achievements. It adds to the sense of satisfaction for
the team that their efforts have received
external recognition, and that others can see
the significant benefits that these solutions
have delivered to St George Bank.
STATE OF MICHIGAN
Lansing, MI, United States
Extending and Merging the
O-Base System
Due to new government mandates and the
consolidation of departments, the State of
Michigan’s Office of Financial and Insurance
Services (OFIS) confronted the challenge of
custom building, or buying, a new IT infrastructure. Either option would require the
investment of millions of dollars and several
years to implement, along with the need for a
large scale effort to re-train and/or hire staff.
OFIS management came up with an alternative: they discovered how the existing environment could be leveraged to deliver all of the
required functionality, without a wholesale system overhaul or the investment of several
years and millions of dollars. The resulting
system now delivers performance that is proving to be a model for other state agencies,
both within Michigan and throughout the U.S.
VISA USA
ZIONS BANK
San Franciso, CA, United States
Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Visa Integrated Payments (VIP)
Platform
Multifactor Authentication for
Online Banking Security
In September 2006, Visa acheived a major
technology milestone by completing a 5 year
initiative to fully re-engineer its global authorization engine. Dubbed the Visa Integrated
Payment (VIP) platform, it processes more
than $2 trillion in annual transaction volume.
The result is a state-of-the-art, modular processing platform that is highly scalable, flexible and secure, and combines global reach
with the processing power to support Visa
product innovation and consumer demand for
electronic payments.
Zions Bank has implemented a multifactor
authentication solution to maximize security for
its online banking customers. Faced with a
growing threat from online scams known as
“phishing,” Zions employed RSA Adaptive
Authentication, along with the RSA
FraudAction anti-phishing service to validate
the authenticity of the Zions Web site for customers and shut down phishing scams within
hours once they are identified. By using multifactor authentication, Zions can assure its customers that they are on the legitimate Zions
Web site and not a “spoofed” site intent on
stealing their private account information. The
bank can also thwart attempts by online criminals from breaking into a customer’s online
account or luring them into an online trap, preventing expensive financial losses and protecting the bank’s reputation from severe damage.
Visa is delighted to participate in the prestigious 2007 Computerworld Honors program.
Visa consistently invests in technology development to ensure its systems provide cardholders, merchants and issuing banks with
secure and reliable payment methods they
have come to expect from the leader in payments. The fact that each candidate is
judged by a committee of chairmen and
CEOs from the world’s top information technology companies makes this opportunity
especially gratifying. In addition to the company recognition and industry exposure this
honor would bring Visa, it would further
inspire our organization to reach for even
greater goals in the years ahead.
• Bandwidth becomes more cost effective.
• Vendor consolidation will continue.
• Moore’s Law will continue to hold true.
• Banks more and more become providers of
presense services.
• A typical desktop computer will have 10
40GHz processors, 15 gigabytes of RAM,
and 2 terabytes of storage.
• Computer keyboards start to disappear as
voice recognition technology improves.
• The cycle of decentralization-centralization
will continue to repeat itself.
Since the initial launch of its Internet Banking Web
presence, Zions Bank has seen rapid changes in
financial services technology. Use of online banking and the number of transactions has steadily
risen, while the number of traditional retail branch
banking transactions has declined. This trend is
sure to continue into 2010 and beyond.
Other changes in information technology related
to banking services will likely include improved
ease and ability to open new accounts online.
The time it takes to make and clear transactions
will likely decrease, resulting in increased volume. Higher speed Internet connections among
users will enable companies to advertise more
effectively online, as the load time for graphics
and animations becomes less of a concern.
But as the technology and security becomes
more advanced, online fraudsters will presumably
keep up with the pace. Consumer protection
tools will therefore need to be more advanced.
Efforts to anticipate online fraud potential and to
develop tools to curb theft will be critical for companies taking a proactive anti-fraud approach.
Zions Bank is proud to be part of the
Computerworld Honors Program and to join the
roster of high-caliber companies who are also
participating. One of Zions Bank’s Guiding
Principles states: “We strive to be conservatively
entrepreneurial, nimble, innovative, and energetic in creating solutions for our clients.” Being
included in the Computerworld Honors program
validates our efforts to achieve this principle.
We are pleased and honored to be considered for ComputerWorld’s “A Search for New
Heroes.” As we strive to make our agency a
better, more responsive regulator for our customers, we seldom stop to realize that we
may also be creating IT best practices.
Previous recognition programs have likewise
honored Zions for its Internet Banking innovations. In 2004, the financial services consulting
firm Javelin Strategy & Research ranked Zions
Bank’s online bill payment system No. 1 among
40 financial service companies across the U.S.
for its services and features. In 2005, the same
firm’s “Identity Fraud Safety Scorecard” listed
Zions Bank No. 3 for its identity fraud prevention,
detection and resolution capabilities. These honors, as well as inclusion in the Computerworld
Honors Program, showcase Zions Bank’s commitment to providing customers with cuttingedge online banking technology.
We believe that the Appeon tool is enabling
us to be heroes in the use of the information
technology resources we have at hand. It is
enabling us to make a significant contribution
to citizens of the State of Michigan, and our
other State and Federal counterparts, by
improving and expanding the information and
resources we provide to our customers, while
not imposing a cost burden that would put
undue strain on an already weakened budgetary environment.
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Government
ADMINISTRATIVE
OFFICE OF
PENNSYLVANIA
COURTS
Mechanicsburg, PA, United States
CPCMS (Common Pleas Case
Management System)
Spanning the Supreme, Superior,
Commonwealth, Common Pleas and Special
Courts systems, the Administrative Office of
Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) has developed
an integrated set of case management systems that enable communication between
formally disparate systems to facilitate judicial
automation and data sharing. The system
allowed the Pennsylvania Judiciary to pursue
its primary goal of administering all aspects of
the judicial process consistent with the goals
of a Unified Judiciary.
In realizing this vision, the AOPC has completed the third phase of automation as
established by the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court to develop a Common Pleas Case
Management System (CPCMS). The CPCMS
is a comprehensive, statewide system which
brings together 60 Pennsylvania Judicial
Districts in 67 counties into a single, uniform
approach to criminal case processing.
Although the primary goal was judicial
automation, the significant benefits realized
by the system were Public Safety, unification
of data and the ability to share information.
Information Technology in the Judiciary will be
shaped by several issues:
Accessibility and the Electronic Case File:
Increasingly, the public and stakeholders
require the ability to interact with government
on an immediate basis. For the courts, this
accessibility will include the ability to file and
view documents and to obtain detailed, up-todate case information, including review of individual documents such as motions and orders.
Business processes that may be readily
addressed in private industry will need to be
addressed in innovative ways by government,
including formal processes meant to protect
rights, such as original signatures. By 2010,
the electronic case file may become a reality.
Data Exchange Requirements and
Standardization: In justice related agencies,
the public perceives there is the capability to
exchange data, but it is currently quite limited.
Many agencies have older systems and few IT
staff. Justice Networks, such as the one used
in this project, provide possibilities. Message
standardization reduces the effort needed for
each new business process. In light of national
emergencies, agencies are evaluating their
ability to exchange data in a timely manner.
By 2010, the promise of an integrated justice
community may be achieved.
The National Information Exchange Model is
a partnership of the U.S. Department of
Justice and the Department of Homeland
Security. NIEM will provide government agencies with a standard for data exchanges.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
G OV E R N M E N T
G OV E R N M E N T
Data Quality and Centralization: The need for
accessible data and requirements for data
exchanges will make it imperative to improve
data quality. The decentralized nature of data
in some government agencies makes nationwide initiatives for data exchange difficult. For
example, in many states, each county court
has its own case management software and
database storage. Increasingly, agencies with
localized data will move toward centralized and
standardized solutions to meet the requirements for data sharing with federal agencies.
As is often the case with IT projects, rarely is
the effort and impact of a project brought to
light. By being involved in the Computerworld
Honors Program, AOPC can share its experiences, challenges and triumphs with a larger
audience. Perhaps this effort will inspire similar efforts - across both local and state
municipalities. The effort required is extremely worthwhile when considering the broadranging and dramatic impact of the system.
The ability to showcase our efforts with the
CPCMS project provides us with an opportunity to contribute this solution to the general
knowledge base.
As much as we can share our success, we
can also greatly benefit from exposure to
other projects via participation. Access to
other award-worthy projects assists with our
goals, planning and design efforts.
ALLEGHENY COUNTY
DEPARTMENT OF
HUMAN SERVICES
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
ACDHS Data Warehouse
The Allegheny County Department of Human
Services is the body established and empowered by the County of Allegheny (Pittsburgh,
PA) to serve those citizens of the county who
are determined to be in need. In the beginning, one of the largest obstacles facing DHS
was the consolidation of data across programs which, until recently, operated within
silos, not communicating with each other and
thereby not knowing or understanding the
depth nor breadth of their client population.
DHS managers did not know which clients
were being served by multiple program areas,
where the client lived, or how far each person
needed to travel to reach a service provider.
The department set out to streamline the collection of data in order to be able to provide
data internally to DHS, and external stakeholders that would assist in strategic and
accurate decision making as it would pertain
better serving the Allegheny citizens.
The year 2010 is approaching rapidly - and
with the speed that technology is changing,
improving and growing, it is interesting to think
where it will all be in a few years. In the world
of data warehousing, I think that the technology will be changing a great deal due to the
126
ever present high demand for information
right now. With the world wanting any and all
information at its fingertips at any moment, it
is apparent that vendors, consultants, and
businesses alike are staying one step ahead
by creating a process that will run data
extracts a little quicker, or a tool that will automate previously manual steps, or a reporting
suite that will allow non-technical users easy
access to data. I think that this race will continue within the data warehousing realm and
that the technology will continue to be automated and made faster to the point that all
reporting will be done real time or near real
time and less man hours will need to be spent
on manual processes, freeing up more time
for data extraction, analysis, and action.
It is an honor to be a part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program. It is wonderful to be able to share all of our proud
moments with a program such as this and
also to be nominated and considered within a
group that is making such beneficial contributions to society.
AUSTRALIAN BUREAU
OF STATISTICS
Belconnen, Australian Capital
Territory, Australia
e-Census
For the first time, as part of the 2006 Census
of Population and Housing, the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS) introduced the
eCensus, giving Australians the ability to
complete their Census form online. The aim
of the eCensus was to provide an accessible,
robust, secure and easy to use alternative to
completing the traditional paper Census form.
Apart from benefits to Census respondents,
the eCensus also provides the ABS opportunities to improve the efficiency of the Census
process, and in future to completely re-engineer the field operations of the Census.
Over the next three years, I think we will see
information technology continue to evolve,
with different technologies converging to produce smarter, more convenient ways of doing
things in our daily lives.
Delivering Australia’s first eCensus was a
major acheivement for the eCensus project
team. The success of the project was due to
the hard work and careful planning of the
whole team at ABS and IBM. Being part of
the Computerworld Honours Program recognises this acheivement, but also demonstrates
that the project delivered a best-practice outcome which is the equal of any acheived by
statistical agencies world-wide.
CALIFORNIA
STATEWIDE
AUTOMATED
WELFARE SYSTEMS
Rancho Cordova, CA, United States
Consortium-IV
A consortium of four California counties has
created an automated solution to the challenge of wading through eligibility criteria and
determining benefits for the state’s 11 welfare programs. California Statewide
Automated Welfare Systems (SAWS)
Consortium-IV introduced the first web-based
eligibility determination and case management system that integrates public assistance
eligibility with welfare-to-work case management. The C-IV System streamlines the
process of determining eligibility for applicants and managing those cases. It is being
adopted by 35 additional California countiesan expansion that will serve 1.8 million customers and 200,000 service providers and
employers. The project recently received a
$1M grant from Food and Nutrition Service to
support a customer self-service application
for Food Stamps. The C-IV System solution is
being evaluated by other states struggling to
improve the administration and delivery of
human services. It is an excellent example of
how leading-edge technology can be used to
more effectively serve citizens.
There will be more emphasis on SOA architectures, promoting more interaction between
agencies and their application. Hopefully, this
will allow for more reuse of new functionality.
It is an honor to be considered for this award.
Inclusion in the Computerworld Honors
Program would be a visible way of recognizing the contribution of over 200 dedicated
project team members who conceived and
created this solution. Our team was motivated
to achieve excellence, knowing the benefits
the C-IV System would deliver to people in
need. By winning this award, we would shed
light on an innovation that could help other
organizations hoping to improve the delivery
of welfare benefits and employment servicesand to improve the working environment of
welfare case managers, whose contributions
are often overlooked.
CESKA POSTA S.P.
(CZECH POST)
Praha 3, Czech Republic
place and time data). The data are sequentially displayed on the specially made detailed
ortophoto which are the basis for the evaluation and optimization of those postmens’
paths. Czech post is one of the first post
offices to start to use this technology. The
company will create a daily actualized database, which will be subsequently complemented by other data concerning the type od
properties (buildings). This data may be quite
useful for other companies e.g. integrated
emergency service.
It is a honor for us to participate in the
CITY OF BOSTON
Boston, MA, United States
Richer Online Experience for
Boston Residents
The City of Boston was determined to
redesign its Web site to make it easier for
users to find the information they need and to
conduct business with the city. Keane led an
IT strategy and planning initiative, developed
a site map and mental model, and created
detailed wireframes for key pages to illustrate
layout and functionality. As a result of this
work, the new site is designed around the
needs of the city’s core user groups, including
residents, businesses, students, and visitors.
The Web site has a new navigation structure
and dedicated content focused on serving
each constituent group. The newly designed
site has greatly improved usability for its
users, providing access to all city departments, updated information, and expanded
online services, such as for securing city permits, contesting parking tickets, and paying
water bills.
I think and I hope that IT will be less technology focused by 2010; that the focus will shift
to the end user, the business, society. We
learned from creating this site that it’s not
about the technology, it’s about what the
technology can do to make its users and
recipients more satisfied and successful in
what they are trying to do. You can see this
shift starting already, but I would like to see it
accelerate even more in the coming years.
To me, it would be a truly meaningful way to
recognize and thank all the people who worked
so hard to design and build the new site, as
well all the users who helped us test drive it
and continue to help us make it even better.
Geopost - Optimization of Letters
Delivery
The aim of this project is to collect data by
monitoring the everyday path of every postman in the country - in total 10477 (using the
special GPS device for collecting the exact
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CITY OF HOUSTON,
TEXAS
Houston One
HoustonOne, the city of Houston’s multimillion dollar modernization project aimed at
streamlining citywide business processes, will
make it easier for the city’s more than 23,000
employees to access real-time information,
allowing them to deliver constituent services
more effectively-creating a more user-friendly
and responsive government. Mayor Bill White
announced in August that the city would be
one of the first to integrate its financial
accounting systems with other city functions,
including procurement, asset management,
and payroll. The move would allow data sharing across departments and make it easier
for the city to report on how it spends taxpayers’ money.
Houston was five months into updating its
aging procurement, asset management, and
time and manpower tracking applications
when hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the
Gulf Coast in August and September 2005.
With updated project accounting, it will be
much easier for Houston to document what
the city is spending on refugee
There will be no significant changes in technology over the next three years. Current
technologies are on an evolutionary path and
we will see things such as SOA mature. The
key elements of technical infrastructure are
well established and the real focus needs to
be on using available techology to deliver real
and significant business results.
Being nominated for this honor is a reflection
on the hardwork and effort of hundreds of people across the City of Houston and within SAP.
ERP projects are very challenging and difficult.
The recognition associated with this nomination
confirms that the hard work and personal sacrfice has resulted in a successful project.
CITY OF LINCOLN,
NEBRASKA
Lincoln, NE, United States
The City of Lincoln’s enterprise wide strategy
to deploy hardware / software solutions
includes the positioning of Palm Treo
650/700’s in a variety of mobile applications.
The Treo’s provide both voice and real-time
back-end database access for Animal Control
Officers, Parking Ticket writers, Public Health
workers and a variety of mobile inspectors.
Department and Division heads utilize Treo’s
to access real-time the cities Notes
email/calendaring environment. Citizens have
also been provided real-time access to many
databases including a street locator with
maps, and 29 traffic cams. The City of
Lincoln deployed the InterLinc Desktop Alert
application that provides citizens with a free
application to receive local weather and security alerts on desktops, PDA’s and cell
phones. The introduction of Palm Treo’s to
Lincoln’s mobile government workforce has
improved productivity, information accuracy,
access to public services and at the same
time significantly reduced deployment costs.
Our desires to have mission critical data or
decision making information available to us
whenever and wherever we are is going to
continue to drive the industry to even higher
expectations. We believe that Wi-Max
(802.16e) is the next step in achieving that
goal which will provide our mobile government
workforce the data access, speed, and network
security protections required. The forward
thinking positions and financial commitments
by notable corporations like Intel, Sprint,
Motorola and Samsung will lead the way. In
Lincoln, we have established the Wi-Linc
Commission which has been studying the variety of municipal Wi-Fi strategies and deployments. Our report and recommendations to the
Mayor and the City Council will be published in
May of 2007. It is our early findings that WiMax (802.16e) represents the most promising
and economically feasible wireless solution for
public safety agencies and our citizens.
Lincoln was humbled to be nominated by
Palm, Inc. for our contributions to the technology industry. Furthermore, to have our nomination accepted by the Computerworld
Honors Program and to be asked to submit a
case study truly validates the hard work and
commitment to excellence by Lincoln’s
Information Services staff. We appreciate the
fact that a technology recognition program of
this stature was established and feel privileged to participate.
CITY OF RICHMOND
POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Predictive Analysis
Using predictive analysis and BI technology,
Richmond State Police is applying information-based policy to predict the likelihood of
crime and prevent future crimes from occurring. These tools allow their crime analysts to
look at the interaction among data, both present and past, such as arrest records, motive
and type of crime at a particular location
based on calendar day, time, weather, and the
coincidence of public events. This insight
enables them to more knowledgeably deploy
their police resources in an effort to deter
crimes from happening.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
G OV E R N M E N T
G OV E R N M E N T
I cannot speak about IT as a whole, but there
is an increasing adoption of technology for
crime prevention.
The 2007 Computerworld Honors Program
provides a platform to let others know how
we are using technology to protect our citizens. It is an opportunity to inspire others and
encourage them to take advantage of every
available tool to create safer communities.
CITY OF ST.
PETERSBURG
St. Petersburg, FL, United States
City of St. Petersburg Embraces
E-Government
With 260 miles of shoreline, City of St.
Petersburg has long attracted vacationers
and retirees. Florida’s fourth largest city has
steadily diversified over the years, transforming St. Petersburg into a business engine
powering the regional economy. With the
City’s growth, however, came demands for
more public services. In response, St.
Petersburg implemented a plan to stretch
budget dollars by automating business
processes and adopting a single-instance egovernment computing platform. Based on
Oracle E-Business Suite applications, the
City’s new platform generated tangible
improvements in procurement, human
resources, contracts, and grants management.
Notable improvements came from a more
integrated procurement process that
enhanced the City’s buying power and
secured better pricing. Leveraging automation
and self-service tools, the City has shortened
business cycles, minimized overhead, and
enhanced visibility into grants and spending.
Finally, the city is reducing risk exposure by
implementing advanced tools to ensure timely
renewal of insurance policies and contracts.
• Greater adoption of standards-based technology and software
• Greater adoption of grid computing (utilizing
clusters of commodity hardware versus bigbox machines and mainframes) to achieve
cost-effective scalability and high availability
• In the public sector, greater deployment of
sophisticated “e-government” technologies,
including more internet-based delivery of
public services and information
• Increasing adoption of “service-oriented
architecture”
• Robust and secure technology providing for
a mobile workforce
The City of St. Petersburg is pleased to join
companies and organizations around the
globe in the 2007 Computerworld Honors
128
Program. The program, and the publications
associated with it, has a long history of identifying the very best examples of information
technology and how its creative use can
improve the lives of people.
Browsing the archives of past winners, we
see the names of some of the most progressive cities and governments in the world. The
Computerworld Honors archives are a superb
source of new ideas as well as practical guidance, and we are delighted to know that
other governments might learn from our
experience through this excellent forum.
CLARK COUNTY,
NEVADA REGIONAL
JUSTICE SYSTEM
Las Vegas, NV, United States
Next Generation Justice: Unified
Network Infrastructure for
Enhanced Communications
Across Government Agencies
Clark County, Nevada, home to Las Vegas, is
undergoing a population boom. To enable
future managed growth while offering
enhanced communication services, Cisco and
IBM delivered a flexible, scalable, and highly
secure network accommodating both wired
and wireless connectivity.
The county’s network now provides attorneys, employees, the press, and general
public, Internet access while maintaining
security. The system enables real-time deposition recording, video arraignments, and
long-distance hearings with streaming video.
In one instance, a terminally ill woman at a
Boston hospital was able to testify via videoconference on the Clark County custody trial
of her children. Such usage has had a
tremendous impact and will expand in the
future, increasing the access to justice while
improving safety and lowering costs. Most
importantly, this solution helps allow police
officers spend less time in the court and
more time in the community.
We will have moved to a service-based
model. Users will access virtual services,
wherever they are and will expect their user
experience and results to be seamless and
secure --they will expect to get these services anywhere they go.
It is an honor to have our local project recognized at this national level, and to have our
business solution seen as technologically
savvy and cutting edge.
COMMONWEALTH
OF PA DEPARTMENT
OF LABOR &
INDUSTRY
COMMONWEALTH
OF VIRGINIA
SUPREME COURT
CONTRA COSTA
COUNTY, PUBLIC
WORKS DEPARTMENT
(CCCPWD)
Harrisburg, PA, United States
Magistrate Application
Martinez, CA, United States
Enterprise Identity and Access
Management Project
The Supreme Court of Virginia is the
provider of offender information to 400
magistrates,the gatekeepers to Virginia’s
criminal justice system. To fulfill this
responsibility, they created an online system
for processing offenders and reviewing
records of previous arrests statewide.
Previously, magistrates stored offender
information in stand-alone PCs at their local
offices. They had no way to access up-todate information on offenders from other
parts of the state. With access to such
information, a magistrate might decide to
hold an offender in jail or take other actions
to protect the public. The Supreme Court
of Virginia developed a centralized system
to provide up-to-date, continuously available
information to the 400 magistrates,
enabling them to make more informed decisions regarding suspects and track and
identify suspects across the state. Public
safety has been improved because more
suspects representing risk to the public can
be identified and kept in custody.
I believe that in 2010, IT will be more on
demand and collaborative. I envision workers
being les tied to offices, servers, VPNs, locations and even organizations. Information will
be readily available through web apps or
web portals in any manner that users may
need information.
Absolutely. There is a great degree of integration of functions on portable devices. I think
the mobile technology is going to do to the
desktop/laptop technology, what it did to
large iron computing.
Taking advantage of large system modernization projects, the Department of Labor and
Industry (DLI) had the vision to establish an
enterprise identity and access
management(IAM) solution. As an example of
exemplary inter-agency cooperation, DLI
elected to extend the existing Department of
Public Welfare solution to DLI. In addition to
the technical and process infrastructure, the
project establishes Keystone Key- a credential branding mechanism that elminates
agency boundaries for citizens and business
partners. The enterprise IAM project will provide important benefits to DLI including:
• A consistent security policy across agency
systems, leading to improved security and
protection of user privacy
• User self-service features, leading to reduction in help desk call and more time within
DLI and Department of Public Welfare,
advancing progress toward creation of one
eGovernment for the commonwealth of
Pennsylvania
• Enhanced usablility for 30,000 commonwealth employees, 250,000 business partner users and 2 million public users
The Information Technology growth in government agencies has resulted in a large number
of disparate systems serving the citizens; the
easy access to information propelled by the
Internet underscores the need to protect the
personal and confidential data of our citizens
more than ever. In 2010, there will be even
more emphasis on consolidation of these
services to get a better control of the data.
Constituents will have more visibility and control of how their information is going to be
used and disclosed.
Computerworld Honors Program and the
archives provide a great platform for government agencies to showcase and highlight
programs and projects that truly make a difference in the lives of the constituents we
serve. The nominations and cae studies provide us an opportunity to understand the
work other agencies and industries are doing
to use the technology to make a difference
in the lives of people. I am very familiar with
the program; our case study for another project - PA-NEDSS (National Electronic
Disease Surveillance System) was a 2004
Laureate. I am pleased to submit another
case study this year.
Being part of this program is quite an
honor for the Supreme Court of Virginia.
We have never been recognized at this
level and just being nominated is humbling.
In the public sector, recognition is hard to
attain which can cause a vacuum effect of
not knowing how applications compare to
others around the country.
The Magistrate Support Team has worked
hard to develop this application and to ensure
the success of the application. The team has
put in countless hours of extra work, often
without proper recognition, to provide the
support and training needed on this system.
While we have a few internal forms of recognition, none compare to the stature of the
Computerworld Honors Program. Should we
win, I would have a very excited, very motivated group of individuals that would be
extremely grateful.
CCC, a large SF-Oakland Bay Area county
with many rural areas, provides Palm Treos to
some of its Public Works Department field
staff, who often find themselves in the field
for long periods of time. The PWD is responsible to maintain the entire county-operated
infrastructure (street signs, flood control and
levees, traffic lights, etc.). The smartphones
are used to access information on the county’s enterprise servers, email co-workers who
can assist them, and document problems with
digital photos, eliminating the need for redundant trips and providing cheaper, faster service to the county’s taxpayers. Another application in use allows users to look up
Geographic Information System data, including numerical data, text, and images. It’s vital
for field employees that need to collect data
for map creation, facility inventory purposes,
and other needs. “Our applications on the
Treo will allow us to collapse our response
time from hours to minutes,” Kutsal notes.
It is a great honor to be recognized as an
innovative agency by PALM.
CZECH
TELECOMMUNICATION
OFFICE
Praha 9, Czech Republic
Automatic System of Monitoring
Frequency Spectrum
By combining the measuring and monitoring
techniques, technologic constructions, mobile
devices, application software equipment and
IT infrastructure the whole new comprehensive system is created. A system which was
not yet realized and implented anywhere else,
given its complexity and technological maturity. It is the key project of system integration
for consumers and supplier structures.
At first, there will be more and more intelligence in future information systems. Some
tasks which are dependent today on human
inputs will be processed automatically, thanks
to fast improvement of knowledge base sys-
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tems and expert algorithms. Second, systems
in near future will be more and more fully
integrated with devices, which nobody was
recognizing to be part of information system
few years ago. Frequency spectrum monitoring devices from the project introduced above
are good example. Third, systems, technology
and even the information content is gong to
be more and more global.
We were very pleased, when our project was
nominated by Deloitte to this program. It represents a great challenge and honor for us.
We see Computerworld Honors Program to
be very prominent event, provided by very
prestigious and reputable organization. We
think that our participation in this Program
could be a great marketing opportunity, which
could help us significantly in exporting parts
of this project (e.g. related know how, original
subsystems etc.) worldwide in the future.
DEPARTMENT OF
INTERIOR, NAVAJO
NATION
Window Rock, AZ, United States
Internet to the Hogan
The Navajo Nation’s Department of IT (DIT)
has considerably stimulated the economy and
enriched the quality of life for its 250,000 citizens through the implementation of an integrated network. During 2006 the DIT was
responsible for deploying a Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) network in the central government offices in Window Rock and
to 110 Chapter House, providing citizen
access to e-government/commerce, education, job opportunities, medical support, training, voting, distance learning and video broadcasts services, bringing the Navajo Nation
into the modern world.
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Future plans for the ESA III contract include
the use of innovative technologies that the
current ATF infrastructure does not support.
The ESA III contract is a Performance Based
Contract with a yearly review. This contract
was procured using the ASI 7-step process.
The contractor (EDS) is measured against
Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) that are
mutually agreed upon by ATF and the contractor. The SLA’s give the contractor incentives to meet and exceed the targets.
• Microsoft Vista will be implemented on
most desktops;
• Many shrink-wrapped software and services
will move to the Web and be transaction
based.
• Specific home grown solutions will be
reduced while COTS products will increasingly accommodate customization.
• Hardware will remain much the same with
processors containing multiple cores as we
see the trend in Intel and AMD.
• Energy costs will drive hardware manufacturers to ever more efficient server designs
and implementations.
• Architecture and standardized methodologies
will become more prevalent and accepted.
• Communications costs will continue to
decrease.
• Storage methodologies will change with the
addition of large flash memory caches in combination with huge terabyte size hard-drives.
• More services will be outsourced but in
smaller chunks.
• Off shore resources will continue to expand
their presence in the business community.
Recognition by Computerworld Honors
Program would give the recognition of the
partnership between ATF and EDS as a true
model of what results from focus on the customer, focus on the mission, and focus on
mutual success. Computer World’s honors
are respected within the community and
would be a proud moment for EDS and ATF.
DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE, BUREAU OF
ALCOHOL, TOBACCO,
FIREARMS AND
EXPLOSIVES (ATF)
EUROPEAN COURT
OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Strasbourg, France
Enterprise Standard Architecture
III (ESA III)
The Human Rights Documents
Project
This nomination is for the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Office of
Science and Technology (OS&T). The ATF
uses the Enterprise Standard Architecture III
(ESA III) project to enable the implementation
of an enterprise architecture that better
accomplishes their vision, mission and future
initiatives. The ESA III contract enhances
ATF’s current information technology infrastructure and enables agents, scientists,
investigators and administrative staff to efficiently use technology to perform their work.
The Human Rights Documents project
(HUDOC) deployed Livelink ECM - comprising eDOCS DM and KM as part of the overall Court Management Information System
(CMIS) to enable the Court to process
cases faster by creating a web-based document and knowledge management system
which supports over 700 internal users and
millions of external users worldwide (the site
had 130 million hits comprising of 2.2 million
visitors in 2006).
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The Court deals with allegations of human
rights violations against the Council of
Europe’s 46 member states. In 2006 it
received over 50,000 applications. It fulfils its
legal obligation to publish its judgments by
making them available via the Internet on the
day of delivery. The document and knowledge
management system is fundamental to its
capability to process cases rapidly and to provide access to the Court’s jurisprudence for
national courts, practitioners, academics and
the general public.
In our opinion the explosion of the Internet in
the early 90’s was the biggest revolution we
are likely to see in our life time in relation to
IT. It opened the flood gates to allow organizations, institutions and individuals to make
freely available to an international audience a
huge collection of information and knowledge. This in turn has benefited society in
many ways as it has given individuals the
opportunity to be better informed, to access
information quickly and via technology such
as blogging the opportunity to freely express
themselves in a world where suppression of
information and expression is an arm used by
regimes which regularly breach human rights.
Of course there are many cases where it is
used in a negative way but on the whole it
opens up thousands of possibilities for the
international community as a whole. The
internet will continue to mature and the IT
industry will continue to offer more tools to
both create and disseminate information.
XML will be widely adopted in 2010 for document creation as will systems to enable creation of knowledge silos with appropriate
metadata tagging. Business Process
Management will mature and become more
widely accepted and Enterprise Content
Management will continue to become a critical part of every business to manage document life cycle. Open source will continue to
grow and the use of virtualization will become
more significant in the business community.
Technologies will continue to migrate toward
the web and web services and programming
based on this technology will grow significantly as the speed and responsiveness of
these applications improve.
It is an honour for the Court to be part of the
shortlist for the award. Since 1996 we have
strived to implement IT solutions that not only
streamline the business processes of the
Court so as to enable it to deal with the ever
increasing number of applications, but also to
provide a public service via our Internet sites
to the citizens of the greater Europe and
indeed the world. The Court has an extremely visible international profile and is constantly
mentioned in the worldwide press and media.
For this reason it is under considerable scrutiny not only by its paymasters the 46 member
States of the Council of Europe but also by
the international community in general. We
have a public obligation that we take very
seriously and being part of the Honours programme in our opinion highlights this commit-
ment. The European Court of Human Rights
remains an unique example of an effective
international judicial system of human rights
protection and as such is a model for other
regional mechanisms. The importance of
effective international human rights protection
for the future peace and stability of the planet
cannot be underestimated. Keeping the
Court’s processes efficient and securing the
timely dissemination of information about its
activities contributes to this underlying goal
and recognition of the role of IT will help the
Court to secure appropriate levels of IT
investment to allow it to continue its work.
FOOD AND DRUG
ADMINISTRATION
Rockville, MD, United States
FDA Headquarter Relocation
The FDA recently underwent a major relocation of their headquarter offices to the White
Oak campus in Silver Spring, MD. The FDA
has met its objectives to create a working
environment in which it can function effectively as a single agency by implementing a
unified communications platform to improve
productivity. The third phase of the relocation project was completed during 2006.
Today the program promises to become one
of the Federal government’s most successful
construction and development projects, and
IP communications is playing a big part in
the success.
GERMANY’S LABOR
AGENCY
(BUNDESAGENTUR
FÜR ARBEIT)
Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany
Virtual Labor Market (VAM)
The high unemployment rate of currently 9.6
percent is the biggest social and political
challenge in Germany. In order to address this
problem the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA),
Germany’s Labor Agency, has undergone
extensive strategic as well as operative
reforms the last years. In this regard the BA
achieved a massive organizational and IT
transformation with the aim of better serving
job seekers and the nation’s economy. The
action taken to better link unemployed workers and employers was the implementation of
the Virtual Labor Market (VAM), considered
as one of the largest and most innovative
public sector undertakings in Europe. With its
two functions, the internet job portal
(JobBörse) and the internal portal (VerBIS),
the VAM significantly increases the Labor
Market’s transparency for all parties involved.
The integrated system supports the BA in
improving process efficiency and ensuring
high quality standards to move towards a customer and service oriented organization.
Globalization, growing competition and accelerated technological change have all caused
shorter innovation cycles in the IT industry. To
remain competitive public and private organizations have to react accordingly. Information
Technology thereby serves as the foundation
to confront future challenges.
In 2010 Information Technology will no longer
only be seen as a way of cutting costs, but as
a strategic instrument to face competition. In
the next years Information Technology will be
the central part in the implementation of
strategies and the development of new operating models. IT systems will be the main
instruments to focus on customers’ needs.
The costs for IT are falling, but at the same
time the potential for further innovations
enabled by Information Technology is continuously increasing. In 2010 there will be more
new developments than ever before.
The challenge for the Information Technology
industry in 2010 is not the development of
isolated IT solutions for single tasks, but the
integration of comprehensive IT systems within organizations. Service-oriented architecture
will be one of the most important topics in the
area of Information Technology in 2010.
The Computerworld Honors Program
acknowledges those who use information
technology to benefit society. As it is one of
our goals to make our contribution to society
by the use of information technology it is a
great honor to be nominated for the Program
this year. The nomination is a compliment to
our hard work and gives us the possibility to
be part of the list of the most challenging and
formative IT projects in the world. Through
becoming part of the permanent research
collections of the Program’s Global Archives
with more than 350 distinguished national
archives, we hope that our case study can
serve others as best practice examples and
support students in their learning process.
GOVERNMENT OF LA
PAMPA PROVINCE ARGENTINA
Santa Rosa, La Pampa, Argentina
PILQUEN (Mapuche Indian word
that means knitted, related to the
social contention that is being knitted by the system.)
Pilquen manages a complete beneficiary database that tracks social program implementations, to optimize resource allocation to families
that can not cover basic needs. This project
begins from a social-economic survey (collected from each municipality) that allows to evaluate the family nucleous social situation, and
this is interrelated with health systems, housing
programs, education, people registration, pensions, and employment programs, generating
and receiving social-economical situational
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changes alerts that affect that familiar nucleous. The system calculates benefits, which are
credited to a Purchasing Card for authorized
products. The application is also integrated to
other benefits allocation, such as housing programs, for example. It also collects statistical
information and inhabitants evolution (at the
municipal or provincial levels), in order to know
the changes in quality of life that the populations gets because of the social policies applications and program implementations.
SOA architecture will dominate the world.
Systems will work with a greater interrelation and
there will be a lower amount of file exchange.
Each organization will be totally responsible for
its data and will expose that which is relevant to
others. All “hand” electronic devices will be integrated in a unique element capable of providing
all the services and accessing any kind of information from anywhere in the world. The technological gap will not be so important between first
and third world countries.
Being part of this program is a great honor,
since this is a very important part of the TIC’s
world; especially because we belong to a
country which is far away from the power
centers, and within our country, we belong to
one of the smallest provinces. The fact that a
project of social scope be considered valid to
take part of such an important event has
filled us with satisfaction, not only to those
who do the information work, but also to
those who, as part of a work team imagined,
built, implemented and manages this project.
HENNEPIN COUNTY
ELECTIONS
Minneapolis, MN, United States
Wireless Transmission of
Unofficial Election Results
Through a partnership between Hennepin County,
Election Systems and Software (ESS)and
Cingular Wireless the November 2006 election
was a success. The two vendors provisioned and
deployed 500+ voting machines county-wide.
Both vendors overcame initial device certification
and SIM provisioning roadblocks to successfully
test and ultimately transmit the unofficial election
results. Feedback from Hennepin County was
that all unofficial election results were sent using
the Cingular Wireless network directly from the
machine with few exceptions. In those rare cases
they were able to transmit the results from the
nearest city hall. Cingular Wireless is currently
working with Hennepin County to determine if
the project can be made even more cost-effective
for the County.
Wireless technology continues to improve in
strength, in reliability, and in speed. We look
forward to continued improvements.
Affirmation of the use of wireless technology
is very important to us. Legislation in the
present Congress (S. 559) would prohibit the
presence of ANY wireless technology in the
polling place. Without the program, unofficial
election results would not be available in a
timely and reliable manner.
HUMBERSIDE
POLICE
Hull, UK, United Kingdom
Data Quality
One of 43 different police forces across
England and Wales, Northern England’s
Humberside Police has targeted poor data quality and consistency as major inhibitors to the use
of technology in crime prevention and intelligence. Ensured data quality is central to several
key UK initiatives for enhancing police efficiency: including IMPACT, a proposed national program for information sharing, analysis, investigation, and crime recording. In answer,
Humberside Police has implemented a data
quality platform for analyzing, standardizing and
enhancing data across its multiple crime, nominal and vehicle systems. As part of the platform,
cross-system fuzzy matching quickly identifies
links between known-individuals and crimes,
and between incidents recorded in different systems-links previously difficult to establish
because of poor data quality and lack of unified
data management standards. Consequently,
Humberside Police has aligned its data to internal and external quality standards while dramatically improving the effectiveness of key crime
and intelligence information systems.
IMMIGRATION
DEPARTMENT, HONG
KONG
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Control Point System
Balancing speedy customer services and
homeland security is always a challenge for
immigration authorities around the world. The
HKSAR Immigration Department is no exception. Despite surging demand for services and
stagnant growth of manpower resources,
through the employment of state-of-the-art and
sophisticated information and communication
technologies, ImmD finds its sustaining and brilliant solution - the Control Point System.
The CPS provides speedy immigration clearance services to the traveling public maintaining millions of movement records on-line
accurately by using sophisticated equipment,
such as Document Optical Reader for speedy
capture of passenger personal data, Forged
Document Detector for detection of forgery,
etc. The CPS is enclosed with a secured
wireless network to support instant mobile
channel supervision via the use of Personal
Data Assistant. To further extend the use of
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wireless technology, 3G is employed for the
transmission of encrypted data which means
immigration clearance can be conducted anywhere in HongKong.
not least, it is an honor to be recognized by
leaders in the U.S. who are nominating this
and other projects for their achievements.
IT will be advanced dramatically.
ITALIAN SENATE
(SENATO DELLA
REPUBBLICA)
It is our honour to be nominated as a participant for the Progam.
INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE
Compliance Data Warehouse
The IRS Research Division provides information in a single integrated environment, with
data standardized for decision-making and indepth predictive analysis. This is no small
task, as the source data resides in multiple
systems, with innumerable formats and varied
nomenclature and input data amounts to 2025 TB annually. Smart use of technology and
efficient architecture reduces the IRS cost
burdens by half, and has eliminated additional
costs: IT support costs, training costs, and
hardware costs. The Compliance Data
Warehouse supplies IRS users across the
country with relevant, timely and accurate
data, amassing up to 10 years of business
and individual return raw data-all on a government budget.
Trends in information technology are often
difficult to predict, even a few years in
advance, but some patterns are emerging
that seem to be taking root. First, the adoption of data exchange standrads like XML are
likely to have greater penetration in data
management operations in the future, particularly those that are based on customer
account transactions. Second, data encryption capabilities in database management
systems are likely to be more prevalent. It
also seems likely that mobile solutions will
continue to expand into new areas, and that
additional security controls for mobile and
other wireless devices will be strengthened.
One prediction that I’ll make that I’m not
happy about is that the cost of software
licensing is likely to rise, in part because of
security-related concerns.
Being part of this program is a positive reflection of the contributions that the IRS
Research organization has made in the past
few years. It is a celebration of the long
hours, hard work, and committment to excellence that comes with public service. It is
also a measure of the success of innovation,
which is an inherent goal of the IRS
Research organization, and the widespread
benefits that result from innovation. Last but
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Rome, Italy
Open, Accessible Website
The Italian Senate had a complex Website
that was not “user friendly”. It made no provision for access for the disabled or elderly, or
for the blind and those with low vision. These
concerns, along with an aging population and
increased demand for web-based services,
led the Italian government to transform the
site into the most accessible and user-friendly
government agency Website in Europe.
The Italian Senate successfully completed a
re-design and launch of its Website to meet
the needs of its constituents. The new site
offers free use of IBM accessibiliy technologies to make it easier for senior citizens and
people with disabilities to access content. The
technology allows for the customization of the
website look and feel to meet users preferences. Font sizes can be enlarged, text can
be read aloud, background colors can be
changed for easier viewing and pop ups and
animations can be turned off.
Lightness, portability, multimodality, device
indipendency, full accessibility: we guess
these are the keywords of the future IT.
Keywords that are already in our dictionary.
Infact, we work strategically in this direction
with open source standards, xml languages,
light approach to not only codes and files but
even to process management.
It means to be part of a community working
on the same direction, for a better interaction
between technologies and - what we care
more - end users. So be part of such a
selected environment is already a success to
us because will let us learn more in order to
deliver more.
KYOTO CITY
GOVERNMENT JAPAN
Kyoto-city, Japan
Master Concept of Kyoto City
Kyoto City created a Website that allows all
people, regardless of their abilities or native
language, to access information. The Website
is available in four languages, and uses IBM
technology to enlarge text and read it aloud.
IBM Easy Web Browsing is easy to use and is
offered free to the user. Senior citizens, who
often have vision difficulties such as low vision
or cataracts, can now access all the information on the Kyoto City Website through
enlarged text or as a “screen reader.” The
screen size can be customized from 50% to
600%. It also enables the user to change the
color of the Website background to help those
with color blindness and other color-related
vision impairments. For children and non-Kyoto
natives, the IBM Easy Web Browsing “reading
aloud” function helps increase comprehension.
This helps make Kyoto City “a city open to the
free exchange of world ideas.”
Within the next 3 years we will see tremendous enhancements to Information Technology.
IT will continue to be woven into the very fabric
of society down to the level of the individual
user. The way people think about and use
technology will evolve. People will continue to
expect and demand that technology suits
them. They will demand that they have access
to information both when they want it and how
they want it presented to them.
Accessibility of information technology will
then become even more critical. New assistive devices will be created enabling even
more people to use technology to their
advantage. Accessible technologies will be
empowering more people to access information, perform self-service Web-driven tasks
and develop their own capabilities and talents.
We believe information technology will
become the backbone of how we communicate to and with each other and how we
interact and react with each other, thus rendering access to IT a basic human right.
It is a great honor to be nominated for the
Honors Program. We are very proud of what
we have accomplished with the Kyoto City
Web site project. As a nominee for the
Computerworld Honors Program, we appreciate that it means our project stands out as
one of the best uses of technology to better
society and improve or enhance the lives of
individuals. We will continue to strive for
excellence in all that we do and continue to
extend our reach globally. We are pleased
that our Web site project has received such
positive feedback with this nomination.
METROPOLITANNASHVILLE, POLICE
DEPARTMENT
TENNESSEE
identification demands. For the MetroNashville, Tennessee Police Department, it
has dramatically enhanced the way crime is
fought. In April 2005, the department redesigned their procedures with this new system to streamline the time officers spend in
the booking and citation processing areas.
They have also started capturing palm prints
as well as fingerprints with this new system.
Within the first 20 months since its deployment, the Nashville Police Department has
been able to positively identify 1592 prints
from various crimes ranging from bank robberies, armed robberies, homicides, burglaries
and auto thefts. Of these identifications, 178
of them came from palm prints. AFIS has
helped reduce the time required for procedure training, boosting the Nashville Police
Department’s crime-solving productivity.
We see advances in computer technology
very frequently. If history is an indicator, processing power will increase, storage costs will
reduce, and the footprint of equipment will
get smaller. What is of most concern is the
limited time of available support on any given
piece of the project, especially Operating
Systems. We are taking a pro-active
approach by looking at technology refreshment options, and looking at an upgrade road
map that will keep us on the cutting edge,
while at the same time remaining fiscally
responsible.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
is honored to be recognized in the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program. This consideration and awareness reinforces our efforts
to provide community-based police products
to Nashville, so they can experience a safe
and peaceful community. Our efforts in 2007
were enhanced by our upgraded implementation of the AFIS21 technology and solutions.
AFIS21 dramatically impacted the operation
and overall success of our MNPD’s Latent
Unit and it has given us the opportunity to
lead by example. We were able to demonstrate through our implementation of AFIS21
that technological innovation can significantly
enhance the state of mankind.
Our vision is to share this technology with
other crime fighting agencies--to form problem-solving partnerships, to further demonstrate the benefits of cohesive data collection,
and to improve the overall success rate of
solving crimes through the advances of technology. We are able to achieve these goals
with organizational excellence, professionalism, ethics and integrity.
Nashville, TN, United States
Automated Fingerprint
Identification System (AFIS)
NEC’s Automated Fingerprint Identification
System (AFIS) is considered one of the best
biometric identification solutions in the world
today. Its proven technology and superior
accuracy is able to meet law enforcement
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MINISTRY OF TRADE
AND INDUSTRY
(MTI), SINGAPORE
Singapore, Singapore
Online Business Licensing
Service (OBLS)
Singapore’s Online Business Licencing Service
(OBLS), powered by Sun Microsystems, offers
an integrated, one-stop Whole-of-Government
Portal - “Networked Government” - for application of licences to start businesses, as well as
update, renew and terminate existing licences.
This covers 84 business licences from 17 government agencies.
OBLS has encouraged over 30 government
agencies to deliver innovative, pro-enterprise
and customer-centric licencing solutions,
through an extensive collaboration rather than
working in silos. With OBLS, businessmen
enjoy faster approvals, cost savings and
improved customer service. Processing time
has been reduced from 21 days to 8 days - a
significant 65% reduction. For company incorporation, fees have been significantly reduced
from between US$720 to US$12,600
(depending on company size) to a single, flat
fee of only US$180 for all companies.
Since the launch of OBLS in 2005, more
than 40,000 businesses have benefited. The
cost savings to businesses are estimated at
more than US$27 million.
Information Technology (IT), will continue to
evolve and be a key driver to create new
service customer innovations and delivery.
A country’s competitiveness in a globalised
environment will also become more reliant on
IT. Singapore, for instance, will implement its
Next Generation National Infocomm
Infrastructure to deliver broadband speeds up
to 1 Gbps, and offer pervasive connectivity
around the country. The infrastructure will
also be IPv6 compliant and will enable an
exciting host of new broadband-enabled services and applications, such as immersive
learning experiences, telemedicine, high definition TV, immersive video conferencing and
grid computing. Mobile-services in Singapore
will also complement Internet-based services
and become just as ubiquitous. For example,
it will be a common sight for businessmen to
request for Government information and carry
out transactions such as tax payments or
licence renewals through their mobile phones.
In view of system lifespan of the current
OBLS solution, the new replacement system
targeted for 2010 will push the envelope on
integration by offering a fully integrated solution to support the end-to-end licensing
process. Integration will not only occur on the
IT front, but also at the Whole-of-Government
level for Customer Service Strategy,
Processes and Organisational Structures.
We consider it a real privilege to be a part of
the 2007 Computerworld Honours Program.
Computerworld Honours Program identifies
and records the accomplishments of the men
and women, organisations and institutions
that are creating the global best practices in
leading the world’s ongoing IT revolution.
Computer World offers a golden opportunity
for us to learn from the world’s best, it also
gives Singapore an avenue to share this
licensing reform in the public service, and
hopefully this successful initiative will spur
other Governments to embark on their own
successful change journeys and deliver new
outcomes in customer service to both citizens
and businesses.
We would like to take this opportunity to
thank our customers - the business community, for providing feedback to the
Government, and sparking off the change
journey on mindset change and customer
service transformation throughout the public
service, involving more than 30 government
agencies and over 250 business licences.
Finally, the nomination by Sun, as an external
and independent endorsement of the Wholeof-Government eGovernment initiative, is
fresh encouragement in our unending pursuit
for service excellence in the public service.
NATIONAL GUARD
BUREAU J6
Arlington, VA, United States
Joint CONUS Communications
Support Environment (JCCSE)
The Joint Continental United States (CONUS)
Communications Support Environment
(JCCSE) is an umbrella concept for National
Guard IT capabilities supporting homeland
defense and civil support missions throughout
the United States. It should not be construed
as a single entity such as a system, a network,
collaborative tool suite, or deployable communications van; rather it is an information sharing environment that is seamless to the user
and that facilitates horizontal information sharing capabilities. This environment provides
multiple, inter-dependent organizational and
infrastructure components. The integration of
IT capabilities, organizational change, and
process improvement has allowed the
National Guard to implement this initiative.
The mechanics of the communications issues
in JCCSE are important, but are basically only
a pipeline. JCCSE is larger than just the
pipeline. It embraces the capability to leverage our communications infrastructure to
achieve “unity of effort” through effective
interagency trusted information sharing. This
is a process or culture issue as well as a
technology issue. We will need to have robust
automated collaboration and informationsharing software applications for common
operational pictures available that assist and
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encourage a truly collaborative and information-sharing culture that is embraced by all
partners. Technologies in the 2010 timeframe will allow the incorporation of role
based secure access to information within
trusted communities of interest. As you can
imagine, this type of capability is very important to opening the channels of communication between all those who might be called in
to assist during a disaster scenario. This is
the vision of the JCCSE.
It is an honor being a part of Computerworld
Honors Program. The program allows us to
share our experience with other organizations
in the world, as well as to gain inspiration from
those use IT creatively. In addition, the fact that
UCS is nominated is a moral boost for the
CourtNet team members who has worked hard
in delivering a world-class convergent network.
Being able to contribute to the body of knowledge which is aimed at improving quality of life
is a great honor. Our work in the National
Guard Bureau is beginning to help those in
need at the most critical times. If we can
share our ideas with others who may also have
a desire to improve the interagency information
sharing capabilities our nation needs here at
home, we are happy to contribute.
NT POLICE FIRE AND
EMERGENCY SERVICES
NEW YORK STATE
UNIFIED COURT
SYSTEM
Fully Converged Communications
Network
New York State Unified Court System is using
technology in innovative ways to increase efficiency for their staff, enhance security and lower
costs (saving taxpayer dollars!) With their new
converged network, the Unified Court System is
able easily run bandwidth intensive applications
like IP video conferencing services, allowing
lawyers, and certain defendants to “appear” in
court, without the hassle of having to travel to
and from the courthouses or transport prisoners.
In addition, the court system has been able to
implement state-of-the-art video surveillance
services over their network and store recordings
for later use, as a powerful tool to monitor and
protect its facilities as well as the public at large.
As CPU, storage and network capacities
increase dramatically over the next few years, I
believe information technology is going to
embedded in every aspect of our lives. One area
of particular importance is the ubiquitousness of
intelligent sensors that collect, store, analyze and
respond to vital information. For instance, sensors in human body will be able to track long
term health trend and alert potential health problems in real-time. Senors in roadways will be
able to monitor traffic and adjust traffic lights and
speed limit accordingly. Environmental sensors
in every house will be able to optimize the HVAC,
A/V systems, and security systems for energy
efficiency, personal safety, and entertainment.
134
Winnellie, Australia
Using Intelligent Information to
Reduce Crime
Australia’s Northern Territory Police, Fire and
Emergency Services (NTPFES) seeks to
enhance community safety and protection
with 1,600 employees, including 1,000 police
officers. To overcome the geographic challenges of policing an area twice the size of
Texas, NTPFES uses business intelligence to
deploy officers to the right place at the right
time. By linking Hyperion Performance Suite
to its mapping and case management systems, NTPFES has a framework that helps
officers gather and analyze intelligence, which
supports them in investigating and preventing
crime. More than 200 NTPFES officers regularly use the new intelligence system--complete with graphical dashboards--to identify
geographic areas that are experiencing
increasing crime rates and to launch strategic
initiatives to prevent those crimes. By understanding the locations of crimes and matching crime rates, NTPFES has been much
more targeted and efficient in the way it uses
valuable police manpower to reduce crime
and enhance community safety.
By 2010, NTPFES would like to make more
of its data available in police cars. At present,
tasks such as registration number checks
often must be performed over the radio.
NTPFES hopes to give its officers self-service access to this information from within
police vehicles.
Program is essentially a recognition of the
great work that has occurred in relation to
bringing business intelligence and its associated mapping intelligence into the NTPFES. It
also recognizes the fact that innovative solutions can occur anywhere in the world and are
not the domain of those organisations with the
most staff or the most money. Being part of
this program recognizes those people who
managed to get this solution implemented.
ORSUS SOLUTIONS
USA
Situator
Project “Situator” is an elite alert software
product designed by Orsus to alert military
and governmental agencies of deficiencies
in security. Orsus’ technology is in place in
several military installations and is intended
to assist in the Homeland Security division
with innovative breach and security tools
that may save lives.
We’ve already experienced tremendous
advancements in the IT arena, with systems
today that are intuitive and open across multiple systems. This will continue to improve
over the years, with more smart devices on
the market that operate faster and offer continued improved reliability. We’re not just
going to see advancements of IT solutions on
the business front, but also on the home
front. IT serves as the backbone for so many
systems today and has migrated from the
business environment to the home front.
People look to IT to go beyond providing a
management solution for business, but also
their daily lives. People now have information
in the palm of their hand, in the vehicles they
drive and numerous other locations never
dreamed of before.
Recognition by the Computerworld Honors
Program and the ability to submit a case study
for review is a true honor. It’s a testament to
the hard work by Orsus employees to create a
dynamic and sophisticate situation management solution that brings multiple security
devices together for ease of use and management. For years, people in the security industry
have dreamed about bringing multiple security
devices together under a unified platform.
Orsus make that dream a reality thanks to a
strong commitment to develop the best ITbased security solution on the market today.
PASSPORT CANADA
Gatineau, Canada
Secure Passport Applicant
Database
Passports are vital to the security of a nation
as well as ensuring international mobility for
the country’s citizens; Passport Canada
receives approximately 20,000 passport
requests each day and issues 3.5 million passports each year. Passport Canada manages
one of the largest database installations in
Canada- over six terabytes of data - while still
guaranteeing outstanding performance, and
absorbing constant data growth. The agency
facilitates travel for Canadians by delivering
internationally respected travel documents that
meet the highest security standards in the
world. Security is an important issue that
Passport Canada addresses using their fraudulent passport detection and validation system.
In short, this solution enables Passport Canada
to report vital statistics that are important to
Canada’s growth, as well as protect the integrity of Canadian passports by eliminating fraud.
Demand for wireless and real time services
will increase and be a key requirement of
successful business. In addition the public will
increasingly require access to information and
services on a 24/7 basis. Thus business continuity, disaster recovery and the Internet will
all be essential aspects of successful, productive IT systems.
The Computerworld Honors program is a
unique and extraordinary program - given its
mission to find and acknowledge best examples of IT innovation. It is a great honor to be
considered for such acknowledgment. Passport
Canada is both flattered and gratified by the
recognition of the agency’s desire to employ
leading edge technology in novel ways to serve
its internal and external constituencies.
PENNSYLVANIA
BUREAU OF CHILD
SUPPORT
ENFORCEMENT
Directors’ Dashboard
The Directors’ Dashboard helps county
Directors’ monitor, plan and prioritize, their
staff activities. This simple but powerful application presents Directors with a consolidated
view of key performance indicators and
trends for their county, allowing them to
measure their progress toward achieving performance goals, devise an appropriate management response, and maximize the deployment of resources. The Dashboard summarizes large amounts of complex, disparate
information to help Directors quickly and easily identify how to allocate their limited staff
resources in the most cost-effective manner,
while supporting the broader goals of the
Child Support Program: to provide support
and services for all of Pennslyvania’s children
and families.
We continue to see a trend of organizations
wanting to get more benefit out of all the
information that they are capturing. With the
widespread implementation of automated
systems, the amount of data that organizations are acquiring is staggering. Trying to
make sense out of all this data is a major
struggle. In the future, we see more organizations desiring to use this information to create a more personalized customer experience,
as well as to develop competitive advantages
in the marketplace.
135
We feel privileged to be a part of the
Computerworld Honors Program. In past
years, the program has highlighted many outstanding innovative technology achievements,
and it is a great honor to be included in this
group. We appreciate the way that this program helps to disseminate and share cutting
edge technological advancements with a
diverse audience. In addition to participating
in the program, we look forward to hearing
about all of the great initiatives that our colleagues are undertaking.
PENNSYLVANIA
DEPARTMENT OF
PUBLIC WELFARE
PACSES Homepage Portal (PHP)
Unlike the Child Support Website (a
public/Internet facing, customer self-service
portal) that was a Laureate for the
Computerworld Honors Program Award in
2005, the PHP is a custom-built Intranet
Portal, designed to help State and County
workers do business.
“In the next three years, I think the
Information Technology world will be reflecting the benefits of dramatically faster CPUs.
Software developments will follow (perhaps
just as dramatic) for the years leading up to
2013. And oh, laptops will hover above one’s
lap.” - Dave Kryzanowski, PHP Administrator
(said with a smile)
To me, it means recognition of the hard work
and achievement of the entire PACSES
team. Being nominated for this award is
such an honor, because I know that finally
the right people and the product will be recognized in homes and offices across
America. I can’t tell you how special that is
to me. The administration of the PHP has
been both an honor and pleasure of mine
for many years and reflects the dedication
of many Commonwealth and Contracted
staff - both present and former staff - for an
application that we can all be proud of.
SAN DIEGO REGION
San Diego, CA, United States
Regional Command and Control
Communications (3Cs) network
The communications, collaboration and
information-sharing capabilities enabled by
the Regional Command and Control
Communications (3Cs) network has
enhanced performance of first responder
in the southern California area. As a joint
initiative between both law enforcement
and fire-rescue agencies in San Diego
county, this unified network is not only providing alternative means to collaborate
beyond radio communications, but is also
encouraging agencies in the area to work
together to maximize the regions
resources. The end result is a more comprehensive response to the community,
especially during large-scale natural disasters or man-made incidents.
As technology continues to improve performance while lowering cost, it becomes
more available to non-profit and government agencies with limited budgets. Each
year we find that more and more technologies become cost effective and we expect
that trend to continue. The end result is
better support of the communities these
agencies serve.
The San Diego region is very proud of the
accomplishments of the 3Cs program, and is
honored to be recognized by such a prestigous program.
SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION
Baltimore, MD, United States
Electronic Disability (eDib)
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA)
Electronic Disability (eDib) System has
revolutionized the disability claims process
by transforming a paper-based process
into a fully electronic environment supporting the needs of 2 million claims per
year. eDib will increase the efficacy of
the disability process by reducing delays
in creating, transporting and locating
paper files. By removing this burden, eDib
will reduce the total time necessary to
process a disability claim by 25% while
improving the accuracy and consistency of
disability determinations. Beyond the
social and procedural benefits of this program, SSA will save more than $1.3 billion
over the next 5 years. These advances
not only benefit SSA, but more importantly
those whose livelihood depend on the disability process.
A greater reliance on doing business via the
Internet and a greater emphasis on securing
and protecting data.
In 2001, SSA made improving service to
its disability claimants a priority as it
faced a pending wave of disability claims
from the aging of the baby boomers. Its
goal was to make the processing of disability paperless. With eDib now fully
operational, that goal has been achieved
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
G OV E R N M E N T
G OV E R N M E N T
and the Agency has demonstrated SSA’s
leadership in federal technology. Being a
part of the 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program means being able to share our
success and best practices with other in
the IT industry.
STATE OF MAINE
DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH & HUMAN
SERVICES
Augusta, ME, United States
SOUTH CAROLINA
LAW ENFORCEMENT
DIVISION (SLED)
AND SOUTH
CAROLINA CRIME
CENTER
Columbia, SC, United States
South Carolina Law Enforcement
Division and Crime Center
Dramatically Increase
Investigation Efficiency
The South Carolina Computer Crime Center,
which is responsible for the forensic examination of evidence collected during the investigation of a computer crime in the state,
works on as many as 120 cases at one time.
To accommodate evidence files larger than
50GB and more than 21 users, the Computer
Crime Center needed a highly scalable storage solution that would simplify the management of data immediately and over the long
term. Further, the Center sought a solution
that would provide fault tolerance and the
highest possible availability.
With the help of Hitachi Data Systems
(HDS) and Data Network Solutions (DNS),
the Center made a rapid transition that
incorporated the HDS Thunder 9570V system. Almost immediately, the investigators
were able to begin working on multiple
cases, and the team experienced dramatic
performance benefits, with search times
reduced from 24 hours down to a maximum
of one to two hours.
I believe that the information technology field
will continue to grow as others become more
and more familiar with the use of computers.
Individuals who once feared computers will
learn to us them and value their efficiency.
Information technology security and computer
forensics positions will become the mainstream as others continue to exploit the IT
field for personnel gain.
It is a great honor for the South Carolina
Computer Crime Center to be considered for
such a wonderful program. The partnership
between the South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division, the United States
Secret Services, and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation exemplifies the greatness that
can come from devoting resources, personnel,
and other critical assets to form a team. We
consider it a privilege and honor to be considered for this award.
136
Automated Client Eligibility
System (ACES)
The Maine Department of Human Services
(DHS) provides healthcare and cash benefit programs to residents in need. DHS’s
legacy system required a labor-intensive
paper-based application process, requiring
five days to determine eligibility and issue
benefits. Keane’s architectural team
worked with Maine DHS to build the first
advanced, Web-based eligibility determination and benefit issuance system in the US.
Leveraging Keane’s proven object-oriented,
multi-tier client-server methodology, the
new system, called ACES, provides
increased access to records, ensures consistent benefit calculation, and supports
Maine’s 45 human service programs. It also
offers a flexible and scalable environment
to accommodate changing state and federal regulations. Specialists are now able to
collect information in a single, Web-based
interface and share it among other DHS
programs. The newly implemented system
determines eligibility in real-time and
processes applications in fewer than two
hours, allowing benefits to be issued to
residents the next day.
Over the next two or three years, I think
government agencies will be looking for
Information Technology to be more intuitive,
and to provide more drive-down information
when it is needed, as opposed to being
more pull-down or menu-driven. I think
Information Technology will be much more
responsive in that respect. I also think we
will be working on improving cross-system
information, which is a challenge in the
technology world, and we will be focused on
really determining how things can be done
in the most efficient way.
Being part of the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program is a tremendous
acknowledgement of the work both DHHS
and Keane have done to make Maine a
better place for its citizens. This is truly a
project that shows that private-public entities and partnerships can provide the best
of everything. I sincerely believe that government can use technology to improve
the lives and circumstances of people who
need a helping hand, and this is a wonderful example of how we can make that
happen. For the Computerworld Honors
Program to recognize our efforts is
extremely gratifying.
STATE OF NEVADA
DIVISION OF
WELFARE AND
SUPPORTIVE
SERVICES
SYRACUSE CITY
SCHOOLS AND
SYRACUSE POLICE
DEPARTMENT
Carson City, NV, United States
Hyper Collaboration - Shared
Technology Investment
Identity and Security Management
Initiative
The State of Nevada Division of Welfare
and Supportive Services provides care and
support for Nevada’s poor and disadvantaged citizens, helping them move toward
self-sufficiency. Among other services, the
Division handles food stamps, medical
assistance and child support issues. The
Division recently moved from a large mainframe environment to a server environment
with disparate, Web-based applications. This
forced the IT staff to spend much of its
time manually updating user information
across all systems, and opened up the system to greater security risks. To save time
and provide secure network access to
authorized users, the Division implemented
security and identity solutions from Novell.
This critical project now protects sensitive
information belonging to the thousands of
citizens the Division helps every month. In
addition, it automates many of the basic
user provisioning and other requirements,
allowing IT staff to focus on more strategic
initiatives to deliver citizen services.
I see virtualization and interoperability as
what I hope to be drivers for technology.
Virtualization should lead to the realization
of high availability solutions, easily controlled without exceptionally skilled workers
or high costs. Also, interaction between
open source and traditional software companies to achieve interoperability and communications without the need to introduce
complex bridging solutions. Finally, allowing
entities to pick and choose competing
pieces of technology with the end result
being a best of breed solution without siloing with particular vendors.
Becoming a member of the Computerworld
Honors Program would be an incredible
honor for the state of Nevada. As a member of this organization, I believe that IT
has a significant and critical role in providing benefits to society. With all of the technological advancements the industry has
accomplished throughout the years, it
would be an indignity if these milestones
did not work toward the improvement of
society - especially to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
Syracuse, NY, United States
IBM has nominated both Syracuse City
School District (SCSD) and the Syracuse City
Police Department (SPD) for their “Hyper
Collaboration” for intelligently leveraging key
technology investments for the betterment of
the Syracuse, NY community.
The Hyper Collaboration partners recognize
that what we have already accomplished is
unique particularly in the governmental arena
where there is no real incentive to be innovators. Additionally, we realize that a ground
breaking partnership built on technology not
only provides opportunities for the City of
Syracuse but also paves the way for expansion and replication to other municipalities.
To be nominated for this award showcases
our unique partnership and lends credibility to
our vision of the future.
The partnership began with SCSD’s vision to
create a dynamic, interactive framework to
provide students access to state of the art
technology. The core of this framework is an
enterprise wired and wireless network providing access within 35 district locations.
Both police departments and school districts
are heavily reliant on the tax base of their
community for funding. Many of the innovative projects must be funded through competitive grant sources. Being recognized by the
Computer World Honors program will aid in
obtaining resources for completion of the
project and future expansion to other facets
that the partnership envisions.
Concurrently, SPD was trying to leverage
City wide technology to create wireless
hotspots in key points throughout the City
to increase access to critical information.
Currently, SPD has 5 wireless hotspots on
SCSD buildings with plans for 17 more in
Phase 2 of the project. Additionally, SPD’s
network was directly connected to the
SCSD’s for the purpose of providing public
safety through the use of Digital Video
Surveillance and Electronic Access Control
Systems.
Most importantly, the staff associated with this
project both at the Syracuse Police Department
and the Syracuse City School District took it
upon themselves to foster and create a dynamic partnership with the best interests of the
community in mind. This was done without
regard to personal gains, career advancement
or recognition. The Computer Honors Program
award will recognize the dedication and hard
work of the officers and school district employees involved in the technological innovations
described in this case study.
We believe that both SCSD and SPD have
excelled at rapid technology adoption in the
last 7 years. In relation to many of our
peers in the public sector, we have built a
very progressive converged technology
backbone that includes voice, video, wireless, and data. We intentionally built this
high speed communication (IP) backbone
to be “opportunity ready” for new applications and technologies. This is what has
truly enabled us to adopt the cross organizational wireless hotspot, DVS, and access
control subsystems in the partnership
described in this study.
We believe that this philosophy of open
systems architecture, cross collaboration,
and opportunity ready networking will
enable us to jointly face the continuation
of change in technology over the next
three years and well into the future. Our
backbone and IP based technologies will
allow our mutual organizations to flex with
any on-coming change in technology.
Most importantly, technology will continue
to be imbedded and miniaturized, and driven into the fabric of our business practices. Networks will continue to converge
and information will become increasingly
available. Deep analytics will enable us to
make critical decisions faster. We believe
that our progressive technology decisions
have enabled us to be well positioned for
2010 and beyond.
137
TRAVIS COUNTY TAX
OFFICE
Accessible Government
The Travis County, Texas Office of the Tax
Assessor-Collector wanted to provide more
services online to the greatest number of
constituents, including citizens who have
disabilities. They worked with IBM and
Hamer Enterprizes to plan, develop, and
deploy a Web site solution that is more
accessible to the county’s 800,000+ constituents. Benefits: Enables government to
better reach and respond to the public.
Improves levels of customer service on the
Web. Offered an enhanced citizen experience. Increases customer satisfaction. Now
everyone can access their property tax
information and voter qualification/registration information online.
Any Mass Media major in college will answer
this by boasting the massive growth of the
Internet and the death of ancient media, like
newspapers, local television networks and
radio stations. Everything is headed towards
specialization. A perfect example is the
already popular “Sirius Radio”. Books may not
even be safe in the not too distant future. The
Internet has immense capabilities, and preferences will become a standard.
LAUREATES 2007
G OV E R N M E N T
G OV E R N M E N T
The future of Information is going to follow
the dollar. The people and corporations who
find the best way to organize, package and
present data will succeed. Speed and ease
with dominate marketing. And computers will
be moving into almost every aspect of a
human’s everyday life.
Nomination to the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program is and extremely important
moment for me and is a credit to the US Army
Corps of Engineers, and the Office of the CIO.
Today’s attitude towards government and corporate business has been tainted. The media is
massive and the negative publicity of unfortunate public servants and corporate CEO’s who
have betrayed the confidence of their constituents and stockholders is running amuck.
U.S. ARMY GENERAL
FUND ENTERPRISE
BUSINESS SYSTEM
(GFEBS)
Contrary to popular belief the “bad guys” are
the minority. The world is filled with fine people, with great work ethic, strong servants
hearts who approach each day with honor.
They are not all about themselves, they care
about society. The Computerworld Honors
Program is about ‘good news’. It is about saying, “Here, look at this, it made a difference.”
The real goal of these efforts is that others
will emulate it, and that both the organization
caring enough to create it and the Honorees
who are privileged enough to be nominated
with find peace in a job well done.
US Army ERP
Douglas Adams once said, “To give real service you must add something which cannot be
bought or measured with money, and that is
sincerity and integrity.”
LAUREATES 2007
Computers can be a miracle or a monster; it
is all about the men and women behind them.
They are tools and all of us creating them,
programming them and utilizing them have
responsibilities. And The Computerworld
Honors Program is trying to guide this industry in the right direction.
Who wouldn’t want to be associated with that?
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF
ENGINEERS
The United States Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE) provides vital engineering services
in support of U.S. national interests, specializing in emergency response. USACE field
personnel need the ability to collect and
process critical information from beleaguered citizens during crises. Today, 50
members of senior management and thousands of first responders and other field
personnel rely on Palm Treo smartphones to
keep in contact, access and collect important information and do their mission more
efficiently. The USACE mobile solution
includes a mixture of Palm Treo smartphones, some running Windows Mobile and
others Palm OS software. The solution has
resulted in faster, more efficient first
responders who use the built-in phone,
email, camera, and a variety of custom field
applications to better serve the American
public when they are most in need.
Alexandria, VA, United States
General Fund Enterprise Business System
(GFEBS) is a SAP ERP Financials system that
will allow the U.S. Army to share financial and
accounting data across the Service. When completed, GFEBS will be the Army’s system of
record for financial accounting and management.
A joint effort of the Army, Accenture and SAP, it
will become one of the world’s largest enterprise
financial systems, managing $100 billion in
annual spending with more than 79,000 end
users at over 200 sites around the world. With
its enterprise nature and global reach, GFEBS
will provide the Army with the financial management tools necessary to make business decisions that support the Warfighter and result in
strategic advantage on the battlefield.
Moving into the next century brings a mixed
bag of where computer technologies take us
and what types of security we will need to
protect our privacy. Much like Moore’s law
where the complexities of technology double
every year, computer technology in 2010 will
grow faster and more complex then ever
before. We are already looking at the beginning of the future with fiber optics, voice of IP
phones, video streaming, digital photography,
Radio Frequency ID tags, and most important
of all satellite and wireless technology.
Communications providers are working feverishly to bring high speed network bundles to
the household that provide television, telephone
service, and internet access. Video phone service will soon follow wireless, satellite, and radio
frequency identification devices (RFID) technology will allow us to place communications
devices throughout our households without
worrying about signal outlets. Satellite technology will provide us with global positioning systems (GPS) for location tracking, and RFID will
assist us with item management, maybe even
telling us where Fido buried our shoes.
Software is probably where the greatest
achievements will be made, as we move to a
more web based operating environment with
the user purchasing or using word processing, spreadsheet, database, e-mail, or other
software services. Voice activated, touch
screen, and kiosk technology will replace
most forms of input devices. While most of
these technologies are already available now,
they have not yet been taken to their full
potential as they may be in 2010.
138
Even at this relatively early stage in the project, GFEBS leadership is extremely proud of
the exceptional accomplishments of this large
and complex information technology
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program. The technological and managerial
challenges of an Army-wide ERP implementation are formidable and the teaming of the
government and the support contractors on
the Systems Integration team has been a
model for successful integration of military
and civilian experts in one of the most stressful environments short of actual warfare. The
Computerworld Honors program is an opportunity to share our experiences with others in
the information management domain. It is
also an opportunity to herald the government
project management’s appreciation for the
dedication and professionalism of the members of the GFEBS team. The nomination of
the GFEBS project is supported by the highest levels of the Army leadership and further
supports our pride in a job well done.
U.S. NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE
Washington D.C., WA, United States
Historic Preservation Learning
Portal
In 2004, the U.S. National Park Service
implemented the Historic Preservation
Learning Portal
(www.historicpreservation.gov) to deliver
research and training resources to employees in 75 federal agencies as well as the
public. The portal helps government agencies comply with the National Historic
Preservation Act and 40 other related
laws. Powered by Autonomy’s IDOL, the
Historic Preservation Learning Portal automatically indexes historic preservation content from over 1,000 websites. IDOL forms
a conceptual and contextual understanding
of all data from indexed websites, across
250 formats and multiple languages. IDOL
automatically retrieves conceptually related
content and can summarize complex documents to simplify research and disseminate best practices. Using advanced profiling techniques, Autonomy also creates
profiles of all users and automatically links
employees with similar interests and projects. The project has been a resounding
success and more than 17 federal agencies have transferred funds to the National
Park Service in support of the Portal.
1. There will be easy dial-up telephone
access for searches on the Portal.
2. Off-the-shelf software will be used by
everyone.
3. Searches of graphic materials will be possible with graphic searches rather than by
metadata tags.
NPS is extremely proud to have its Portal recognized by the Honors Program. Many of the
users of our portal are technology saavy and
likely visitors and readers of the
Computerworld periodicals. We hope that
through this awards program, we will be able
to make even more people aware of our
exciting project.
U.S. NAVY, PROGRAM
EXECUTIVE OFFICE
FOR INTEGRATED
WARFARE SYSTEMS
Naval Open Architecture
Program Executive Office for Integrated
Warfare Systems, Future Combat Systems
Open Architecture (PEO-IWS 7.0) is the
program manager responsible for the U.S.
Navy’s enterprise-wide implementation of
Open Architecture (OA). PEO-IWS 7.0 is
implementing the Navy’s OA vision to
transform the organization and culture and
align resources to adopt and institutionalize
OA principles and processes throughout
the Navy and Marine Corps to deliver more
capabilities to the warfighter to counter
current and future threats. The OA principles that will help drive down costs and
deliver greater capability more rapidly
include: modular design and design disclosure, reusable application software, interoperable joint warfighting applications and
secure information exchange, lifecycle
affordability, and encouraging competition
and collaboration. By promoting greater
competition among a broader vendor base
and adopting open business practices
already being leveraged by industry leaders, the Navy is working to aggressively
drive down the costs of acquiring its combat systems and weapons platforms.
Changes in Information Technology will not
just be coming from large firms. Openness
levels the playing field in the industry,
enabling ideas and changes to come from
non-traditional players. In addition, the customer will be much more involved and have a
larger say in what products they get-they will
be able to obtain what they want in an ondemand fashion.
Honors Program shows that we are pioneers
in our field. Although we’ve already had a lot
of success, it has not been publicized. Now
the people who have to undergo this transformation see the success and understand that
they have to adapt to the new environment.
UNITED STATES AIR
FORCE LOGISTICS
Gunter Annex, Maxwell AFB, AL,
United States
Enterprise Solution Supply
US Air Force logisticians need integrated, near
real time, actionable enterprise supply chain
data to ensure supply chain managers have
complete visibility of global logistics requirements and resources, and the ability to centrally manage resources to optimize logistics
support and maximize mission capabilities.
The Enterprise Solution - Supply (ES-S), provides centrally manageable, web-based enterprise-wide logistics data visibility by seamlessly integrating data from disparate legacy
systems. ES-S delivered improved data accuracy, reduced data latency, and the ability to
optimize logistics processes. In addition ESS development proved to be a significant step
forward in identifying requirements for the
enterprise logistics system of the future. The
high priority asset sourcing capability enables
ordering and parts movement to ensure aircraft mission availability for Operation Iraqi
Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Keane’s design used a service-oriented architecture, allowing the USAF to “plug in” additional
functionality rapidly and cost-effectively, enabling
direct data connections with AF suppliers.
The Global War on Terrorism (GWOT),
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation
Enduring Freedom (OEF) have created
unprecedented demands on the U.S. military.
General Bruce Carlson, Commander of the Air
Force Material Command, stated that 80% of
all OIF/OEF sorties are flown by the Air
Force. An Air Mobility Command aircraft
takes off every 90 seconds, and humanitarian
and relief efforts continue across the world.
The Air Force faces constant financial and
resource management challenges to meet
these demands. From a resource perspective,
the average age of an aircraft is currently 23.5
years and the increase in operations tempo
means equipment is being used at a much
higher rate than in peacetime -- two to eight
times higher. At the same time, force restructuring is reducing troop strengths to the smallest levels since the post-WWII drawdown.
Using information technology to create virtual
“centralized” services like ES-S is the linchpin
to meeting all of these difficult challenges.
Moreover, convergence of Information
Technology (IT) will continue to be a priority
for the Department of Defense. Soldiers,
Sailors, Airmen and Marines need lightweight,
highly capable IT devices that link them
seamlessly to the DoD information network.
Situational awareness from the flight-line to
the Pentagon will be necessary in future
years to support an agile, flexible, responsive
national defense infrastructure.
Logistically, the cost of maintaining readiness
continues to increase. The incorporation of
unique identification information, serial number tracking, and automated identification
technology, coupled with an enterprise data
repository, such as the previously mentioned
ERP solution, will provide precise asset infor-
139
mation enabling a leaner supply chain.
Lastly, the more DoD relies on net-centric
operations, the more these networks will
become targets of attack. Security concerns
associated with net-centric operations will
drive improvements in secure networks and
intrusion detection and prevention.
Nomination for this program gives us an
opportunity to not only share the success of
ES-S, but to share our experience in resolving some of the technical challenges that are
unique to government Information Technology
(IT) development and implementation. It also
means we can share what a critical role information technology will play in winning the
war on terrorism and supporting the troops in
Iraq and Afghanistan. At a time when it is
crucial to insure every taxpayer’s dollar provides the most mission capability for our
warfighters, we are proud to say that ES-S
has resulted in improved visibility of vital
logistics support to the front lines.
Further, this nomination allows us to showcase
how ES-S proves that IT can be a critical “force
multiplier” allowing fewer people to do more,
with no degradation in the level of service provided to the customer. It is estimated that the
savings generated by using ES-S will return a
minimum of $5 - $8 million for warfighting
requirements. As ES-S capability is expanded
to other capabilities, these savings can only
grow. The technology and innovation ES-S
brings will ensure the United States maintains
its air, space, and cyberspace dominance.
Nomination for the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program is an affirmation of the hard
work and innovative efforts that went into
creating a leading edge application for the
United States Air Force. It also provides an
opportunity to document the many benefits
and challenges of our program, and to
become part of an impressive archive of other
such programs. Lastly, this nomination shows
that the United States Air Force and the
Department of Defense use of visionary
application of information technology to promote positive social and economic gains
including support for America’s warfighters.
UNITED STATES
POSTAL SERVICE
Raleigh, NC, United States
Strategic Transformation Plan
The USPS technology network supports
over 650 national applications designed to
run the organization on a day-to-day basis including the payroll for 740,000 employees
and payments to suppliers nationwide. The
USPS has the world’s largest intranet, connecting the Postal Service’s processing and
distribution centers, bulk mail centers,
Priority Mail centers, air mail facilities, and
38,000 post offices.
As a result, the USPS has published a second
Strategic Transformation Plan for the 20062012 timeframe. The plan is designed to drive
the Postal Service to achieve record levels of
service and customer satisfaction including
communication capabilities to reach to key
audiences. So far the Postal Service launched a
LAUREATES 2007
G OV E R N M E N T
new audio and web conferencing service in
November 2006 to 225,000 users. The program will save the Postal Service several million
dollars on an annual basis, reducing the operating budget while keeping with the overall mission of the Strategic Transformation Plan.
VETERANS
ADMINISTRATION
US ARMY HUMAN
RESOURCES
COMMAND
The Veteran’s Administration Midwest Network
(VISN 23) provides a range of medical care to
veterans in the Midwest. This is one of the VA’s
largest territories, with care facilities widely dispersed and sometimes inaccessible due to distance or weather. In order to scale to meet the
needs of veterans who are physically or psychologically at risk, VISN 23 deployed a visual
communications network for the delivery of
medical services to veterans in VA clinics and in
their homes. VISN 23 supports three medical
specialties: Telespych for psychiatric care;
Teleortho for post-op follow up and consulting;
and Telederm for skin-related healthcare. Other
programs include diabetic and nutritional education for veterans and a partnership with
Indian Health Services to provide Telehealth
services for Veterans residing on Native
American lands. With the VISN 23 visual communications network, veterans, regardless of
their location, can now receive the post-service
and wellness care that they deserve.
interactive Personnel Electronic
Records Management System
(iPERMS)
The US Army Human Resources Command
(AHRC) is responsible for policy and management of personnel records for the Army (Active,
Reserve, National Guard). All personnel records
were kept on paper and microfilm, until 1994,
when the Army deployed a document-imaging
system at each of four Army records centers.
The system, Personnel Electronic Records
Management System (PERMS), is a Unix-based,
client/server platform, with an Informix relational
database, Network Attached Storage (NAS), and
12-inch optical discs arrayed in jukeboxes for the
document archive. During 2003-2004, an
enhanced version of PERMS was deployed for
the Army National Guard (ARNG) Joint Task
Force Headquarters (JTFHQ) in 50 States and 4
Federal Territories. This enhanced system architecture (Sun Solaris, Oracle, Storage Attached
Network, Web Browser Interface) was adopted
as the model for Interactive PERMS (iPERMS)
development, and has become the Primary
Records Management System (RMS) for Active
Army, National Guard, and Reserve Components.
Customer expectations for high availability
and responsiveness continue to press developers for improved solutions. The trend is to
offer more and more services through the
internet, and to continue toward a paperless
business environment. Document images with
wet signatures will be replaced by digital data
organized into document templates, with digital signatures verified by end-user personal
identification numbers (PIN). The Government
and Military continue to expand the use of
the Common Access Card (CAC) with it’s
embedded chip and security certificate.
It is a privilege to participate in the program
and to nominate a Government developed
system that has led to significant improvements in Army Personnel Management.
Fargo, ND, United States
Veterans Administration Midwest
Network (VISN23)
The deployment of IP technology enhancements through the vast Public layer access will
bring state-of-art technologies into the home.
The current technology capabilities that are currently only available to large corporations and
government agencies, and only then because
of economy of scale purchases, will be readily
available and affordable to the average home
user. It will bring the delivery of advance medical services directly into the home minimizing
the need for expensive brick and mortar.
Mostly, it means recognition of identifying the
need and purpose of providing timely, affordable
healthcare to the most worthy of all people;
those that have born the cost of battle defending the freedoms of the world. Technology surrounds all of us, but this technology truly brings
the heart and feeling of personal contact to
those who because of the asphalt divide
between patient and provider, is no longer a barrier. It is recognition that technology doesn’t
make the people, it connects individuals to one
another with the purpose of making lives better.
140
Healthcare
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
BAYLOR COLLEGE
OF MEDICINE HUMAN GENOME
SEQUENCING
CENTER
BLUE CROSS AND
BLUE SHIELD OF
KANSAS CITY
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
(BCBSKC) built a self-service Web portal for
members, healthcare providers, employer
groups and brokers to quickly access insurance information. It needed web access management software to protect the portal
against unauthorized access for 1,050 BCBSKC employees and 900,000 members that
can access the site. The company was seeking a solution that ensured confidentiality of
information while also being easy to use by a
large number of people. BCBSKC implemented RSA Web Access Manager technology as
the central component of its identity and
access management strategy. The solution is
providing a secure infrastructure that allows
BCBSKC to manage its online user population as well as promote compliance and keep
costs down. The solution has eliminated many
help desk calls and most importantly, has
enabled its members multiple ways to monitor
and improve their health through online
health assessments, stress management and
other programs.
Centralized Data Storage Pool
Since 1996, the Baylor College of Medicine
Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCMHGSC) has been involved in painstaking work
to determine the exact order of genetic letters in the human genetic code-and that of
other animals-to dramatically advance our
understanding of health, disease, development, and evolution in the human beings.
When the Human Genome Project began in
1990, most of the sequencing work was performed manually. Today, Baylor performs in
one day the same amount of DNA sequencing that would have taken a month to complete in 1998. Automation of the DNA
sequencing process and the availability of
faster, more efficient technology have allowed
major advances in the project.
However, tracking larger quantities of DNA samples and research data also presents challenges.
Baylor is currently implementing a dynamic, centralized data storage “pool” that will greatly aid
researchers by reducing data processing time
from 16 hours to two-and-a-half hours.
LAUREATES 2007
I think that storage will continue to grow dramatically in general, and even more dramatically in the genome research world. I think
that the explosion of data is still in its early
stages and that the next problem to solve will
be to manage, index and retrieve that data.
Virtualization is still in its infancy but will be
essential for nearly all organizations as this
dramatic growth continues. By 2010, most
storage will be virtualized and this technology
will be mundane.
It means recognition for the work that the
Human Genome Sequencing Center does.
This program is making a significant contribution to hunamity, developing information that
will be used by researchers and medical personnel for decades or centuries to come.
The Information Technology component of
this effort often gets overlooked because of
the significance of the biology, but it is an
essential part of that effort.
The recognition and peer approval that this
program can give the HGSC could positively
contribute to future funding efforts.
Kansas City, MO, United States
Healthcare Portal
The current explosion of smart-edge devices
like smart phones, ipods etc. will continue to
escalate in 2010. This combined with highspeed network access will drive demonstrable
change in the expectations of consumers.
There will be a paradigm shift that will be as
large as the advent of the PC and the internet. Society will shift to being in an “always
on” connected state. Companies and their
technology divisions will both benefit and
struggle as a result of the proliferation of
“connectedness,” because they will have to
support the rapid changes in device technology and meet customer expectations.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City strives
to use technology to exceed its customers’
expectations. To be considered as a nominee
by a national magazine as prestigious as
Computerworld is truly an amazing honor.
BRAZIL MINISTRY
OF HEALTH
Brasilia, Brazil
National STD and AIDS Program
Brazil’s Ministry of Health is taking a stand
against AIDS. Brazil’s National STD/AIDS
program makes AIDS medication available
free of charge to 100% of its citizens who
need it. The program has developed a complex drug management system which enables
it to manage and update a national patient
register, link to 635 drug dispensing units,
142
control dispensing, and authenticate drug
requests. The program’s efficient solution provides a chance-to-live for a growing number
of AIDS patients who would not have access
to the treatment. The program has reduced
the number of Brazil’s AIDS deaths by 54%
and has decreased the cost of treating this
growing number of patients. In 2000,
US$303 million was spent on drugs to treat
100,000 patients, in 2002, US$167 million
was spent to treat 119,500 patients. The
Ministry of Health’s smart use of technology
reduced expenses by 45%, while covering an
additional of 19,500 patients.
The Ministry is now making efforts to build
national networks to develop vaccines and to
move forward in the field of clinical research.
Other developments include a strategic plan
to develop pharmaceutical ingredients and
medical drugs; tests for diagnosis and clinical
follow-up; implementing training and qualification policies for staff working in this field;
and strengthening technical, scientific and
technological cooperation between different
countries.
To achieve all of these objectives, the Ministry
of Health will continue to rely heavily on its data
management system. Each objective will
require more data to query, and the ability to run
queries quickly it will be critical to ensure that
the programs lofty goals are not compromised.
THE CANADIAN
FOUNDATION FOR
AIDS RESEARCH
(CANFAR)
By 2010 technology will be much more in-tune
with the end user. Technology will be tailored
more towards the needs of different consumer
groups in terms of application and design. For
example, for retiring baby boomers, font size
will increase and icon placement will be reexamined. Every industry, including the non-profit
sector, will need to adjust its processes to
meet new consumer demands.
Just as the Cleveland Clinic is focusing on
the “patient experience”, Information
Technology will begin to focus on the “user
experience”. It will take longer than then
the next three years, yet we will begin to
see a transition from the focus on how an
application of technology can solve a specific business need to how it can improve
the user’s experience.
Membership in the Computerworld Honors
Program is of significance to CANFAR as
it will allow us to showcase our best-inclass approach to raising awareness
regarding HIV/AIDS in Canada and
abroad through the use of innovative
information technology. Our website is the
result of more than a year’s worth of planning, and guided by our charity’s vision
and mission statement we were able to
create a website of tremendous originality.
In addition, the improved functionality of
the website and the newfound alignment
with CANFAR’s brand has facilitated a
higher quality of online visitor stewardship
for CANFAR. This means that we are better able to respond to researchers, youth,
donors, and those with sensitive questions
about this important issue. Membership in
the Computerworld Honors Program would
allow CANFAR to stand proudly beside
leaders in the not-for-profit field, serving
as a model of how information technology
might be harnessed for the benefit of
society at large.
We are starting to see this with the
development of unified communications.
We are moving away from an application
used for just e-mail and another for presentations; away from one device for
paging, another for voice calls and yet a
third for mobile e-mail retrieval. We are
beginning to see the industry move in the
direction of the “experience”. The users
of information technology will have the
ability to choose the method by which
they receive communications; voice, email, video, data, chat, etc.
CLEVELAND CLINIC
Toronto, Canada
CANFAR -- Leveraging Online
Technology and Design to Raise
AIDS Awareness
It’s All About The Patient: Using
Technology To Deliver A Quality
Experience
CANFAR, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS
Research, is the only national organization in
Canada dedicated to privately funding
HIV/AIDS research. Through most of 2006,
CANFAR had an outdated website that insufficiently represented their vision and goals. In
mid-September, CANFAR re-launched their
website to significantly raise awareness of
the organization across Canada while reflecting and promoting their mission. Soon to be
bilingual in both English and French, the site
currently promotes CANFAR’s mission to its
target audiences while enabling CANFAR to
strengthen its brand in the online environment; raises public awareness of CANFAR as
a leader in the HIV/AIDS research space;
communicates the benefit of the research
being done toward ultimately ending AIDS;
generate revenue to be used to fund
research projects; and grows, maintains and
profiles strategic partnerships and collaborations with AIDS service organizations.
As a world-class healthcare provider, the
Cleveland Clinic is also focused close to
home, delivering quality care to more than
50% of the population of the greater
Cleveland community. MyPractice, the enterprise-wide electronic medical record project is
now focused on the Cleveland Clinic’s 8 community hospitals. The enormous collaborative
effort is advanced by leveraging a robust wireless network. The network is the backbone
for the capture, management, integration,
analysis, and reporting of clinical care data securely, in real-time, and at the point of care
so that clinicians can make more informed
and timely decisions concerning patients.
More Importantly, by having ubiquitous coverage in each hospital, the network drives efficiencies and productivity by supporting additional clinical applications, beyond MyPractice,
such as wireless voice services, RFID medication management and guest/patient access.
This strategic investment is the beginning of a
new kind of medicine - for safer, high quality
efficient healthcare.
We practitioners in information technology
will need to understand that the individuals
we support will have much higher expectations of how and when they receive information. The influence that we have had in
the past over computing devices and applications by setting internal standards will go
head-to-head with new demands of individuality. Work, family and recreation times
will blend together, and we will need to
design technological solutions that allow
individuals to control with whom they communicate within their world.
Being nominated as a participant in the
2007 Computerworld Honors program has
a two fold meaning for me. First it is an
achievement and that achievement is one
which recognizes that hundreds of individuals within our IT organization perform
excellent work on a daily basis. This award
is not about any one individual. Rather, it is
the culmination of the efforts of many. I’m
very proud to work with the individuals in
the Information Technology Division at
Cleveland Clinic and they deserve the
external recognition that this award would
confer upon them.
Secondly, it is the honor associated with
simply being nominated for this award.
Whether the final gala award is achieved or
not, I feel honored by being recognized in
the company of the other organizations that
have been nominated. So many organizations have very talented individuals within
their information technology groups and
they all perform a true benefit for society.
It is being recognized along side these
other individuals for which I feel honored.
CROSSLINK
ORTHOPAEDICS
Atlanta, GA, United States
Crosslink Orthopaedics used to manage inventory and cases manually using an inefficient
paper-based process that included faxes, telephone calls and some non-integrated Access
databases. Crosslink turned to Objectware to
create a custom Web-based application that
helps sales and warehouse employees stay on
top of the complicated system. The software
allows field employees, equipped with Treos and
Socket Communications’ SocketScan SDIO
card barcode scanners, to access and update
valuable data via their wireless connection, getting a consistent real-time view of schedules
and inventory. Technicians can easily scan and
track inventory usage in real-time from the
Operating Room. Now, 2-7 kits can be handled
in the time it previously took to process one kit,
boosting warehouse productivity 44% and lowering shipping errors 80%. The latest versions
incorporate TraumaCad patented Xray capture
with the Treo, integrating the Xray into the case
record in the WebOps software for analysis
including templating with TraumaCad software.
In 2010 we believe IT will be more integrated
in every aspect of the job market.
Honors Program is a great honor which will
demonstrate to everyone that our “first of its
kind” software is definitely the way to go.
THE DANISH
NATIONAL EHEALTH
PORTAL
Copenhagen, Denmark
Sundhed.dk
Ageing populations, rising drug costs, and the
chronically ill getting younger put pressure on
the healthcare sector to optimize the delivery
of care.
Since 2003 the public, internet-based Danish
National e-Health Portal Sundhed.dk (Danish
for health.dk) has not only supported but also
driven such an optimization. Owned by the
complete Danish health sector Sundhed.dk is
the only portal of its kind in Europe.
Sundhed.dk enables the entire Danish healthcare sector - both citizens and professionals to communicate and collaborate via a single
shared web interface across professional and
IT-related boundaries.
Based on a secure, private and confidential
architecture sundhed.dk increases quality of
treatment and patient life by offering access to:
• self services such as eConsultations,
eBookings etc.
143
• information, decision support, guide lines etc.
• full cross sector medical history
- hospital EHRs
- lab tests
- tracking of medicine use
• shared care involving both citizens, GPs and
hospitals.
Supporting patient-centric, cross-sector networks and optimizing the health care sector
by means of e-Health, I especially see the
technology developing in the following areas:
Security management, privacy management,
service-oriented integration, and shared care
and self-monitoring.
Secure identification of the user combined
with full confidentiality will be one of the
focus areas towards 2010. In Denmark, the
Government has already issued a standard
digital certificate infrastructure for identifying
citizens, companies and employees.
The possibility to share personal, sensitive
information also means challenges regarding
the protection of patients’ privacy via privacy
management. In Denmark, this is handled by
an overall consent management model, control of the relations between the health care
professional and the citizen combined with
automatic reporting of the access to the citizens. In the future, this consent model will
have to be more sophisticated. It may for
instance be ok for a citizen to have his family
doctor accessing his lab results in general,
but he may not be interested in allowing the
doctor to access the lab test he had for HIV
at another clinic.
The integration technology still has to develop
to support easy-to-use, low-cost integration
methods. One of the key issues is to solve
the matter of single sign-on. This means further focus on standards and technologies for
integration using standard authentication.
The largest cost in the health care sector is
the handling of chronically sick patients.
Projects in Denmark have shown that it is
possible to involve these long-term patients in
their own treatment by means of shared care
and self-monitoring. This gives a more dedicated treatment with higher quality and fewer
resources. Technology will support this area
by developing personal devices that helps the
patient monitor his own condition at home
and automatically share this information with
the health care professionals.
The Computerworld Honors Program is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate and learn from the
very best IT solutions from different industries.
So I am very honored to have the Danish
National e-Health Portal, sundhed.dk, nominated
to participate in this prestigious program.
The nomination is an important recognition of
sundhed.dk and the work involved. Further, it
is a recognition of the people who have had
and still have the will to fight for being able to
develop IT solutions to the benefit of society
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
and its citizens. Through the years, a lot of
people from very different organizations and
businesses have contributed to making sundhed.dk the solution it is today.
It is my hope that with the nomination and our
case study we can share our experience to
the benefit of other countries’ health services
or sectors, which face similar challenges and
will be able to make the same gains.
DARTMOUTHHITCHCOCK
MEDICAL CENTER
Lebanon, NH, United States
DHMC - ECM Project
The nationally-ranked academic medical center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
(DHMC), was looking to save time and
money in the distribution of reports across its
extensive operational network, and it needed
a solution that would integrate with the
PeopleSoft applications used by the hospitals
and other healthcare services.
Serving northern New England, DHMC is
made up of Mary Hitchcock Memorial
Hospital, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic,
Dartmouth Medical School, and the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center in White River
Junction, Vermont. DHMC is also home to
Norris Cotton Cancer Center, a National
Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive
Cancer Center, the Children’s Hospital at
Dartmouth (CHaD), an interdisciplinary Spine
Center, comprehensive Cardiology services,
and is one of only a few Level I trauma centers in the region.
DMHC consists of some 300 medically specialized. The need for streamlined processes
for report distribution is pervasive - and
costly - across a healthcare system of that
size and complexity.
In 2010, Information Technology will be available to more users on more devices that will
combine voice, data, images and descriptive
text into one central location. At the same
time, no one will have access to the technology without authorization relying on proximity
scanners, fingerprint ID, and bar-coded information. In the Health Care environment, the
Electronic Medical Record will replace paper
records, the Provider will see the “big picture”
online, and the patient will have more control
and access related to Personal Health
Records on the Internet.
It provides an opportunity to compare our
achievements with other institutions in the IT
community and a reason to move ahead with
new ideas and shared knowledge.
144
DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS
(VA)
Vancouver, WA, United States
Regional Data Center (RDC)
Project
The VA is recognized as a leader in healthcare delivery. Its VistA Computerized Patient
Record System, built on InterSystems’ Cache’
high performance object database, is key to
that success. Recently, VA focus has been on
consolidating into four regional data centers
to share resources and achieve economies of
scale. in 4Q06, IT staff in the VA’s Western
Region began a pilot project for regional
deployment of a centralized system, providing
access to clinicians in 32 sites over 14
states,served by two geographically separate
data centers. Using InterSystems’ Enterprise
Cache Protocol, the project is serving 12 of
the 32 sites with completion in 4Q07. Already
recognized as a success in serving clinicians
located thousands of miles apart from two
locations,this regional model is proof of the
VA’s contributions to delivering superior
healthcare to veterans as effectively as possible, leading the way to the next generation of
healthcare delivery.
It seems clear that wholesale adoption of
wireless technology in virtually every environment will be a hallmark of IT by 2010. In the
healthcare sector, for example, barcoded
information from patient ID bracelets in hospitals and clinics will be transmitted wirelessly
to update each persons electronic health
record (EHR). On the provider side, physicians and clinicians will have wireless access
to patient records from any location on a
24x7 basis. And, in the VA environment, that
patient information will be the safest, most
secure data in the world.
This expansion of wireless technology in the
healthcare environment is likely to be mirrored in virtually every business and government sector as well as among individual information users worldwide. Reinforcing this
trend, the speed of communication will continue to get faster on an ongoing basis,
enabling a truly wireless, easily and economically accessible information environment.
Nomination to this program puts me in some
very lofty company. When reviewing the
accomplishments of IT leaders at organizations that include organizations as diverse as
Wal-Mart, General Motors, McKesson, Bank
of America and Intel, to name a few, I’m very
aware of the recognition and honor that a
nomination to the Computerworld Honors
Program entails.
At a personal level, this nomination is a validation of a process that the VA has been
going through for years. In contrast to the
negative perception of the VA which was
pervasive ten years ago, the organization’s
VistA application, which provides VA clinicians with easy, secure access to patient
records has become a model for healthcare
institutions worldwide and we’re immensely
proud of that achievement.
EAST-WEST GATEWAY
With continued hard work, the RDCs are
positioned to get the VA where it wants to be
in the next decade with a regional model that
is designed to take our clinical information
systems to the next level of healthcare delivery. My team and I very much appreciate the
fact that this initiative is being recognized for
current and future achievements.
Challenge
The Greater St. Louis area has 200 regional
fire departments, 50+ hospitals, and multiple
EMS providers. The St. Louis Area Regional
Response System(STARRS) coordinates
EMS efforts across this network. The group
needed a comprehensive communications
system for mass casualty events to keep
track of patients and alert emergency rooms
of incoming casualties.
DUKE MEDICINE
Durham, NC, United States
HealthView Portal
Health systems have multiple sites to conduct
patient and clinical communications such as
patient billing services or information for
referring physicians. Now, by using a service
oriented architecture (SOA) based on IBM
software and services to connect information
from disparate systems, the Duke HealthView
allows patients and eventually physicians to
access and manage health information and
services more efficiently and effectively from
one single site.
The HealthView Portal gives Duke patients
the capability to easily and securely retrieve a
variety of health-related information. For
example, patients can request and book medical appointments; view and manage account
information; pay bills; maintain personal
health and insurance information.
Physicians and referring clinicians will also be
able to securely utilize the HealthView Portal
in the near future for a variety of information
including patient medical history and health
data; lab results; medication lists and medical
reference materials.
The last several years have seen remarkable
advances in technology to support patient
care and safety as well as drive business
logic needed to maintain financial viability and
meet regulatory requirements. Technology in
healthcare will be transformed over the next
three years with a patient centric focus.
Paramount to this transformation will be eprescribing, enhancing patient information,
improving patient-clinician communications,
and ambulatory electronic medical records.
The Computerworld Honors Program has highlighted the positive impact of technology
throughout our society. Participating in this program allows us to focus on the significance of
Duke’s effort in patient care. It signifies in a
global sense the transformation of empowering
and educating patients about their own care and
health. This transformation will ultimately help
improve patient safety and outcomes. It is an
honor to participate in this effort again this year.
Town and Country, MO, United States
STARRS ... Improving Emergency
Response with Patient Tracking!
Solution
The East-West Gateway Council of
Governments provides a forum for cooperative
problem-solving for St. Louis and eight surrounding jurisdictions, a population of 3.0M.
STARRS coordinates planning and response
for large-scale critical incidents. STARRS is
improving emergency response and the use of
facilities with a PTS coordinating first responders for a mass casualty incident(MCI.) A
mobile patient tracker MCI kit collects data at
the scene, generates a barcode patient tag,
helping responders determine the hospital
facility for patient care. This information is forwarded to help hospital staff prepare for the
incoming patient’s unique needs.
1. Trends Transforming Government:
Performing on Demand; Sense and Respond
• Horizontal integration of processes and
infrastructure across the entire enterprise,
including key partners, suppliers, and customers
• Through the Internet
• Through Internal Operations
• Through Non-Traditional Organizations
• Through Market-Based Approaches
2. Trends Transforming Government: Using
Networks and Partnerships; Develop
Collaborative Models
• Characteristics of new challenges:
• Outside boundaries of any one agency
• Not part of traditional service delivery system now in place in most agencies
• Not playing by the same rules as traditional
agencies
3. Role of performance measures
• More than a tool of accountability
• More of a language for common action
4. Key attributes of success
• Right people and incentives, not traditional
policy management approaches
“The Computerworld Honors Program would
be great recognition for the EMS Paramedics
and Hospital committees involved in this
implementation. Their vision of how this
region can work together for the good and
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welfare of the community has been a driving
force behind this implementation, and to be
recognized for that effort would be greatly
appreciated. This award goes to those who
dedicate their lives to taking care of people in
dire circumstances; they should be rewarded
for their dedication and efforts.” Nick
Gragnani, Executive Director, STARRS
EDWARD HOSPITAL
& HEALTH SERVICES
Naperville, IL, United States
Business Continuance and
Disaster Recovery
Edward Hospital & Health Services, a fullservice regional healthcare provider, needed
to reduce the tedious information management chores associated with multiple islands
of direct-attached storage for its mission-critical applications. To store and protect its
patient and clinical data, shrink backup times
and support the growth of its electronic medical records, the community healthcare network introduced an EMC tiered-storage infrastructure to eliminate the time lag inherent in
delivering radiology and cardiology images
and other vital patient records to healthcare
staff. Consequently, Edward clinicians have
been able to spend more time with patients
and deliver more responsive and effective
care. Edward also implemented EMC business continuity solutions to provide real-time
synchronous remote replication of medical
and business information and ensure rapid
recovery from disasters or other events that
might knock one of its data centers offline.
In the next three years, all medical records
will be electronic. Patient records will contain
automatic alerts for everything from fluctuating blood sugars for diabetics to elevated
cholesterol levels for heart patients. The infrastructure will become wireless to integrate
everything from thermometer readouts to
patient ID tags and prescription labels. All the
systems will be integrated so that physicians
and caregivers can access patient information
from any portal and have it presented instantly to enable quicker diagnoses. Automating
many of the processes will enable caregivers
to spend more time with the patient and less
time with the technology.
For Edward to receive such an accolade
shows the community that our organization is
committed to investing in cutting-edge technology to provide the most advanced medical
care for our patients.
GEISINGER HEALTH
SYSTEM
Danville, PA, United States
Clinical Decision Intelligence
System (CDIS)
Known for its innovative use of information
technology and clinical translation capabilities,
Geisinger is working with IBM to create a
technology and data infrastructure that will
utilize data from its longstanding EHR implementation, its health plan and clinical enterprise along with newly-developed data mining
and analytics to better measure outcomes,
develop new models of care and engage in
translational research - all while improving the
quality of care available to the 2.6 million
patients Geisinger serves in Pennsylvania.
Healthcare markets evolve slowly; IT will be
much the same in 2010. Nonetheless, some
important changes in the IT landscape are
likely. IT will be more wireless and mobile
computing more mature and widely used,
including voice-over IP for wireless devices.
Hardware and software vendors will continue
their shift from a buy to a lease market. IT
professionals will extend support to an
increasingly complex array of applications and
technologies, requiring creative solutions to
an already taxed IT support staff.
In healthcare specifically, we expect moderately greater adoption of HIT and enhanced
interoperability between systems. IT will
become more patient and consumer focused
and consumers more engaged in self-service.
More care will be provided by non-physician
providers and emphasis placed on patient
self-reported information collected through
surveys and remote devices, as well as electronic exchange among providers.
Individualized medicine will continue its evolution as the genomics knowledgebase makes
rapid progress and genetic testing costs fall.
Hospitals may provide more software and support to physicians and affiliated physicians.
Adoption of EHRs by private physicians will
increase, but costs, productivity and management oversight will remain significant issues.
Many physician practices will look to third parties (e.g., hospitals, vendors) to host their EHR
systems, facilitated by relaxation of Stark and
anti-kickback rules. We anticipate further consolidation of EHR vendors and increased
functionality and complexity of products, along
with the development of “EHR lite” applications for small practices. We expect EHR
safety to be more explicitly introduced into
EHR certification. Transparent reporting on
quality, safety, and certifications will be widely
available on the internet. Security and management of the environment will be even more
closely scrutinized by auditors, government
and the public. Finally, we will still be struggling with standards for data exchange - and
interoperability will still be limited.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
Healthcare is an industry often cited as
under-investing in IT. Being part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program would be a
national recognition of Geisinger’s ongoing
commitment to use IT as a fundamental
enabler of new care delivery models that are
quality-driven, patient-engaging and costeffective. We’re not just “tinkering” around
the edges, but trying to fundamentally
address some of the core issues that are
driving ever escalating costs - but without
concomitant quality benefits.
Geisinger had the foresight over a decade
ago to make a substantial and ongoing commitment to IT as an essential foundation to
providing quality healthcare. This is particularly true in the case of our EHR. Support
from our board, system leaders, and physician
champions have been key to our success.
Our President and CEO, Glenn Steele Jr.,
MD, PhD (the 2006 award winner of Modern
Healthcare and the Healthcare Information
and Management Systems Society’s 4th
Annual CEO HIT Achievement Awards)
speaks nationally and internationally on the
transformation IT can have on healthcare
delivery. Our system’s Chief Technology &
Innovation Officer, Chief Information Officer,
Chief Medical Information Officer, and numerous other leaders routinely share experiences
at national conferences and symposia on utilizing a fully-integrated EHR to bring quality
and efficiency to patient care. And, not least,
our EHR implementation team took great
time and effort in writing a well-received
book: Implementing an Electronic Health
Record System, Walker J, Bieber E, Richards
R, Health Informatics Series, Springer-Verlag
London Limited 2005.
cians. The system also enables referring
physicians to securely access patient data,
with stronger authentication provided via a
two-factor authentication solution.
HEALTHWAYS INC.
Nashville, TN, United States
Application of artificial neural network predictive models to risk
stratify health plan members and
improve healthcare outcomes
Healthways is effectively empowering health
plan members to manage their health and
potentially improve quality of life. With software
solutions, Healthways builds predictive models
that assess patient risk for certain outcomes
and establishes starting points for providing
services. Once Healthways loads patient stratification levels into its own “clinical expert system,”
additional rule-based models evaluate clinical
information such as hospital feeds, data that
nurses collect by phone, and information that
customers and health plan members report.
Finally, the clinical expert system adjusts the initial risk-stratification levels based on the new
inputs and expert clinical judgment. The resulting approach to member stratification is a hybrid
solution that incorporates sophisticated artificial
intelligence neural network predictive models,
clinically relevant rule-based models and expert
clinician judgment. By using advanced analytics
to identify and deliver resources to the right
member at the right time, Healthways produces
improved patient healthcare.
Healthcare Portal
By 2010 information technology will be more
highly integrated, personalized, and segmented
with respect to its uses and applications.
Besides the concepts of pervasive high-speed
networks, cheap and powerful portable computing, and highly integrated multi-device and
multi-platform networks, technology will
become far more personal and adaptable to
specific market segments or needs. The ability
to have an “always on, always connected” computer at all times will change the way that people fundamentally aggregate knowledge and
gather information. There will be a continuing
transition to distributed and highly personalized
information stored on the internet. Information
technology providers will be pushed to provide
solutions that appeal to highly specific and
personalized market segments.
As an integrated healthcare organization,
Geisinger Health System, faces significant
compliance requirements related to the protection of highly-sensitive patient information.
The physician-led health care system serves
more than 2 million people in 40
Pennsylvania counties, and leverages webaccess management software for the company’s MyGeisinger patient portal, which
enables 60,000 patients to securely access
portions of their electronic medical records.
Using web-access technology, Geisinger
Health System is able to effectively control
access to private data, while ensuring that the
process is easy for both patients and physi-
In the case of healthcare IT, pervasive and
higher quality information will contribute to
a better understanding of the quality and
drivers of healthcare outcomes. Public
domain, freely accessible, and easy-tosearch information sources on quality of
care, provider excellence, and cost of procedures will produce a more informed and
empowered healthcare consumer, who is
more proactive about the choices that they
make in their care. Technologies, such as
RFID, and large, secure databases will
make portable, electronic medical records a
reality. Advances in home-monitoring technologies, smart devices, and intelligent,
would honor our vision to use information
technology to improve the well-being of the
people we serve and set an example for other
healthcare organizations. We would be
pleased to be recognized as an IT healthcare
leader and commit ourselves to the responsibilities that recognition would bring.
GEISINGER HEALTH
SYSTEM
Danville, PA, United States
146
adaptable home networks will make it far
easier for medical providers to collect and
aggregate information that provides a total
picture of health, on a continuous basis.
This technology will also make it far easier,
convenient, and provide greater peace of
mind for elderly living alone at home. The
ability to monitor, check in, and provide
information and advice on an instantaneous
and personalized basis will greatly improve
the quality of care. Ultimately robotics will
play a role in drastically transforming information technology, but this is further into
the future than 2010.
Being a part of this program demonstrates the
thought leadership, commitment to excellence,
and overall innovation of Healthways as a leader
in the Healthcare IT space. Recognition as an
innovative solution provider that adopts new and
sophisticated technologies to solve problems in
the healthcare space is critical to the ability of
our organization to continue to grow and partner
with other IT organizations. The problems within
healthcare are very complex, and none of them
will be solved independently by one company.
Healthways believes that through collaboration,
effective partnership, and unified efforts across
industries, that the face of healthcare can be
changed. This will require incredibly deep collaboration not only between healthcare providers,
insurance organizations, and employers, but also
strong relationships with IT organizations that
have an interest in healthcare. By being recognized by Computerworld as a leader in this
space, we hope to attract more attention to the
need for integrated and collaborative IT efforts
across multiple organizations to help solve the
complex problems that healthcare faces today.
Receiving this award would continue to elevate
awareness not only about Healthways and our
progressive approach to leveraging technology
to positively impact healthcare, but it will also
continue to raise industry awareness within the
IT space that technology is a must-have to solve
healthcare problems. This award will send a
clear message to IT and healthcare providers
alike, that there are numerous opportunities for
collaboration, teamwork, and joint ventures to
help improve healthcare.
ICPA
RedBat
ICPA develops software management solutions for hospitals and other healthcare
organizations. With over 20 years of experience, they are the preferred choice of more
than a thousand healthcare professionals and
facilities worldwide.
To detect bioterror threats, such as anthrax
and smallpox--as well as naturally occurring
diseases like influenza and SARS - ICPA created RedBat, a syndromic surveillance system
for hospitals and public health agencies.
RedBat is a multi-purpose application that
detects and quantifies disease outbreaks,
asthma cases and injuries presenting in
emergency departments. The application
automatically analyzes emergency department
data, creates reports, and sends email alerts
or text messages to designated staff and
authorities if a red flag (highest-level signal)
occurs. RedBat calculates syndrome scores
with built-in-algorithms, making analysis consistent as well as meaningful.
This technology enables hospitals and public
health departments to quickly recognize
bioterror events and infectious disease outbreaks and to coordinate response to community threats.
Everyone knows that health information will be
ubiquitous in 2010. This includes the electronic
medical record, which many patients will carry
around on their key chain, as well as public
information immediately available on the
Internet, handheld computer, or your cell phone.
Hospital emergency rooms, and even doctor’s
offices, will have wireless networks for capturing your medical history, current medications, and even your most recent electrocardiogram. Many patients will also have telemonitoring services, which provide real-time
health data, like blood sugar or blood pressure, to their physician.
The public also will have access to a tremendous amount of information about the quality
of health care they receive. Hospital and physician report cards will be available on the
Internet, and patients will use them to make
healthcare decisions. Since some data about
every patient visit and the quality of care delivered will be sent to public data banks at the
state or federal level, the healthcare industry
will install surveillance systems that allow them
to detect and address patient safety problems
before they become public knowledge.
However, the most dramatic change we foresee
in 2010 is not a new technology. It is the widespread recognition by the healthcare professionals and executives that an ounce of information is worth a pound of cure. That is, investing in information systems really does result in
better patient outcomes at a lower cost!
This award will be welcome recognition for a
project that has been years in the making. In
1984, our company was founded by an MD
and RN epidemiologist who had used a
microcomputer to investigate disease outbreaks. Their collaboration began with a
DOS-based “luggable” computer and the
notion that there was an important niche to
fill in using software to identify and prevent
infectious disease in healthcare settings.
At the time, infection control nurses were collecting data about infections on 3x5 cards.
When the evidence in the cards added up
and an alert healthcare worker recognized a
trend, the health department was notified of
potential problems by phone.
We developed two primary software offerings,
AICE(r) and Respond(r), to address emerging
needs in this climate, and steadily built our
147
business in collaboration with adventurous
healthcare workers who helped our company
to blaze new trails.
In the 1980s and early 90’s, healthcare was simpler. But in the past decade, so much in healthcare and in society has changed. In the aftermath of 9-11, we began in earnest to develop
RedBat, with the goal of providing an affordable
tool to hospitals and public health agencies that
would automatically identify bioterrorism and disease outbreaks. We extended that capability to
include the ability to track injuries and disaster
victims. We wanted to create a solution that
would be 100% automated and not require a
large investment in capital or staffing.
Receiving this award would be the culmination of a journey that began over 20 years
ago. The award would validate years of pioneering work done in collaboration with those
customers who tookthe first step with us. We
hope to tell those same customers, “Thank
you,” for helping RedBat achieve this recognition by such an important group of information technology innovators.
IOWA HEALTH
SYSTEM
Des Moines, IA, United States
GMAS Solution
Many hospitals are experiencing challenges
with loss of critical patient data. IHS’s, multifacility PACS solutions required additional online data redundancy across sites. In addition,
their image archive needs continue to grow
with a projection of 1M exams/year destined
for PACS, and the number of data centers
continuing to grow. IHS was concerned about
how to effectively manage this growing
archive and also how to implement an effective immediate recovery plan for PACS
images. They were looking for a solution that
would give them an extra protection layer to
prevent the potential for data loss, more than
a point product storage solution could offer.
• Far more emphasis on networks and connectivity
• Less emphasis on point solutions of any
kind -- hardware, software or services
• Less emphasis on operating systems
(including Microsoft’s)as system intelligence
becomes more dispersed and portable
• The first practical server farms dynamically
modifying themselves to match processing
and storage needs
• Mainframes and COBOL will remain strong.
IHS sincerely appreciate being part of the
program. Their goal is to provide the best
possible health care at the lowest possible
cost. Implementing best technology practices
will make a difference in our society.
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
THE IT DEPARTMENT,
INC.
this is still true today around the world. So it’s a
tremendous honor for our company to be associated with such an influential publication.
Ottawa, Canada
It’s an even greater pleasure that the
Computerworld Honors Program has considered this particular project. Few of us can
conceive of the desperate health care situation in Angola. In a country nearly twice the
size of Texas, there are virtually no medical
services of any kind outside a few major
cities, with the result that one-fifth of
Angola’s children die before reaching one
year and life expectancy is under 39 years.
Angola Hospital Project
Canadian surgeon, Dr. Steven Foster, has been
working in Angola, Africa for nearly 30 years.
The situation in the region is difficult, particularly because of the civil war started in the 1970s
that still has tangible effects today. Dr. Foster
built the Evangelical Medical Centre and contacted Norm Henderson with The IT
Department, Inc., an IT services out sourcing
company, about his need for a telephone system to communicate between hospital buildings
and to the outside world. The company proposed a VoIP solution based on Polycom voice
endpoints and Henderson raised $40,000 to
purchase the systems. Polycom provided the
systems at a reduced price and The IT
Department donated hundreds of service hours
to make the deployment happen. The technology part of the project came together in 2006
and today the hospital is up and running, seeing
100 out patients per day, and communicating
effectively with its Polycom VoIP phones.
LAUREATES 2007
By 2010, the communications aspect of IT will
become increasingly dominated by the evolution
and proliferation of more sophisticated internet
connected handheld devices. The sheer size of
this market (> 1 billion devices in 2006) means
the level of R&D investment in innovation in these
devices will bring by 2010 features/functionality
to the typical user that seem hard to believe
today. Just look at the mobile devices we are
using today compared to 3-4 years ago. This
evolution will only be further amplified by the next
billion plus users acquiring these devices in the
developing world and who will become connected
to the internet primarily via these devices using a
new generation of wireless technologies (CDMA
EV-DO, 3G/HSDPA, WiFi, WIMAX). Already
today we are witnessing the widespread use of
mobile phones as the primary (or only) voice communication device for most of the developing
world. The further use of these devices (via messaging applications) for many personal/business
type applications is already emerging in the developing world and will accelerate over the years to
2010 as a large proportion of these devices will
become enabled with IP connectivity. This trend
towards mobile applications is also already well
underway in the developed world. Investments in
bringing more mobile applications to market will
accelerate and many of the functions which we
now turn on our PCs to perform will instead be
transacted from handheld devices. We are in the
beginning stages of experiencing how much the
wirelessly connected handheld device will make
an impact on the world.
Norman Henderson, President of The IT
Department® answers as follows: When I entered
the Information Technology industry in the early
1970’s, Computerworld was required reading for
any informed professional. As a manager in
Europe during the 1980’s I found the same, and
The new Evangelical Medical Center of
Lubango is already helping hundreds of people per day and is already one of the country’s
busiest surgical facilities. But as a hub, referral
facility and medical training center - with easy
access to the world’s knowledge through
Voice over IP, Video over IP, and satellite
Internet technologies - the lives of literally millions of people can be affected over an area
of hundreds of thousands of square miles.
The IT Department takes special delight in having this highly influential means of making the
need and the opportunity more widely known.
We pray this will stimulate our colleagues in the
dynamic IT industry to share some of the abundance with which we have been blessed. It is a
huge reward for us to be nominated in the
Computerworld Honors Program. But if we can
contribute to saving lives amongst the world’s
most needy people, that will bring a much
greater and more enduring reward.
JEFFERSON
REGIONAL MEDICAL
CENTER
Pine Bluff, AR, United States
Self Service Reporting for
Hospital Operations
JRMC has constructed a self-service reporting environment that organizes reports into
three primary groups: financial reports for the
finance department, productivity reports for
department managers, and Quality reports for
hospital administrators and managers.
Information Management has become an
integral part of the hospital’s daily management activities - boosting staff productivity,
improving physician deficiency rates, and cutting costs throughout the facility.
The difference will not be so much in the
area of technology, but of the people working
in IT. Organizations are not looking for more
toys, the are looking for functionality. IT will,
therefore, have to focus more on the
Information than the Technology. Staff will
need to be adept at identifying what information others in the organization need to better
do their jobs, and then devise ways to find
and present that information in a way that
enhances their productivity.
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Healthcare is a knowledge-driven industry.
Doctors spend long years acquiring the
knowledge required to practice their specialties. But improving patient outcomes also
depends on the knowledge of the rest of the
hospital staff. Jefferson Regional Medical
Center’s implementation of WebFOCUS
makes treatment and organizational knowledge readily accessible to a broad group of
people in the hospital, allowing them to
improve efficiencies and medical results.
Participating in this program is a nice recognition to the staff who have worked on this
project. More importantly, it gives us a platform to demonstrate to other hospitals the
effectiveness of implementing a Business
Intelligence platform, and encourage them to
take similar actions.
JENA UNIVERSITY
HOSPITAL
Jena, Germany
RFID@Jena:
Medication errors are one of the largest categories of adverse events in healthcare. To
help prevent erroneous medication dispensation, Jena University Hospital is using auto-ID
infrastructure to identify, track and match
medication accurately and in real-time from
the hospital’s pharmacy through to patient
administration. In addition to operating more
cost-effectively throughout the whole treatment process, the hospital aims to increase
the service quality in medical care as well as
the safety of patients by reducing undesired
medication effects.
Using passive RFID tags, medication can be
tracked and matched digitally to individual
patients via unique reference codes located
on wristbands.
In 2010 we will have some hospitals using
the technology which we are piloting today.
Changing attitudes towards the technology
will take longer and it won’t be until at least
2015 for there to be widespread acceptance
of e.g. RFID-technology.
We feel very honored that our project was
elected for this program. This nomination
reinforces that our innovations are being recognized and gives very strong support that
our ideas - how we want to change the therapeutic processes at our hospital - are on the
right track for the future.
JOHNS HOPKINS
Baltimore, MD, United States
Center for Clinical Global Health
Education
The goal of the Center for Clinical Global
Health Education is to improve the quality of
care that patients receive directly from their
own healthcare providers, and it is facilitated
in large part by a video telemedicine network
based on Polycom video conferencing solutions. Developing nations struggle constantly
with HIV/AIDS, other communicable diseases, high maternal and infant mortality as
well as short life expectancy, despite medical
advances in other parts of the world. The
network delivers Johns Hopkins expertise
and research to the poorest corners of the
world, free of charge.
According to Robert Bollinger, director of
Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global
Health Education “Training doctors, nurses
and paramedical workers as well as medical
and nursing students will improve the health
of the people they serve. We can’t bring
them all to Johns Hopkins for training. But,
thanks to video conferencing technology, we
can bring Johns Hopkins’ training to
LAHEY CLINIC
Burlington, MA, United States
Realizing Lahey’s Vision for a
Complete Electronic Health
Record (EHR) for All Patients
In creating electronic health records (EHR) combining clinical and non-clinical patient
information - Lahey Clinic provides centralized online access to data generated by 25
different systems. This information supports
multiple functional areas in an organization
that encompasses a hospital, two satellite
facilities, emergency treatment centers, and
12 clinical group practices. Lahey looked
outside the narrow confines of medical software products, choosing instead to capture,
manage and access patient data using three
core enterprise technologies: the
Documentum content management system,
Captiva® InputAccel® scanning solution, and
Adobe LiveCycle Forms for automated forms
generation. A first mover in EHR, Lahey is
leading the way in large-scale, multi-site initiatives with a solution that facilitates
enhanced patient care, improved administrative processes, enterprise wide access to
information, more cost-effective interaction
with insurance companies and more efficient
compliance management process.
We’re living in revolutionary times in terms of
IT in the healthcare arena. How information
about patients is collected, accessed and
shared on a global basis is evolving at a rapid
pace. More and more data will be delivered
to wireless devices, leading to information
becoming more mobile and accessible any-
where, any time. Increased data convergence
of computer, phone, messaging systems integrated in a single device with extended battery power will allow physicians to do everything on a single device that fits in their pockets and is carried with them everywhere.
We’re designing our system today with that in
mind, so that our data will be ready for our
physicians to access anywhere, any time, and
from any device.
Lahey is focused on serving the needs of our
patients and assuming a leadership role in the
medical community at large. Being part of the
Computerworld Honors Program acknowledges our efforts to remain at forefront of
healthcare and to be a first mover in aligning
best-of-its-kind healthcare with leading-edge
technologies to advance the state of the art in
patient care. We believe that the visibility
Computerworld Honors can provide for our
innovation will help us share our vision with
other healthcare providers and help them emulate a new model in patient care - whether in a
hospital, clinical, or practice setting.
LANGUAGE ACCESS
NETWORK
Columbus, OH, United States
LAN
Medical translation errors cause 28,000
deaths per year in the US, taking a particular
toll on the nation’s limited-English speaking
population. LAN is changing the medical interpretation landscape using video to offer instantaneous interpretation services to hospitals on
a 24x7 basis in more than 150 languages.
Gone are the days of sitting in the ER waiting
room for thirty minutes while an interpreter is
found, which translates into improved quality of
healthcare. Instant access to hundreds of languages is particularly important for federallyfunded hospitals which must comply with regulations to treat all patients equally. The ADA,
for example, requires equal treatment in medical situations for the deaf and hard of hearing.
We are hopeful that the cost of video conferencing technology/hardware/software will
drop dramatically so a hospital or retail pharmacy chain, bank or credit union, emergency
responders, government, and NGO’s will be
able to place video screens in multiple locations giving LEP’s the chance to be seen and
heard in a dignified and on-demand manner
Being Part of the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program will continue to validate our
leading-edge use of technology to change
the world for LEP individuals and those who
serve them.
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LIVERPOOL
WOMEN’S NHS
FOUNDATION TRUST
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Building a 21st Century
Consolidated, Virtualized,
Enterprise Infrastructure to
Improve Patient Care
The Liverpool Women’s National Health
Service (NHS) Foundation Trust (a multi-site
UK based international center of excellence
in Women’s Health) had disparate storage
systems in operation throughout the organization. A major project was undertaken to create a consolidated, virtualized enterprise infrastructure to enable the implementation of an
information lifecycle management strategy,
remote, instananeous, uninterrupted, point of
care access to critical clinical patient applications. This project included server virtualisation and consolidation, implementation of two
storage area networks (SANs) and full disaster recovery for the entire organization. The
technology involved included Dell 1850,
2650, 2850 dual processor servers, two EMC
Clariion CX500 SANs with 4GB cache and a
Dell PowerVault 132T robotic tape library with
Veritas BackUp Exec, SANcopy, SnapView
and MirrorView software.
By 2010 IT is unlikely to feel much different
to today. Teleportation or watching holographic TV or travelling to work in flying cars won’t
be the norm. A lucky few may likely be flying
to the edge of space but for the rest of us,
the change will probably be more subtle, with
IT advances pervading ever more deeply into
our daily lives. Indeed the greater ubiquity of
IT - from the car to the classroom, the living
room to the office and essentially everywhere
in between is likely to be the most noticeable
change. Established technologies - from
mobile phones to desktop computers - will
still dominate, but they will increasingly be
supplemented by a growing range of auxiliary
devices. And with connectivity becoming ever
more widespread, and content increasingly
digital, it should be possible to access and
consume services and content almost anywhere, whether we are stationary or mobile.
The division between work and private time
will probably become yet more opaque, as the
ability to connect and communicate becomes
increasingly pervasive. By 2010, there may be
few places to hide from either the phone call
or email. At the same time, the growing range
of web-based leisure applications may
redress the balance for the worker, providing
a growing opportunity for shopping and
entertainment on company time. As our daily
lives increasingly revolve around and rely on
connectivity and computers, the potential for
disruption will grow proportionately. The
Internet is likely to make strong gains in popularity, and in some markets may even displace television as the most popular form of
entertainment. Overall, therefore, the years to
2010 will likely witness a quiet revolution.
New users, new uses and more frequent use
of IT innovations are likely to be seen.
Being nominated for the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program is the greatest honor for our organization. As part of a
National Health Service (NHS) in the UK
being recognized for our acheivements at a
international level is very rare. Being nominated for this program indicates that our organization has been recognized for being forward
thinking and that our organisation is at the
forefront of IT in the NHS. It also means that
the hardwork of the members of our organization’s IT team has not gone un-noticed and
reflects their “out of the box” thinking
methodology when trying to solve complex IT
problems. Being part of our organzation
means being part of a public service offering
free healthcare to the general public. It is a
greater honor that we are the only NHS
organization to ever be nominated. It is a
proud moment for our IT team.
M/S SAHYADRI
HOSPITALS LIMITED
Pune, India
Virtual specialists for rural India
It is a disproportionate ratio - India has over
70% of its population residing in rural areas,
while an equal percentage of specialists
required to treat them are confined to urban
areas. While existing telemedicine solutions
have tried to address this imbalance, they
have problems that are typical to third world
developing countries. Typically, a telemedicine
solution for analysis of diseases related to
neurological ailments requires a high bandwidth link, which makes it commercially unviable in rural regions which need it the most.
Conversely, a low bandwidth link is found
wanting as the doctor’s ability to diagnose a
patient’s condition is based on analyzing even
minor responses such as pupil dilation.
Sahyadri Hospital has thought out of the box
to develop a telemedicine solution that delivers a high bandwidth experience over a low
bandwidth link, by showcasing only the region
that is of interest to the specialist.
“The fruits of tomorrow lie in the seeds of
today”. The basis of Information Technology in
2010 lies in the emerging trends of today.
Taking a pragmatic approach, we believe that
instead of major breakthroughs the world will
see many incremental advances which shall
spell out the way our world will shape up.
While the current trends point towards Open
Source Movement- which could upset few of
the established market players, Pervasive
Computing- which impacts the manner, place
and the platform on which we access
Internet, On-Demand Solutions-rendering old
platforms to oblivion, Real-time data analysisin the form of middleware capabilities for
RFID technology, to real-time governance
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
models in the form of HIPAA, SarbanesOxley, Integration of IT systems across continents-in the form of MiFID to the way IT
services are rendered to organizations across
the world-in the form of off shoring - are
some of the key trends that will mould and
give direction to the information technology
market as we see today.
Today, we are also moving towards a world of
personalized healthcare. The Electronic
Health Records are providing an organized
approach to how a physician approaches a
patient, drawing invaluable conclusions from a
patient’s medical history, getting inputs from
portable and non-intrusive monitoring devices
directly into a patient’s Electronic Health
Record. While some of these emerging trends
are almost on the tipping point of turning into
affordable, every-day solutions, some may be
still be distant from reaching the critical mass
deployment levels.
We as an organization see promise in “OnDemand Solutions”, “Smart RFID readers”whereby the middleware’s capabilities get
integrated into RFID readers and more
diverse services being delivered on mobile
computing platforms. There shall also be a
difference in the way organizations collaborate and the way information travels across
the organization owing to the rise of corporate blogging.
It is indeed a matter or great pride and privilege for us to be a part of 2007
Computerworld Honors Program. We are
looking forward to Computerworld Honors
Program as an opportunity to learn about the
numerous innovative ways in which information technology can be used to benefit the
society at large. In the end, we would like to
mention that “Participation is more important
than Winning” and we wish all the participants
best of luck for their efforts.
MEDAVANT
HEALTHCARE
SOLUTIONS
Norcross, GA, United States
MedAvant Provides Customers
with a 100 percent Data
Availability Guarantee using
Hitachi Data Systems’ Storage
Solutions
MedAvant Healthcare Solutions is the
nation’s third largest medical claims processor and one of the nation’s largest healthcare technology companies. Its healthcare
customers require 100 percent availability
24/7/365. MedAvant needed a solution
that would reduce current operational costs
and complexity, position it for future growth
and provide a 100 percent data availability
guarantee to its end-users. Hitachi Data
Systems partnered with solutions provider,
Accris, to provide MedAvant with a virtualized tiered storage environment that helped
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MedAvant simplify, optimize and automate
its IT and storage infrastructure. MedAvant
users are now able to seamlessly manage
different tiers of storage and replication
functions on a single management framework. Equally as important, the business
continuity software and services provide a
100 percent data availability guarantee.
With products and services that rely on data
availability and replication to deliver the
highest performance, MedAvant is years
ahead of its competition.
Over the next couple of years MedAvant will
see significant changes in the ways company
use the skills of their Technology teams.
Currently there is a large movement to outsource and remove the many of the day to day
tasks that many IT shops still do. However,
these movements will not affect the value of IT
to a company. As more and more data is captured, IT has the ability and the means to use
that data to help drive the direction and products of the company, thus making it a vital part
of the decision making process.
Being apart of the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program is recognition of all the work
and planning that went into and continues to
go into the SAN project. It shows that keeping the customer and their businesses in
mind when we create new solutions is essential. It should also show our customers that
we are committed to giving them the best
products and services.
MERCK & CO.
Whitehouse Station, NJ, United
States
Utilizing Strategic Co-Sourcing to
Improve Patient Care
Merck is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company dedicated to putting patients
first. Established in 1891, Merck discovers,
develops, manufactures and markets vaccines
and medicines to address unmet medical
needs. The company devotes extensive
efforts to increase access to medicines
through far-reaching programs that not only
donate Merck medicines, but also help deliver
them to the people who need them. To support the efforts of Merck employees and
teams, Merck Global Technology Services,
headed by Merck VP Richard Branton, needed to create and execute a lean and flexible
business model. This included strategic initiatives like a common technology platform to
replace multiple disparate ERP systems and
enabling a global “shared services” model for
technology-driven business functions across
the company. To accomplish this, Merck
sought assistance from one of India’s leading
global IT services companies, HCL
Technologies, and together took a strategically sourced solutions-based approach to the
Merck “Plan to Win” strategy.
NATIONAL LIBRARY
OF MEDICINE
(NLM, NATIONAL
INSTITUTES OF
HEALTH)
Bethesda, MD, United States
WISER - Wireless Information
System for Emergency
Responders
They developed an application called WISER
(Wireless Information System for Emergency
Responders), which provides information on
over 400 unique hazardous substances,
including chemical identification support, physical characteristics, and human health, containment and suppression information. The data
comes from NLM’s database with comprehensive information on over 4800 hazardous substances which emergency responders currently use at hazardous material incidents. Using
WISER on Palm handhelds, information is
delivered quickly when time is limited in emergency situations. WISER enables the responder to select observed properties and symptoms, and then searches its database for
chemical substances that have these characteristics. Users can specify their role at the
scene of an incident, and WISER organizes
critical information in a sequence most relevant to the first responder on-the-scene,
Hazmat specialist, or emergency medical specialist. WISER played a critical role in dealing
with Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath, where conventional information resources were limited
and poison centers/government agencies
were unavailable.
• 3D virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life)will be a
common UI for internet users
• PDAs will be a combined smart phone,
application platform, iPOD device, which are
as common as cell phones today
• ubiquitous computing in which computation
is embedded into the environment and
everyday objects is common place
• voice synthesis and recognition will finally
progress and become as common an interface as typing
• language transparency will evolve, so that
instant translation is embedded in global
applications and communications
• game-based learning will begin to play a
role in training and education infrastructures
• publications will become interactive, such
that you can click on images and graphs
and they become dynamic
WISER is an excellent, innovative information
system designed to help first responders perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively.
It has been developed with taxpayers’ dollars
and is made available for free to any one,
anywhere in the world.
Having WISER recognized in the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program helps to
‘spread the word’ about this product to a
broader audience, with the potential of
extending its impact on helping first responders save lives and our environment.
ONTARIO
TELEMEDICINE
NETWORK
London, Ontario, Canada
OTN
The Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), a
comprehensive, province-wide telemedicine
network, is an independent, not-for-profit
organization funded by the Ontario Ministry of
Health and Long-Term Care. OTN uses
advanced information and video collaboration
technologies and electronic medical devices
to support the delivery of clinical care, professional education and health-related administrative services. With a presence at more than
360 sites across Ontario, OTN is one of the
busiest and most comprehensive telemedicine programs in Canada.
Telemedicine has the potential to be a key
enabler in the transformation of health care
delivery, supporting a patient-focused, resultsdriven, integrated and sustainable health care
system. By overcoming barriers in distance and
time, telemedicine is an effective and efficient
system to access and/or deliver health care
services, health education, and health system
management. OTN provides a provincial standard to support and enable telemedicine in a
variety of settings across the province.
By 2010, Information Technology will be
effortless to use - as simple as picking up the
telephone and equally intuitive. Patients and
providers will “forget” about the technology
supporting their appointments because it will
be exist only in the background - supporting
the patient and provider interaction.
The Ontario Telemedicine Network is proud of
the health care professionals and organizations that form its Membership. Being a part
of the 2007 Computerworld Honors Program
is our opportunity to recognize the innovation,
determination and drive for accessible, quality,
compassionate care that our Member organizations strive for each day. All of OTN’s programs and services are driven by the needs
of the health care professionals of Ontario.
The possibile applications of telemedicine in
Ontario are limitless.
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PHT CORPORATION
Charlestown, MA, United States
PHT LogPad Enables Trial
Patients to Document
Effectiveness of a New Treatment
for Asthma Developed by
Asthmatx Inc.
The first-ever non-drug treatment for asthma is
now under clinical investigation at over 30
leading research centers around the world as
part of the AIR2 Trial. This international trial
uses innovative technology to collect reliable
patient reported data that is managed in real
time. Asthmatx, the sponsor of the clinical
investigation, has deployed more than 500 of
PHT’s LogPad Systems, an electronic patient
diary implemented on Palm devices. Patients
use eDiaries on Palm Tungsten E2 handhelds
or Treo 650 smartphones to record and transmit information about how they are feeling.
Study investigators benefit from real-time,
accurate, and reliable data access allowing
them to efficiently track patient symptoms. By
eliminating paper-based data collection methods, PHT helps companies like Asthmatx
improve data quality, reduce data variance, and
increase trial efficiencies. These benefits result
in decreased cost per trial, more effective trial
management, and better scientific outcomes.
The relationship of individuals to information is
evolving. Personal life is becoming logged and
blogged; we are personally in control of content design, and even have the individual
opportunity to publish our personal information.
PHT has been expanding technologies for
tracking of personal health status, including
both psychological and physiological aspects.
We see that legal constraints and technical
solutions increasingly ensure privacy and that
the control of personal information is becoming
firmly situated where it belongs, with each individual. Distaste for untrustworthy information
and bogus science is already a force, and we
expect increasingly to see a credibility index
associated with electronically available facts
and analysis. Even by 2010 it will be possible
for individuals to engage in a common pursuit
of self discovery. By this we mean that people
who measure and track symptoms and behaviors will be posting suitably anonymized data to
share with their relatives and friends. Virtual
neighbor’s intent on achieving the same health
objective will exchange graphs of their
progress. And existing information analytical
technologies of great power such as Bayesian
belief systems and adaptive systems will begin
to reach into this information. An era of discovery will have begun, as analysis of longitudinal multiparametric measures reveals causalities that are not even hypotheses yet. Such
possibilities can be rapidly confirmed and
extended with millions of people collaborating.
The findings will not be limited to mean differences between groups, but will be personal.
Won’t it be better to really know whether lowering my cholesterol will help me, rather then
having experts assert on the basis of quite limited research, that it tends to help others?
Inclusion in the 2007 ComputerWorld Honors
Program would be a momentous achievement
in terms of recognition for a product and
service in which PHT deeply believes. PHT’s
mission is to help the clinical research industry obtain high quality data to develop new
therapies, treat disease, and improve quality
of life. PHT invented the modern ePRO
industry in 1994, and continues to grow it,
along with several other providers, today. It is
heartening to see the significant increases in
market adoption as more sponsors hear the
proven success stories and realize the benefits firsthand. A well-known and respected
publication such as ComputerWorld publicly
recognizing the power of the LogPad System
to improve how drugs and therapies can be
investigated would be a humbling, rewarding
and welcome accomplishment.
PIEDMONT
HOSPITAL
Driving Improved Patient-Care
Outcomes with Technology
In his 2007 State of the Union address,
President Bush implored hospitals to start
using healthcare information technology as
a means to reduce medication errors. This is
yesterday’s news to Atlanta, GA-based
Piedmont Healthcare, an organization at the
forefront of using technology to improve
patient safety. Through the use of clinical
information technology from Eclipsys
Corporation, Piedmont not only dramatically
reduced medication errors but also documented many other significant patient care
outcome improvements. Piedmont determined that computerized physician order
entry (CPOE) was the key to preventing
medical errors, and improving adherence to
standard clinical pathways. Through careful
planning and exceptional execution,
Piedmont was able to achieve 100-perecent
physician adoption for CPOE, which, in conjunction with adjacent initiatives, led to a
reduction in medication errors from 5.5 per
10,000 doses dispensed to 0.86 per 10,000
doses dispensed and a six-percent drop in
unadjusted mortality rate.
POSSIBILITY FORGE
Hurricane, UT, United States
openEMR
Possibility Forge is delivering openEMR - an
open source Electronic Medical Record
System for small and medium clinics.
Possibility Forge is one of the first companies
to fully implement new open healthcare standards for interoperability of patient records.
openEMR is an open source product that that
makes electronic health records available at
no license cost to any healthcare provider no
matter how small.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
openEMR is the only open source product participated in the IHE Connectathon 2007 in the
US and the HIMSS interoperability showcase.
At the current rate of advance, technology in
healthcare will hopefully allow care providers
to gain a “whole view” of the patient’s health,
and allow the patient to take a more direct
hand in their own treatment. We aren’t just
talking about driving down costs - although
with a 73% increase in health insurance premiums since 2000, that is welcome - we are
talking about making technological changes
that enable providers to better understand
and care for patients, defeat illness, save
lives, and improve quality of life for everyone.
To have the members of our team recognized
by key partners and industry icons is very
rewarding. To be able to be a part of a legacy
of forward thinking technical innovators and
contributors is humbling. Most importantly, the
opportunity to better “get the word out” about
this product to those who can use it to provide
better patient care is phenomenal. Taking part
in this process will help us to help more care
providers, and help them to help more patients.
PROVENA HOME
CARE
Mokena, IL, United States
Mobile Patient Information
System
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) requires Provena to collect
information measuring changes in patient
outcomes. Data is collected at the start of
care, recertification, transfer, and discharge to
assess treatment effectiveness and for reimbursement. To meet patient care and business goals, the ability to accurately track
patient information is vital.
To improve efficiency, accuracy of patient and
billing information, and quality of patient care,
the IT team implemented a mobile, touch-screen
enabled, digital patient information system and
equipped clinicians with Tablet PCs to enable
them to record symptoms, care provided, and
general observations at the point of care.
Provena has improved the accuracy of patient
and billing information. CMS collects data from
home care agencies nationwide and ranks them
against one another in terms of patient and
business outcomes. Since implementing the
patient information system, all five health agencies have been ranked among the top agencies.
• Wireless access will become more prevalent
allowing great real-time access to home
care information
• The user interface will continue to move
away from the keyboard and toward voice
and hand writing recognition.
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Program means being able to share our
experience and also learn from a greater
community thereby building greater and
greater communities of healing and hope.
RAYTHEON
Ballwin, MO, United States
Emergency Patient Tracking
System (EPTS)
To help emergency management organizations and hospitals manage resources more
effectively, provide quicker patient treatment,
and accurate information to worried family
members, Raytheon created the Emergency
Patient Tracking System (EPTS).
The EPTS system automates the collection
and dissemination of patient information and
status through the use of barcoded patient
medical identification wristbands and mobile
technology. As patients are triaged, transported to hospitals, treated, and ultimately
discharged, their wristbands are scanned and
their status is continually updated in the central database. It also provides an audit trail,
enabling emergency response organizations
to generate reports and comply with regulatory requirements.
This technology has allowed real-time communication between first responders, emergency management, and hospital officials,
allowing authorities to balance resources,
minimize hospital overcrowding, and increase
survival rates. Responses to inquiries by family, friends and the media can be handled
more quickly and accurately.
As we are already seeing today, mobile technology is a key extension to the access and
accuracy of up-to-date information anywhere,
anytime. In 2010 these mobile capabilities
will continue to grow. Using mobile solutions
patient tracking applications will continue to
expand with growing technology concepts
such as Radio Frequency Identification, GPS
tracking, and remote communication protocols. The result of these technologies will be
greater patient care, increased accurate
tracking of patients, and informed and educated decisions made by medical personnel.
In the technology industry, the focus within
development organizations, in the industry
media and even among analysts is often very
granular. That is to say it is focused on solution features and functionality, marketplace
dynamics, etc.
The Computerworld Honors Program provides
a unique opportunity for those of us in the
industry to step back and consider technology
from a much larger perspective. It provides an
opportunity for industry insiders to reflect on
the use of various technologies in novel ways
to produce solutions that provide both immediate benefits in specific business situations
as well as on the larger issues of how else
the technology might be used to produce
additional and perhaps even more significant
business and societal benefits.
Participating in the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program has provided us with this gift
of reflection. Of course, it is flattering to be
nominated by others in the industry who feel
that our work is noteworthy. More important,
however, are the insights gained by going
through the formal process of preparing a
case study, and the opportunity to read case
studies from other organizations. The program, by searching out and recognizing innovation, is a reminder of the possibilities that
lie before us, and as such, is bound to spur
additional innovation
line, and even perform simple tests from
home and submitting the results, all on-line.
The Computerworld Honors Program recognizes the work of organizations and innovators that have promoted the use of technologies to facilitate change and provide improvements that benefit society. To be part of this
elite group of those that have been recognized is truly an honor, and to share our
accomplishments with others that can learn
and benefit from our experience was part of
our goal from the inception of Saint Clare’s.
We had a unique opportunity to start fresh
and new, and now it is our pleasure to share
our story with others and contribute to
improvements in the healthcare industry.
SAINT CLARE’S
HOSPITAL
SIMBEX
Weston, WI, United States
Head Impact Telemetry System
(HIT System)
Chartless Hospital Environment
Saint Clare’s Hospital is a state-of-the-art
facility, featuring a chartless environment. To
create an all-digital environment, the hospital
equipped caregivers with Tablet PCs to read
and record patient data, by typing, writing or
dictating information into the patient information system. Doctors, nurses and other staff
have immediate access to critical patient
information such as orders, progress notes,
test results, vital signs and medication forms.
By digitizing patient information, the hospital
has improved the patient experience and
reduced the cost of care. The hospital has
realized significant savings on administrative
and infrastructure costs, estimating an initial
savings of between $400,000 and $500,000
in up-front and operational costs. For example, the hospital didn’t require a traditional
medical filing room, pay for record storage or
hire a staff to support medical record tracking
or filing. Moreover, medical staff can now
spend their time focusing on caring for
patients rather than managing paper charts.
The future of Healthcare IT will shift more
and more towards supporting consumer-driven healthcare. Patients are becoming more
knowledgeable about their conditions and are
now technologically savvy and will be
researching best practices and comparing
providers. Consumers do have a choice in
their care, and providers will need to be
measured as we move towards a pay for performance model and consumers will choose
where to have their care just as they research
and choose a mortgage lender with high
quality and competitive pricing. We will see
more advances in how information is provided
to patients. There will be an increase in development and adoption of patient portals so
that patients can communicate with their
providers and keep track of their progress,
register for an appointment, pay their bills on-
Lebanon, NH, United States
Simbex is a research and product development company whose expertise is biomechanical feedback systems. The company creates
products and solutions for active life improvement in the areas of human performance,
sports injury prevention, and rehabilitation.
Simbex’s “Head Impact Telemetry” (HIT) system is the first real time impact monitoring
system that measures and monitors head
impact in helmeted activities (including football, hockey, boxing and military use). The
HIT System’s sensor/encoder transforms any
helmet or headgear into a head impact monitor. A data collector wirelessly receives impact
data continuously from encoders and can
monitor dozens of players or soldiers simultaneously. Software analyzes data and sends a
pager warning if any impact has a potentially
injurious profile.
Analysis of this data is used to shed new light
on the biomechanical causes of mild traumatic brain injuries. This research may lead to
advancements in protective equipment or
other injury reduction strategies.
A continue emphasis is likely in the area of
mobile technology. Real-time, “gotta-have-itnow” streaming data seems to be the trend.
Yet an important aspect of the desire for alldata-all-the-time is the ability to process, sort,
organize, and filter that information into
usable chunks for different individuals. Data
availability is useless unless the user can
transform that data into actionable tasks. In
the case of HIT system data, it doesn’t help
to know if your child sustained a head impact,
if you cannot get that information to the
appropriate medical personnel to analyze.
Likewise, having that data without appropriate
access to other relevant data for that individual, or for a database for normative comparison, makes analysis and interpretation of the
information more difficult. Information
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Technology developments that provide secure
access (in this case HIPAA compliant access)
to relevant data in real or near-real time from
widely disparate sources (eg. from a physicians database on the individual, the school’s
database of demographic data on the athlete,
a national database of head injuries, a national database of normative data on head
impacts, etc.) would be extremely important.
IT Solutions for more global access to key
information, in a secure and transparent fashion, are likely to be more in demand in the
very near future.
We are honored that our application of biomechanics and information technology is relevant to Computerworld’s mission and readership. HIT System technology is not a traditional IT solution to a market need. In this
case, there is a pressing national need to better understand brain injury in our young athletes and our soldiers. Solving this problem
requires a novel use of data collection, data
storage, data transmission, and data retrieval
capabilities. Simbex partnered with:
• The government, for funding
• Relevant industry, for strategic partnerships
(Riddell)
• IT providers, for critical solutions related to
overcoming key technical hurdles associated with large amount of data being collected and analyzed for widespread use
MTBI is a very real and very high profile problem. By bringing attention to the application of
computer-based technologies as part of
Computerworld’s public base, we can hopefully generate more demand for solutions that
prevent and treat of head injuries. The information technology behind the prevention and
treatment of injury is relevant and valuable to
a broad spectrum of the population. The
Computerworld Honors program allows for
further dissemination of this information to a
wider public base than we might not otherwise
have access to. We believe that these technical readers are also parents, administrators,
and athletes themselves-all of which may benefit directly or indirectly from this technology.
SUMMA HEALTH
SYSTEM
Akron, OH, United States
Using CPOE to Establish Best
Practices in Care Delivery
While many healthcare organizations have
had great success in implementing some clinical information systems in recent years,
adoption of computerized physician order
entry (CPOE) systems has lagged. Physicians
often resist the new technology despite substantial evidence that automating order entry
can reduce medical errors and improve turnaround times. Despite these challenges,
Summa Health System achieved 95-percent
physician adoption of Eclipsys Sunrise
Clinical Manager’s CPOE at Akron City
Hospital, Akron, OH. Although Summa’s clini-
cal services are consistently ranked high,
paper orders made the organization vulnerable to error. Nurses and pharmacists had
trouble deciphering handwritten orders,
orders could be duplicated or lost, and even
the best physicians could make medicationrelated mistakes without a clinical decision
support system as back-up. With 100% percent of its physicians reviewing results and
placing orders electronically, Summa Heath
System has been able to improve patient
safety, standardize best practices and
enhance patient satisfaction.
Health Care has a large number of niche
products which are required by all the different departments and specialties seen in medicine. Although there are some integrated
products, none of them satisfy all of these different areas. We are always looking for ways
to integrate all of these products. I think in
the near future we will be able to do this.
The Computerworld Honors Programs looks
at all industries not just medicine. To be
considered for such an award would be very
gratifying. Also, I believe that quality is the
number one issue in medicine and I feel
strongly that CPOE moves us in the direction to improve quality. To have Summa
Health System honored in this way would be
great achievement.
TRIALSTAT
CORPORATION
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
ClinicalAnalytics 4.0
TrialStat provides clinical data management
on demand for organizations that include
biotech and pharmaceutical companies and
academic institutions. The company’s webbased solution has fully integrated handheld
features for tablet and Pocket PC formats
that capture data through a wireless LAN or
in a standalone, disconnected format.
Designed as a software as a service,
ClinicalAnalytics (CA) 4.0 allows researchers
to configure and deploy clinical studies rapidly to improve the quality and accuracy of data
collected; to quickly and easily make midstudy changes to protocols, forms and sites;
and to examine data in real-time throughout
the course of a study. As a hosted and webbased application, CA 4.0 also eliminates the
expense of software programmers and IT
infrastructure, significantly reducing the cost
of a clinical trial.
Fundamentally, we believe that software will be
delivered through software as a service or SaaS.
By SaaS, we mean that a vendor, such as
TrialStat, assumes all the support, training, IT
infrastructure and security risks of a software
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
H E A LT H C A R E
deployment in lieu of recurring subscription fees.
Increasingly, organizations are re-examining
how they deploy information technology.
Total-cost-of-ownership, which describes the
cost of managing IT, consists of the ongoing
people resources needed to monitor, maintain
and upgrade the application and to provide
training and support to users. These costs
can be between 50% and 85% of the totalcost-of-ownership for traditional software,
depending on the IT environment. SaaS
largely eliminates these costs.
In fact, within a short period of time, SaaS can
almost immediately deliver a return on investment for customers, compared to traditional
software. This is because users don’t have to
hire software programmers and purchase IT
infrastructure to manage SaaS solutions.
For example, TrialStat provides a browser
interface that is 100% user configurable,
allowing customers to capture data anywhere
at any time. The advantages are:
• True platform independence for all users
and administrators of the system;
• Hosted services reduce overhead and costs
associated with maintaining software at
multiple sites;
• Eliminates security and version control
issues associated with external configuration files; and,
• User configurability enables customers to
deploy CA across different therapeutic
areas and study phases, often within days.
The second reason is flexible data capture,
supported in large part by open architecture
and mobile platforms, such as Micorsoft’s
Pocket PC. Users want to access data any
time from anywhere on any platform.
Software that enables users to manage their
data on their terms provides the optimal flexibility and business return for their investment.
The “Search for New Heroes” is the theme for
the 2007 Computerworld Honors program.
We think, however, that the very word hero is
perhaps misapplied. We’re not heroes. Hero
is a word to be used sparingly, reserved for
extraordinary accomplishments of those individuals that pursue the outer edges of science to the benefit of humankind.
That’s only one definition, however. We also
think that heroes are the unrecognized individuals who often take grave risks we can
perhaps never appreciate in our good health.
In our industry, it is those individuals who participate in clinical trials, who take a chance
that an unknown treatment will help them or
perhaps others like them.
For a software company such as ours, hero is
too strong a word. Our abiding hope is to
help organizations help the heroes we don’t
read about in daily newspapers, who won’t
win a Nobel Prize.
What the Computerworld Honors program
means to us is recognition of that individual A constant reminder that what we do is of
critical importance to the organizations we
154
serve and to that lone individual who dares to
take a chance on a better future by participating in a clinical trial.
UC DAVIS HEALTH
SYSTEM
Sacramento, CA, United States
Center for Health and Technology
Telemedicine Program
The UC Davis Health System’s Center for
Health and Technology (CHT) strives to be a
world leader in the application of telecommunications and information technology to
increase the availability and efficient delivery
of high quality health care. It includes a variety of innovative telemedicine applications,
including video-based consultations, storeand-forward services, emergency room and
intensive care unit consultation, teleradiology,
video interpreting, and telehome health. In
addition, a portable satellite terminal unit that
can be transported to sites, including disaster
locations without land lines, is a powerful tool
that enables UC Davis to provide expert consultation to individuals in remote areas. The
Telemedicine Learning Center (TLC) was
established in 1999 and has been used to
train over 1000 attendees from more than
400 organizations world wide to establish
effective telemedicine programs. Finally,
Distance Education provides Continuing
Medical Education for clinicians, utilizing upto-date technologies to deliver education to
the provider whenever, wherever.
Telemedicine-related technologies are constantly changing and improving. The continuing migration toward flawless, high-speed,
wireless connectivity will eventually offer
such superior video connections at lower
costs that smaller medical facilities will see
this technology as another common and
important tool in medicine.
It is expected that manufacturers of videoconferencing units will continue to improve
image quality and it is hoped that the equipment also will utilize lower bandwidths.
Telecommunications infrastructure is also
destined to improve in California and the
rest of the nation. Last fall, California
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
announced (Appendix 2) an executive
order for broadband infrastructure policies at the UC Davis Pediatric
Telemedicine Colloquium that is designed
to improve connectivity. In the coming
years, remote sites in small towns and
rural regions of California undoubtedly
will have access to increased bandwidth
at a lower cost. This will enable more
communities to utilize telemedicine technology for everything from direct patient
care, real-time consultations and storeand-forward telemedicine to electronic
medical records, patient and provider
education, and even disaster response.
It’s an honor to be nominated by Tandberg, a
well-known and respected industry leader in
the field of telemedicine.
Shining a national and even international
spotlight on the success, innovation and actual life-saving benefits of UC Davis’ telemedicine program will help encourage others in
health care to embrace this important area of
telecommunications technology.
Recognition by the Computerworld Honors
Program would help add significant credibility
to a relatively new tool in medicine. UC Davis
Health System, its telemedicine partners and
especially the thousands of patients who
have benefited from telemedicine already
have first-hand experiences with its applications. The Computerworld Honors award will
expand awareness and open new doors in
the world of medicine and beyond so that
more people recognize the many health-care
applications of telemedicine.
UNIVERSITY OF
VIRGINIA
Charlottesville, VA, United States
HealthMiner(R): Bedside to
Bench, Fast
This was a pioneering study by University of
Virginia and IBM to build and data mine
667,000 patient records, generating many
thousands of medical rules with weights for
basic research and clinical decision support,
including discovering some new diseasesymptom relationships.
The IT industry will be increasingly engaged
in personal privacy issues. Currently, there
are frequent and increasingly disturbing
descriptions of the unauthorized release of
personal information-from financial data to
medical records. These are attributed to
small and large IT entities and no segment of
the industry appears immune. This is leading
to an erosion of public trust and calls for
greater protection and extension of privacy
rights to personal information seeking behaviors. The response to this problem can only
partially be met by increased use of encryption and enhanced security measures. A vital
component will be the drafting of new legislative protections and the increased use of civil
and criminal sanctions for violations. These
responses will be controversial and highly
contentious. Societal consensus will not be
easily achieved. The IT industry will need to
develop increased expertise in political and
ethical approaches to these new threats-both
real and perceived. Ideally, they will proactively engage the communities they serve
before regulations become counter productive. It is likely there will be legislation passed
during the next few years that will prohibit the
release and use of genetic testing information for the determination of suitability for
employment or insurability. But inadvertent
and inappropriate release of these data can
also have profound consequences for an individual’s sense of worth and his social standing. So where and with whom does the control and ownership of this highly personal
data reside? What is an appropriate redress
for a violation of genetic privacy? What if the
violations are persistent? And is it possible
for an individual to claim ownership and
therefore protection over not only their genetic data but also the pattern of their personal
Internet usage? We see the IT industry
increasingly dealing with these and other
complex social issues created by their technological advances.
It would provide invaluable recognition for the
contribution that advanced IT technical and
analytical capabilities could have for the biological and medical sciences. The life sciences
have been the least influenced by the substantial advances in information technology. One
of the major results has been a very inefficient
research enterprise. Unlike the IT industry
where inexpensive test chips are embedded
within complex experiments for the extensive
collection of data and the prompt evaluation of
success or failure, the life sciences extensively
rely on the use of expensive and elaborate animal models, rather than information-intense
approaches. Not only are these models time
consuming and difficult to standardize, the relevance of the findings from these animal models for human health is frequently demonstrated to be irrelevant. Another closely related
problem created by an inadequate use of information technology in the healthcare sciences
is the extraordinarily slow adoption of established research discoveries and existing knowledge into the corresponding delivery of healthcare. This has created widely acknowledged
translational and operational inefficiencies, high
costs, and substantial waste of critical
resources. Exposure provided through the
Computerworld Honors Program would be of
enormous value to highlight that there are new
ways to approach, and indeed leverage, the
power of IT to engage and incorporate the full
complexity of the life sciences to uncover
undiscovered and potentially like extending
relationships as well as to monitor the use and
impact of new knowledge on the health and
healthcare of individuals and populations.
UNIVERSITY OF
WASHINGTON
MEDICINE
Seattle, WA, United States
University of Washington Medicine
Thwarts 803,000 Zotob Attacks in
Week-Long Attack at WorldRenown Medical Center
The University of Washington Medical
Centers thwarts 803,000 Zotob Attacks in
Week-Long Attack at World-Renown Medical
Center using 3Com’s TippingPoint Intrusion
Prevention system.
155
I believe the future of technology will be an
arms race against the creators of malicious
software. We are already in this race, and the
future will be decided on how we vendors can
provide protection at all levels from the
threats against computing resources. There
will continue to be the rise and spread of virulent botnets, encryption of malware, and new
technologies for protection and prevention
that can handle the new encrypted and obsfucated sources.
It is an honor to be a participant. It is exciting
to share with others the experiences seen at
UW Medical Centers and the campus in the
realm of cyber security and new technology.
VASSAR BROTHERS
MEDICAL CENTER
Poughkeepsie, NY, United States
The Digital Hospital
Hospitals - extraordinarily complex ecosystems -- typically lag behind other industries in
IT investment. Today, only about 10 percent
are using new technologies like RFID. But
for Vassar Brothers Medical Center (VBMC),
an affiliate of the Health Quest network in
the Mid-Hudson Valley, the vision of a “digital
hospital” is a reality today. VBMC is making
the connection between enhanced operations
and improved patient safety.
With IBM and InnerWireless, VBMC made the
strategic decision to install a wireless infrastructure that provides broadband coverage
throughout the hospital’s sprawling facilities including the 120-year old structures. This
system allows wireless to work everywhere,
guaranteed, without the usual interference
found in a hospital environment. VBMC is
now able to layer on innovative applications:
bar-coding of bedside medication administration to reduce adverse events; wireless nursephysician communications; an RF location system to actively track mobile assets: and clinical information delivered at the point of care.
I think we will see an increase in wireless
technology that has a form factor that is highly
personalized to the end user. Interoperability
between software platforms will become a
requirement for vendors to remain attractive
and viable to customers. There will be an
increase in the convergence between voice,
video and data over the internet that will also
bleed over into interactive TV. I think there will
be major merger and acquisition activity as
many of the larger firms puchase niche players who have excellent product but limited
capital and marketing channels.
This program is extremely important to me
LAUREATES 2007
H E A LT H C A R E
because it provides a venue to demonstrate
that technology can makea difference in the
healthcare field. Healthcare has traditionally
been a laggard industry with regards to IT
and industry trends clearly indicate that the
current health care market requires tremendous overall if it is to survive and provide the
clinical needs of our nation. The healthcare
industry is struggling with a business model
that does not make sound financial sense,
governmental regulations that are highly complex and change with administrations, and
antiquated IT systems that are modeled on
15 year old technology. This award demonstrates that innovation and success can be
attained within the healthcare model and
doesn’t require huge financial investments. It
shows that leading edge technology can be
used in an innovative approach and maintain
a high degree of operational acceptance. It
demostrates a different approach to propagating IT without coming just from IT and the
CIO. It demonstrates that IT can make a difference, not just to IT professionals but to the
businesses that we service. And our a larger
level it demonstrates that IT can make a real
difference in patient safety and patient care
and this is something that we hear, see and
read about every day. It makes me feel good
knowing that I was able to be a small part of
making things better for others and maybe
this award could be a good way of getting the
message out that IT professionals should
never give up when you know what you do
could make a difference!
WOUND
TECHNOLOGY
NETWORK
Hollywood, FL, United States
Wound Technology On-Location
Wound Care
Wound Technology Network (WTN) is a
physician group practice and management
company that contracts with managed care
providers to bring specialized wound care to
doctors’ offices, hospitals, skilled nursing and
assisted living facilities and private homes.
In business since 1999, WTN has 50 employees ranging from doctors, nurse practitioners
and physician’s assistants to patient care
coordinators that input patient information and
work with health plans. WTN’s goal was to
provide a level of on-location wound care that
would normally require a patient to travel by
car or ambulance to a hospital. To realize this
new business model, WTN needed the ability
to serve any patient, anytime, anywhere. This
made it critical for caregivers to have remote,
interactive access to health records, patient
treatment visuals and expert advice.
156
Manufacturing
DELPHI
CORPORATION
Troy, MI, United States
Case for Change
In October 2005, Delphi Corporation filed for
bankruptcy protection-the largest bankruptcy in
automotive industry history. IT was asked to
radically change how it supported the business
in the hopes that it would help save Delphi and
its 135,000 employees. In response, Delphi IT
accelerated an improvement program it already
had in place (the Case for Change). The new
plan called for Delphi IT to cut its operating
budget by over 50% in a little over 2.5 years,
while at the same time building its core capabilities to world-class levels so that it could better
serve the business. In addition, IT needed to
ensure that it could seamlessly support the business’ structural transformation and any acquisition, divestiture, or business wind-down activities.
The plan embodies global shared services,
strategic sourcing, legacy application simplification, and global infrastructure simplification, and
is well on its way, with IT exceeding targets.
Delphi’s use of Information Technology will
not change drastically over the next 3 years.
If anything, we will use less, but what we do
use we will use more effectively and to
greater advantage.
We foresee our common process push becoming the “way we do business” - using a small
set of powerful, global common systems to help
the company operate as one very lean and
competitive business anywhere in the world.
We also foresee increased use of collaboration
tools and knowledge bases as the company
becomes more mature in operating global business units that leverage capabilities in 24/7
global design and flexible manufacturing.
Over time, more and more manufacturing
companies, especially in the automotive market will adopt these practices. We do not
expect them to be commonplace by 2010,
however. By moving aggressively now (even
if by financial necessity), Delphi will secure an
“early-mover” advantage and be very well
positioned for success in the industries we
compete for many years to come.
Over the last two years, Delphi IT’s employees
have worked extremely hard on IT’s transformation. The hours have been long and have
included many weekends. The energy and
pride of the employee base as they re-engineered IT’s operating model to help the company regain competitiveness has been
admirable. Certainly, it would be wonderful to
let them know that an Honors Program as
renowned as Computerworld’s recognized
their accomplishments.
Furthermore, by being recognized, we feel that
Delphi IT’s efforts will be validated and could
inspire other IT departments companies in
similar situations to make the effort to transform. We believe that this is especially true
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
M A N U FA C T U R I N G
for the manufacturing industry which seems to
be under a microscope of constant bad news
in the press. If, through this award, we can
inspire others to change their operating model,
and we can serve as a role model in saving
jobs and helping regional economies, our hard
work will have more than paid off.
ETHICON
ENDO-SURGERY
Project CSI
Project CSI at J&J Ethicon Endo-Surgery was
a three phased project to develop and implement a new complaint handling process following lean principles in order to meet regulatory reporting requirements and improve customer service. The scope of CSI included the
business process of the Customer Care
Center (Call Center), Customer Quality, and
Product Analysis. The new processes include
innovations such as “Trending and
Thresholding” to optimize product returns and
automated scripts for capturing the Voice of
the Customer.
In the medical devices industry, a major trend
we’ve identified is that products and technologies are being used more widely for homeand self-care health systems. This enables
people to play a greater role in maintaining
their own health but it also means the enduser will be even more responsible for reporting problems with the medical devices they
use. For this reason, it is incumbent upon
companies like EES to manage the complaint
process as consistently and efficiently as
possible to provide their customers with accurate and high-quality service.
In 2010, we also see information technology
in the industry as being more prevention-oriented and consumer-driven. This includes
innovations such as “smart devices” that can
“think” for themselves, customized wearable
devices, electronic patient records, and wireless internet-linked systems. These new innovations are expected to deliver convenient,
user-friendly, intelligent health care in the
home. From a consumer’s standpoint, this
could mean convenience in terms of time and
travel and reduced health-care costs, but
again, it will require taking more responsibility
for one’s own health care.
Home-care systems that teach people to
monitor themselves with devices that give
timely warnings of illness means those individuals can consult their physicians earlier,
when intervention will do the most good. And
for doctors, it could mean more efficient and
effective health care driven by patients who
take greater responsibility for their own
health. But it will also require a higher level of
training and complaint management on the
part of medical device manufacturers, a trend
that Project CSI will help EES prepare for.
158
EES is dedicated to the transformation of
patient care through product and process
innovation. As one of the leading medical
device manufacturers in the world, we believe
part of our mission requires us to be responsive to our customers and to be an early
adaptor of technology that enables us to fulfill
that mission. Only then may we live up to our
responsibility as a leader and set an example
for others in our industry to follow.
Project CSI has enabled us to be more
responsive to our customers by streamlining
our complaint management process.
Information technology has played a significant role in this. Being a part of the 2007
Computerworld Honors Program will allow us
to significantly communicate the success of
this program to others in our industry. By
telling the story behind our own application of
information technology to help our customers
and transform patient care, we believe we
can encourage others to do the same.
GUJARAT RECLAIM &
RUBBER PRODUCTS
LIMITED
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
ERP for Economic, Environmental
and Social Sustainability
Sensitized by the need for adoption of environmental friendly manufacturing practices,
Gujarat Reclaim & Rubber Products Limited,
constantly endeavored to increase the popularity of reclaimed rubber, as a replacement to
natural & synthetic rubbers.
To increase adoption by providing better value
to its customers, the company took a pioneering initiative by becoming the first company in
the reclaim rubber industry to deploy mySAP
ERP. ERP has helped the company simplify
the complexities of financial accounting.
Consequently, the company has been able to
partially substitute the demand for natural
rubber with reclaim rubber across 37 countries. It has also helped Gujarat Reclaim to
connect with manufacturers globally and
achieve its social objective of environment
stewardship by helping companies reduce,
recycle and re-use scrap rubber. This ensures
not only the protection of valuable natural
resources but is also instrumental in the
reduction of growing stockpiles of environmentally hazardous rubber products and tires.
The growth of IT will fast spread among the
SMB’s in the next wave. The use of IT has
currently been limited to the larger companies
and their IT systems talking amongst themselves, but in a few years, the adoption would
spread to more companies in the SME’s. To
that effect, by 2010, one will witness interface of IT between most companies across
the world and help reduce inefficiencies in
business practices.
While our company’s basic premis has been
to create a sustainable future by the way we
do business, we would also like to be seen as
a tech savy company who delivers returns to
stakeholders while helping clean the environment and staying atop best practices followed
in the industry. The Program helps us showcase a modern management adopting modern practices to operate a traditional business
HARRIS GCSD
Melbourne, FL, United States
Phoenix
Harris is an international communications and
information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more
than 150 countries. ERP replacing a 20 year
old legacy system coupled with a Product
Data Management system in a U.S.
Government Defense Electronics environment. These two integrated systems affect
all departments in GCSD’s $2Bill group.
Information Technology is increasingly becoming
a ubiquitous asset in the workplace. No longer
are the highly trained few expected to serve as
the sole gatekeepers for data processing and
business information access and retrieval.
Instead, it has become a business necessity that
workers at every level of an organization routinely
interact with IT systems as a normal part of their
work. In the coming years, the pervasiveness of
IT beyond the boundaries of the technology elite
will drive a move to IT transparency - the application of increasing levels of processing power and
functionality that no longer require or benefit
from direct user input. Instead, what a user
needs to know is made available instantly, without the need for esoteric search logic and
opaque protocols. What a worker needs accomplished will be input, processed, and routed to
the next business operation in a much more
automated, behind-the-scenes manner. Business
decisions will be increasingly based on real-time
access to information sources linked to a robust
network of internal business processes and
external drivers. In addition to IT transparency,
there will be an increasing move toward standardization - in business processes, data types
and information sources. Organizational
stovepipes persist in business today, as separate
organizations and business entities continue to
guard their need-specific IT applications at the
expense of enterprise solutions. In the coming
years, as IT solutions offer increasing power and
functionality, more businesses will move to true
enterprise-wide solutions that maximize their IT
investment and enhance the efficiency and productivity of their people.
Harris is understandably proud of the extraordinary efforts and accomplishments of the
Phoenix Project Team in transitioning these
two critical business systems without any
impact to their Government and Commercial
customers. The 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program gives Harris an opportunity to
acknowledge those accomplishments in a
much broader forum. We also see it as an
opportunity to reinforce the message that the
effective application of technology requires
the vision and expertise of a diverse team.
The Phoenix Project Team leaders and our
industry partners, Agile and Cincom, brought
to this effort a wealth of insight, not only with
respect to the capabilities of the enabling
technologies but also into our essential business processes. As important as all of the
technology, business process tailoring, planning and execution, however, was the team’s
shared understanding that the fundamental
purpose of technology in the workplace is to
help people do their jobs. More than a few IT
initiatives have failed because they overlooked this simple tenet. Technology cannot
drive the workforce - it must follow, supporting, enabling and staying out of the way as
much as possible. It may be a cliché to say
that our people are our greatest asset - but
clichés happen because so many people want
to say it. We recognize the value of our people, and, to the extent that the technology can
help them realize their full potential, we
remain committed to its responsible application. The 2007 Computerworld Honors
Program lets us share the team’s accomplishments beyond the confines of the Harris
community - we’re proud of them.
THE HILLMAN
GROUP
Business Intelligence
The Hillman Group has created an effective way to react quickly to sudden
changes in any of the company’s many
product lines. They are able to streamline
revenue reporting and bolster the level of
BI data available to decision-makers.
Information Builders Inc.’ s WebFocus BI
platform quickly plucks BI data from four
legacy systems, cleanses the information
and serves it up to executives poised to
make strategic decisions. They have
enabled their product managers to quickly
analyze product classes, subclasses and
items to identify where the bleeding is at
its worst and implement immediate
changes to correct performance.
We are striving to become a strategic partner
with the business. Anything that is tactical in
nature is a candidate for outsourcing. I want
to keep my headcount flat and increase business acumen. I can provide more of a business advantage or competitive advantage by
having an organization of business analysts
than having an organization of technicians. I
can pay for the “bit and byte” type work as an
outside service.
It is quite an hoonor to be nominated for this
award. Being a relatively small company with
very limited resources in terms of people and
dollars, I think we have done an exceptional
job building this system.
159
LABARGE INC.
St. Louis, MO, United States
Consolidated Business
Intelligence Reporting System
LaBarge Inc, an electronics manufacturing
services firm serving a wide range of market sectors, including defense, aerospace,
homeland security, industrial, and natural
resources. The company’s manufacturing
expertise attracts clients looking to improve
the efficiency and profitability of their production lines. Using WebFOCUS, LaBarge
has unlocked this mainframe data, giving
authorized users easy access to information. From purchasing to customer service,
contracts, and accounting, LaBarge
employees no longer struggle to extract the
information they need.
I think that tools will continue to advance so
that some functions that are done currently
by IT professionals will be done by functional
business people. As the data becomes available to users, they are able to find new ways
to use it better than someone who strictly
works in IT.
IT pros will be focusing more on the purely
technical areas since the users will be able to
manage their own interface with the data.
There will continue to be a shift to webbased applications. Software as a service
and modular applications will make it
easier for companies to implement best
of breed solutions, rather than having to
buy a suite to ensure the pieces work
properly together.
It is a great way to learn from others, and to
share what I have learned with others.
MIYACHI UNITEK
CORPORATION
Monrovia, CA, United States
Miyachi Unitek Corporation is the world’s
leading supplier of Resistance Welding,
Laser Welding and Marking, Reflow
Soldering & Heat seal Bonding, Hermetic
Sealing equipment and systems for a wide
range of manufacturing markets. The company’s executives and regional managers,
who travel extensively, needed a cell phone
that would also provide mobile wireless
access to their corporate email, as well as
the company’s customer data stored in its
CRM system, salesforce.com. Today, twenty-five executives and regional sales managers at Miyachi Unitek carry Treo smartphones by Palm equipped with Good
Technology’s Good Mobile Messaging and
AppExchange Mobile by Salesforce.com.
Now, with remote access to email, contacts, calendars and customer account
data, the sales teams are more responsive
to customers needs and can interface with
its factory in real time. With the help of
Palm Treos, Unitek has gained six hours a
week of productivity improvement per user.
In 2010, we will have smaller Smart Phones
that will have larger storeage capabilities and
more business and media content. Data and
media transfers will be much faster.
MUC is honored to be nominated and included
in the 2007 Computerworld Honors Program
and we are glad to share our cast study on
how Good Mobile for wireless e-mails and
attachments and SFDC Mobile ApExchange
for the Palm Treo has helped us boost productivity of our MUC worldwide sales team.
Thank you Computerworld.
STANLEY ACCESS
TECHNOLOGIES LLC
- A DIVISION OF THE
STANLEY WORKS
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
consumption and in most cases improve
employee productivity becasue they can start
their jobs earlier and stay later. We are only at
the beginning of understanding how technology can improve productivity and profitability.
Stanley Access Technologies, A Division
of the StanleyWorks, is honored to be
asked to submit a case study for the
Computerworld Honors program. For a
U.S. company with a long history of manufacturing ingenuity and success, to be
recognized for the implementation of new
technology is an amazing feat. We did not
embark on this journey to integrate a new
communication device for recognition, but
as a way to improve how our field service
group performed their tasks and thus
improved how we served our most important asset, our customers. The acknowledgement of the Computerworld Honors
Program merely validates the success of
the program, and we hope it will lead our
company on the continued integration of
new technology that will benefit our
employees and customers.
Farmington, CT, United States
Technicians at Stanley Access
Technologies are using Palm Treos to
install, calibrate and repair automated
doors at hospitals, airports, hotels, restaurants and retail establishments. With the
Treo running custom-built applications,
technicians use the smartphone connected
to the door controller to calibrate door settings with an easy tap of a few buttons on
the screen, as opposed to climbing a ladder
to tweak initial settings manually.
Technicians save time performing final
safety checks as required by industry regulations. Other benefits include: Improved
communication between field service technicians and local offices; Streamlined software-update process, delivering updates
directly to technicians in the field; Reduced
setup time by automating setting of parameters for door speed and force with the
Treo running custom applications;
Eliminated need to carry heavy binders and
several devices to service locations; simplified photo handling using the Treo’s built-in
camera to take pictures of damaged parts
and immediately send via email.
TRINECKE
ZELEZARNY A.S.
Trinec, Czech Republic
Advanced planning of metallurgic
production in Trinecke zelezarny a.s
The company realized a project of advanced
planning in a demanding enviornment of a
metalurgic company with an outstanding variability in the parameters of final products (up
to several hundred thousand)and multilevel
mode of production. A project of planning
production of such a comprehensiveness is
unprecendented in Europe.
Progress can not be stopped.
Something what can contribute to image of
our company.
UNITED STATES
MINT
tate collaboration and knowledge sharing and
provide executives with real-time analytics to
improve decisions.
VARIAN MEDICAL
SYSTEMS
IT trends towards supporting BPM will assist
the United States Mint to refine and improve
their efficiencies and effectiveness. Many of
the available market tools allow for the
automation of the enterprise business
process set there rather than building discrete integration (and analytical) software into
every separate application.
Palo Alto, CA, United States
Migration to Administrative
Resource Center
The United States Mint transitioned some of
its administrative and accounting functions to
a shared services environment at the Bureau
of Public Debt’s (BPD’s) Administrative
Resource Center (ARC) to align with the
Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB)
Line of Business initiative. The goal of this
initiative is to reduce redundancy and promote standardization among federal agencies.
The United States Mint chose to transfer its
manufacturing, accounting, and some procurement functions to the ARC in order to
decrease the costs of transactions and to
increase focus on its core missions and
strategic objectives. This migration required
the installation of a new enterprise resource
planning system and the redesign of business
processes relating to these functions.
Information Technology (IT) will continue to
be influenced by business drivers in the marketplace. The driving demands for technology-enabled support for better business performance, resolution of business interoperability problems, reduction of IT costs, realtime analytics, security, and regulatory compliance will shape IT over the next three years.
In addition, organizations are increasingly
demanding a return from their investments
from technologies.
IT is trending towards advanced analytics in
an integrated information environment, enterprise business services, non-invasive reuse,
and new technologies based on process optimization. Technologies supporting these
trends include Service Oriented Architecture
(SOA), Enterprise Portals, and Business
Process Management (BPM) tools. The
United States Mint CIO organization is looking to leverage these technologies to meet its
core mission. These initiatives include having
applications 100% web enabled and platform
independent following industry standard protocols. Application accessibility, high availability, security, and ease of use are also organizational goals.
Program enables us to highlight our commitment to our core mission, increase our contribution to the United States Department of
the Treasury’s general fund, and provide
assistance to our fellow federal agencies
through benchmarking. The United States
Mint’s mission is to produce an adequate
volume of circulating coinage for the nation
through the application of world class business practices in making, selling, and protecting our nation’s coinage and assets. The
ARC-MAP project will enable the United
States Mint to focus more on this mission by
increasing analysis of information rather
than spending time and resources on administrative duties such as data entry and transaction execution.
The United States Mint is willing to share its
success with other federal agencies that are
considering a similar implementation.
Through collaboration with other agencies, we
can provide key recommendations for future
projects based on our lessons learned from
the ARC-MAP project. Being part of the
Computerworld Honors program would allow
the United States Mint’s ARC-MAP project to
reach a wider audience than we would otherwise have the opportunity to reach. Our
intent is that our submission would open the
door to collaboration with any and all interested agencies and organizations.
A Revolution in Cancer Care:
Intensity-Modulated Radiation
Therapy
Varian Medical Systems is the world’s leading
manufacturer of medical technology for treating cancer and other medical conditions with
radiotherapy, brachytherapy, and radiosurgery.
Cancer remains one of the leading causes of
death throughout the world, with 1.3 million
new cases occurring yearly in the United
States alone. More than half of U.S. patients
will be treated with some form of radiation
therapy. Varian Medical Systems has developed technology for planning and delivering
an advanced form of radiation therapy technology called Intensity-Modulated Radiation
Therapy (IMRT), which has improved the success and safety of radiation oncology and
expanded its use to the treatment of tumors
that might have been difficult or impossible to
treat. The Software Quality Engineering
department within Varian Medical Systems
has leveraged technology from Borland to
ensure that the software that supports IMRT
technologies can be delivered to market
quickly, fully compliant with FDA requirements
for quality and safety.
We often say that Varian Medical Systems
focuses energy on saving lives. The company
has been building radiation oncology treatment machines for nearly 50 years. However,
it is only in the last couple of decades, that
information technology began to play a huge
role in this endeavor, and as a result, Varian
had to become “expert,” not just in hardware
design and manufacturing, but in software
engineering as well. A 2007 Computerworld
Honor that recognizes Varian Medical
Systems as an organization that uses
Information Technology to benefit the world
would be huge affirmation of our evolution,
and would also affirm our mission of being a
“partner for life” with our customers by putting
the most advanced, efficient, and effective
cancer fighting tools possible into their hands.
SOA technology will be the foundation for a
business architecture to standardize commonly used business processes and communicate those services across the enterprise.
Data integration is a key differentiator requiring disparate data to be migrated to common
product taxonomies.
I expect Information Technology to continue
to evolve at a rapid pace with no end in site
at 2010. With the exponential increases in
memory, data sorage, transmission speeds
and communication, companies will continue
on a path of new technology as a way to
communicate and serve their employees and
customers even better. With the ease of
which DSL lines have integrated into common homes, I would expect more and more
jobs that once were always located in an
office environment to be moved to a “work
from home” system. This will save on energy
The United States Mint also considers
Enterprise Portal technology an enabler in
achieving its goals. Enterprise portals are
personalized, single points of access which
utilize quality information to drive faster and
better decision-making. United States Mint
information can easily be available across
multiple platforms, repositories and business
units. An enterprise portal solution can facili-
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Media, Arts & Entertainment
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
M E D I A , A RT S & E N T E RTA I N M E N T
AMIGOLATINO
Los Angeles, CA, United States
AmigoLive
AmigoLatino is using Polycom video conferencing to connect, at an affordable price,
family members who have immigrated to the
United States with their relatives in South
American countries, who haven’t physically
seen one another for years. This includes
parents and children; newborn family members; birthday celebrations complete with
cake; brides on their way to get married in
Latin America, stopping by the Latino Amigo
office so a father in the US can see his
daughter in her wedding dress and give his
blessing; and last goodbyes said to an ailing
family member.
Gabriel Biguria, AmigoLatino CEO comments:
“Growing up in Guatemala, I saw the sacrifices people made to come to the United
States, it tears families apart. I knew I needed to do something to help solve this problem. For Latinos, family is the strongest bond,
yet many family members are unable to physically see each other for years.”
One of the biggest trends that we embrace,
and predict that will continue to grow rapidly,
is the development of new applications and
services (e.g. Web 2.0) that empower the
common end user to do more with any number of members across the globe. More and
more, borders will become less relevant as
collaboration among individuals and groups
increases across the globe. However, we will
continue to experience one of the biggest
challenges that comes with the rapid
advancement of technology and that is a larger digital divide. In many places around the
world, billions of people still don’t have access
to basic services (much less technology) and
will continue to miss out on the many benefits
that come with the adoption of technology.
Therefore, AmigoLatino will continue with the
ongoing effort to democratize access to the
latest technologies to connect and improve
the lives of many more families and organizations across the globe.
We are extremely excited to be a part of the
2007 Computerworld Honors Program
because of its effort and relevance in recognizing the achievements of organizations who
work very hard at leveraging Information
Technology to provide solutions for a better
world. For us at AmigoLatino it is a real
honor to be nominated to such a prestigious
program, and it represents a great incentive
and validation for our team and the many
families and organization that we touch, that
all of our hard work and dedication is making
a difference where it counts. We are proud
and applaud your efforts to recognize the
hard work of many organizations that are
making a big difference in this world and look
forward to supporting such a great initiative in
any way we can.
BARNES AND NOBLE
COLLEGE
BOOKSELLERS
Basking Ridge, NJ, United States
Barnes and Noble College
Booksellers: Putting Textbooks in
Students Hands
Barnes & Noble College Bookstores (BNCB),
which operates more than 500 university
bookstores throughout the U.S., was challenged to better meet students’ expectations
for an intuitive online buying experience and
to provide schools with a sophisticated platform to support fulfillment while maintaining
their unique brands. In 2006, BNCB created
a next-generation e-commerce web solution
that allows stores to process record numbers
of orders in a single day -- enhancing store
and student productivity and delivering superior customer service.
The new solution provides streamlined textbook purchases with an integrated course
registration feature; an expanded set of payment options, including student financial aid
and university debit card payments; the ability
to tailor products and content on the home
page to pre-defined segments; and a streamlined order-management process to support
peak order processing times.
Web 2.0 will revolutionize the IT industry as
richer internet applications with become the
norm not the exception. Content will become
much more of a driving force in the development and usage of these applications.
Communication across the web will increase
dramatically and become even more of an integral part of our everyday life. Users will play a
much more participatory role in the evolution of
these applications as they will be encouraged
to enhance and change these applications to
their own needs and preferences.
It implicitly validates the concept of one stop
shopping for students and the success of
creating an end-to-end registration/shopping
experience that saves students time and
increases accuracy. We are very proud of the
goals and successes around this system and
are anxious to enhance the capabilities and
the audience even further.
THE CLEVELAND
INDIANS
Best Practices Data Protection for
In-House Video Application
The Cleveland Indians are a major league
baseball team with a reputation as one of
the top five ball clubs in terms of IT
advancements, including a state-of-the-art
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in-house video system that captures every
at-bat for advanced scouting and training
purposes. To address substantial storage
surges caused by the influx of video data
while accommodating ever-shrinking backup and recovery windows, the Cleveland
Indians deployed “future proof” data protection from Overland Storage, featuring
its NEO 4000 tape library and REO 9000
disk-based VTL backup and recovery
appliance. The team reduced its backup
window by more than 50 percent, enabling
the Indians to back up two-thirds more
data in half the time. As a result, the
Cleveland Indians are now considering
keeping online video for every game from
all 32 major league teams, which would
total 2,600 games and require substantial
storage capacity while leveraging its solid
Overland data protection foundation.
Technology will continue to keep pace with
escalating information needs so that organizations can transform how they conduct
business while achieving unprecedented
levels of productivty and efficiency. For the
Cleveland Indians, we have been amazed
by how our in-house video system has revolutionized many aspects of our training
and scouting programs and expect continuing innovations in our use of digital video
and imaging technology to take our game
to the next level.
It is an honor to be a part of this program and
give the Cleveland Indians the opportunity to
be recognized for achievements in technology as well as their accomplishments on the
baseball diamond.
COX
COMMUNICATIONS
Electronic Documentation
Distribution
While initially seeking a device management
solution for the company’s mobile thousands of
mobile devices, Cox has found that they have
been able to expand their use of technology to
facilitate additional business automation. For
instance, maintaining a physical plant is critical
to being able to deliver reliable service to customers. Current documentation - maps and
design drawings in particular - is required by
the field force. In the past, the company distributed this information as printed material in
hundreds of large binders on a quarterly basis.
They are now able to distribute this documentation electronically as a file transfer. Aside
from the obvious benefit of not having
ECAST
ECHOSTAR
COMMUNICATIONS
ECast’s Digital Jukebox Solution
Englewood, CO, United States
Ecast delivers on-demand music to digital
touch-screen jukeboxes in bars and restaurants throughout the country.
Data Center Migration
The 100-employee, San Francisco-based firm
powers 7,500 jukeboxes that provide content
to over 42 million listeners per month. The
Ecast customer base consists of 1,200 operators who own and service every box on the
network. By utilizing QUALCOMM’s EV-DO
technology that enables Verizon Wireless’
Broadband Access, Ecast equipped 25 wireless jukeboxes with AirLink Raven-E modems
to increase the rate of monthly jukebox
placements and reduce Ecast support interface time with carriers expanding their exemplary customer service.
ECHO
ENTERTAINMENT,
INC.
Studio City, CA, United States
Video Archiving for Tapeless HD
Production
For 40 years, video professionals have
trusted video tape to store their video
content, but today they face two major
challenges: an explosion in content and
complexity with multiple formats demanded by new channels and new markets; and
the heightened demand to store the
increasing quantity of High-Definition(HD)
television content produced with resolutions and data rates five times that of
Standard Definition(SD) television. To
meet these challenges, the industry is
transitioning from traditional video tapebased storage, manipulation and output to
digital workflows where video content
exists as files. These new file-based
workflows make it inefficient to convert
video files back to video tape for interchange and archiving. In Echo
Entertainment’s new HD production facility, data tape has replaced video tape as
its de facto media standard for file-based
workflows and video archiving, resulting in
more efficient and timely access to video
assets, improved content preservation and
more reliable long-term storage.
We will continue to see creative professionals
use technology to solve production challenges in new and innovative ways.
Honors Program serves to recognize our
innovation in applying technology to solve
real-world problems.
EchoStar Communications Corporation, parent
company of DISH Network, delivers direct
broadcast satellite television products and services to 13.1 million subscribers worldwide. As
the fastest growing pay-TV provider in the U.S.
EchoStar had pushed its primary data center to
its limits for cooling capacity and floor space.
Also, the company was experiencing multiple
system failures and had insufficient room to roll
out new systems and capabilities, which seriously constrained its growth. To address these
issues, EchoStar needed to relocate its data
center - which included 1100 servers, 314
applications, and 138 terabytes of production
storage supplied by 12 different vendors - to a
larger, upgraded data center. The relocation
involved extensive mapping of systems and
application interdependencies to eliminate the
risk of unplanned downtime that would jeopardize EchoStar’s around-the-clock satellite TV
services to its customers. The project was completed under budget, in an aggressive eight
months, with no unplanned downtime.
I think the mechanism by which we access information on the Internet will be simpler and more
elegant than it is today. Speech and auditory
analysis tools will enable even the least sophisticated users to ask the search engine to conduct
research for them simply by asking questions in
natural language rather than in a rigid syntax. I
also believe that IT shops and organizations as a
whole will be much more effective and costeffective in deriving every last bit of benefit from
the infrastructure they own. Virtualization on
many layers, hardware and software, will enable
companies to fully leverage all the computer processing power that they possess.
Computerworld provides an excellent forum
for shedding light on leading edge activities
in the technology industry. As a nominee for
this awards program, the recognition our
company receives for using technology to its
fullest potential gives our IT staff a sense of
pride that this project has not only been successful for EchoStar but is worthy of being
singled out as a significant achievement in
the industry as a whole.
tools for developing, managing, preserving,
and delivering information electronically.
These resources include the Bibliography of
the History of Art, the Avery Index to
Architectural Periodicals, and Art and
Archaeology Technical Abstracts Online --all
widely used for the study of art, architecture
and cultural heritage conservation.
The most extensively used of the Getty’s
resources are the Art & Architecture
Thesaurus ®, the Getty Thesaurus of
Geographic Names ®, and the Union List
of Artist Names ®, all using a powerful
thesaurus construction and publication
system built by Getty Information
Technology Services. The Online
Computer Library Center recently
described them as “the premier references for categorizing works of art, architecture, material culture, and the names
of artists, architects ….” and incorporated
them into its Terminologies Service.
Ideally, we would see the “technology” part of
Information Technology become increasingly
less salient per se, because there are so few
practical limits to the capabilities of hardware,
software, and communications technologies.
And we’d make the “information” part of IT
more personalized, natural, and responsive,
because that’s how communication, sharing,
and collaboration work.
We at the Getty Vocabulary Program and
Getty Information Technology Services are
honored to be nominated to the
Computerworld Honors Program. The past
case studies represent outstanding accomplishments by leaders in business, media,
the arts, and education who know what
technology can do to help them achieve
their institutional goals, and the many talented information technologists who
worked hard to enable their users to
achieve those goals. More than two
decades of continuous efforts by our team
of dedicated professionals in art information and computer technology have gone
into building, growing, and disseminating
the Getty vocabularies, and we are grateful
to have the opportunity to share our story
in a prestigious forum like the
THE NEWSMARKET
THE J. PAUL GETTY
TRUST
Los Angeles, CA, United States
2006 was a pivotal year for The NewsMarket.
The company needed to make strategic decisions about how to capitalize on burgeoning
interest in its online video offerings for news
media. The number of media outlets that
sourced broadcast-standard video content
from The NewsMarket increased 90% from
2005-2004, while the number of requests
from the top 25 media outlets tripled. After
Web-Based Global Art Resources:
The J. Paul Getty Trust produces a suite of
Web-based resources to support its commitment to making art information accessible to
all and to promote standards, practices, and
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Advanced Multi-media Search
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
surveying users, journalists from the
Associated Press, BBC, CNN and more than
10,500 media outlets across the world, The
NewsMarket developed a clear strategy:
Improve search. The NewsMarket selected
sophisticated search technology from
Autonomy in 2006. Results exceeded all
expectations. The NewsMarket gave journalists-under the tightest of deadlines-the ability
to search video, images and audio as easily
and effectively as text. Better search resulted
in dramatic increases in the amount of content downloaded from The NewsMarket by
newsroom staff under constant pressure to
create fresh, timely stories.
Information Technology will adapt and change
through the expansion of Internet users and
humans’ capacity to grow and learn from
what had gone before.
It’s an honor to be recognized by
Computerworld, which recognizes the
achievements of people and companies who
use Internet technology to help the world.
So many people around the world, working
hard for startups and more, finding new
ways to benefit others while building sustainable businesses.
OGILVY WORLDWIDE
Brandwave
Ogilvy has been creating original ideas in
Technology since 2002, when the company
took a definitive step to move from managing
Infrastructure to managing Information.
Since then, the Ogilvy Worldwide Technology
Group has churned out at least one original
technology innovation a year. However, their
approach to innovation is to solve everyday
problems and some have been so successful
within the Internet space that affiliates, competition and other industries alike have
adopted the technologies across
International geographies.
Ogilvy innovations are set apart by the fact
that they never lock down the products intellectual capital.
In 2006, the Technology Group set out to
leverage mobile devices to assist in a quick
and easy way to locate information on internal digital assets; they stumbled upon an eye
opening discovery. Among the first solutions
they researched and applied the technology
to was its use to assist the everyday consumer and potentially law enforcement.
By 2010 technology will contribute to making online and offline communications highly
secure. Business of today must make significant investments in technology. Those that
don’t position themselves well today will see
the negative outcome of their decisions in
the next five years and will be less agile
than the competition.
The technology environment will be vastly different for at least 60 percent of the companies. But adapting to this changed environment will depend on the standard and decisions of today. CIOs will be Chief Everything
Officers. The pressure to find innovative solutions to problems and new streams of revenue will be very high. Competition and
growth will continue to play a major role in
established companies, however, the broadening of global horizons will be commonplace
but few will be ready for the challenges, legal
restrictions, privacy issues, and infrastructure
challenges within this scope.
On the other hand, consumers will have more
choices, be more demanding, and will make
cost-based decisions extremely quickly, forcing companies to acquire the accurate technology to be able to react via bidding
processes or supply chain management.
Under these circumstances, customer service
will take on a whole new meaning.
By 2010, offshoring will start a trend of being
limited to fundamental services and more
advanced services. Engineering and research
will largely move back to the United States,
Japan, and other countries that are now
spending time and resources on building the
next generation of thinkers. This will be
fueled by the fact that the third world countries of today are growing at a faster rate and
the cost of living in these countries is also rising. This will cause the differential to plateau
at close to the cost of doing business in the
United States and without the complexity.
The Computerworld Honors Program has always
positioned very successful technologies and forward-thinking research in their nominations. The
fact that other technology companies have to
nominate the participants speaks highly of the
process and helps separate hype from reality.
Having our project nominated for an award of
this type tells us that technology research, no
matter how ‘off the wall’, has a good chance of
being recognized for its benefits to people.
This participation also means that somebody
is keeping their eyes and ears open for new
ideas and unique approaches sometimes creates strange bedfellows. The networking
aspect of the Honors Program alone is
appealing enough and it is an honor to have a
forward-thinking company such as Cisco
nominate us for this award.
SPORTS POTENTIAL
Menlo Park, CA, United States
Palm Handhelds
The Sports Potential Assessment is a battery
of physical, psychological and physiological
tests helping individuals find which sports
best match their physical capabilities and
interests. Results are Web-based, but the system was originally implemented on paper,
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requiring administrators to write down information and then enter data at a computer,
returning results in a couple days. Working
with Stanford University’s School of
Engineering, Sports Potential determined that
Palm handhelds freed them from carrying
around bulky clipboards and enter data on
their handhelds while overseeing the testing
process. They then synch the device with a
computer and receive results within seconds.
iAnywhere’s M-Business Anywhere enables
delivery of near-instantaneous test results.
The electronic process has eliminated errors
and saves administrators approximately 15
minutes of data entry per customer. Not only
are the test-takers happy with immediate
results, but administrators see more revenue
because they can run more customers
through the system each day.
has created a product which offers an intuitive user interface and portable functionality. Accenture recognizes Starz
Entertainment as an IT innovator.
Leveraging technologies and processes
(mobile, Internet, cleantech, etc.) in all
industries and products, not just the traditional and typical categories. As Sports
Potential has pioneered, even industries like
sports (broadly media and entertainment)
and education can utilize technology appropriately if given the right context and satisfying a customer need.
It is truly an honor to be nominated for the
2007 Computerworld Honors Program. We
are thrilled that our product, Vongo, is recognized as an extraordinary innovation by such a
distinguished community of IT professionals.
It’s a great honor. For almost twenty years,
ComputerWorld has been a leading in recognizing innovative technologies or its
usages. Past winners read like a “who’s
who” of technological leading companies,
organizations and team that have been
spearheading this country’s efforts. I am
humbled that our firm has accomplished
something of value that merits consideration by the Honors Program.
Consumers are “on the go.” Their lifestyles
dictate flexibility in when, where and how they
communicate, exchange information, and
entertain themselves. Three years from now
this trend will only continue and at a faster
rate. Mobility isn’t the only feature required for
technology; the “data pipes” through which
the content passes must grow to meet the
increased consumer demand for information.
Technology in 2010 will adjust accordingly
with more bandwidth coming to the consumer
whenever and wherever they want.
WARNER BROS.
ENTERTAINMENT
Creating a digital entertainment
environment - from end-to-end
Warner Bros. Entertainment is a global leader
in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment, moreover, it has a history as an innovating pioneer in new ways of distributing and
consuming content. The company was
among the first to grasp the full potential of
today’s digital technologies. Its ambition is to
transform the traditional ways of storing and
sharing content into a single, totally integrated digital operation. Accomplishing this feat
will make Warner Bros. one of the first - if not
the first - to move it’s entire film and television production, post-production and distribution process to an entirely digital end-to-end
process. As the strategic partner to help it
map out the optimal route and arrive at its
digital destination Warner Bros has chosen
Accenture.
Industry analysts have predicted that the
mobile content and services industry alone
will grow by almost 70% over the next five
years to more than $150 billion. By 2010,
Warner Bros. will have a fully file-based digital
STARZ
ENTERTAINMENT
Englewood, CO, United States
Vongo
In January 2006, Starz Entertainment
launched Vongo, a breakthrough subscription broadband video service that is changing the way people consume movies. With
Vongo, customers enjoy unlimited access to
a rich array of movies, concerts, sports and
other video selections. Vongo is a personalized, on-demand platform that enables subscribers to choose and watch movies on
their terms - when they want, whenever
they want, and they want. Short for “video
on the go,” Vongo is innovative by uniquely
exploiting the delivery of new release
Hollywood movies over broadband by subscription. Vongo enables the estimated 40
million US households with high-speed
Internet connections to select, download
and play movies over PCs, portable devices,
and TV. With the launch of Vongo, Starz
Entertainment has demonstrated its understanding of the changing marketplace, and
167
operating environment that will enable new
offers to be made to consumers to consume
licensable content on their terms, when they
want and on their preferred device.
Furthermore, technology will make it possible
for Warner Bros. to mine its extensive library
and offer consumers “niche” titles that would
otherwise not be commercially viable given
the expenses necessary to bring physical
content to market.
The entertainment industry has not been so
profoundly impacted by technology since the
arrival of television sets in living-rooms in the
1950s. Something about the change in consumer consumption of entertainment wrought
by digital technology and the huge opportunities in digital content delivery has led to a situation in which consumers now control their
entertainment and are flocking to an ondemand world of digital content distribution
and usage. Just like in the music industry, the
film and television industries will need to look
for new business models to meet this almost
infinite new demand.
It is truly an honor to be nominated for the
2007 Computerworld Honors program. The
Computerworld Honors Program is a forum
that can inspire organizations to think more
broadly, deeply and innovatively about how
technology can have a powerful and positive
impact on people and businesses.
Non-Profit Organizations
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
N O N - P RO F I T O RG A N I Z AT I O N S
AMERICAN DIABETES
ASSOCIATION
ciently manages funding and implementation
of small-scale projects worldwide; and facilitates knowledge-sharing, particularly failures.
PWX has proved that a bureaucracy-free scalable philanthropic model works to solve global
challenges. PWX members are currently implementing water and sanitation projects around
the world impacting over 50,000 people.
MyADA Portal
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is
the nation’s leading nonprofit health organization providing diabetes research, information
and advocacy. ADA conducts programs in all
50 states and Washington, D.C. ADA is providing a readily accessible, cross-functional
platform for capturing, finding, and sharing
information and services that staff need to do
their job and fulfill their mission.
ADA has deployed an integrated framework
for enterprise-wide collaboration on BEA
AquaLogic User Interaction for its more than
900 staff members as well as volunteers.
ADA is using the rich functionalities and tools
offered by BEA to build collaboration communities for sharing information and services.
Prior to the portal implementation, ADA had
an intranet without personalization, security or
the flexibility to tailor resources to specific
user groups. With the portal, ADA is offering
content and tools tailored to each user group
with appropriate security and collaboration
between staff and volunteers.
The speed at which we do our work will certainly improve, as will the requirement to continue to update our hardware and software.
The work force will continue to be more
mobile, requiring flexibility in work location,
hours, and supporting systems.
We are honored to be nominated, and
appreciate the opportunity to share our
story with others.
IT will be more ubiquitous and visual, with
more people, many who do not have access
to IT today, using services to connect and get
information, people who still might be unable
to read but understand visual information and
navigation. IT will be more invisible. Today, the
technology in the microwave is invisible as is
the technology and software in a cell phone.
In 2010, one will not ‘see’ the web, one will
not see the ‘http://www…’. In 2010, we will
not have to configure a browser or a connection. IT will be more customizable and configurable but through an interface that makes it
a natural process.
Program is a recognition of our efforts and
results, a validation of a very novel idea and
approach. It means exposure to the world and
many more connections into new networks
leading to possibilities not visible today. We
are very grateful to Sapient for nominating us
and giving us a chance to share our work and
expand our wings.
CARE
INTERNATIONAL
Ottawa, Canada
Canadian Coalition on HIV/AIDS
BLUE PLANET RUN
FOUNDATION
Mill Valley, CA, United States
Peer Water Exchange - Using Web
Applications to Bring Water to the
World
The goal of the Blue Planet Run Foundation
is to raise money and awareness to provide
safe drinking water to the world.
Thousands of grassroots, community solutions
are needed to solve our drinking water problems which create a management nightmare.
However, with the Peer Water Exchange
(PWX) there is now an infrastructure to fund,
select, manage, monitor, and share these solutions efficiently and transparently.
PWX is a participatory decision-making and
project management web application. It
allows funders, intermediaries, implementers,
and observers to work together to solve local
water problems globally. PWX brings expert,
low-cost field resources together to select and
manage peer work; transparently and effi-
CARE Canada joined with three of
Canada’s largest non-government organizations to form the Canadian Coalition on
HIV/AIDS and Youth in Africa, with a mandate to reduce vulnerabilities, particularly for
children and youth. There’re multiple levels
of communications that require continual
development and maintenance beginning
with their development partners in Africa
who have increasingly more access to
knowledge management tools and are quite
adept at their use.
Information and knowledge transfer is happening more often through IT systems and
as their partners gain capacity, their role
becomes more facilitative and thereby
more technologically based. CARE Canada
deserves to be recognized for their efforts
to initiate, collaborate, implement and utilize a knowledge management tool that
has been able to increase their ability to
better manage information flow which in
turn has shown benefits to African partners, increased opportunities for resource
mobilization, and provided greater ability to
program more efficiently.
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By 2010, we expect the companies will have
moved well down the road toward enterprise
transparency. By this, we mean the more and
more knowledge workers will have access to
full and complete information about enterprise
content and information that is currently very
difficult to access. Much of this information is
contained in off-line archives, or is hidden
among millions and millions of emails or IM
conversations. Enterprises are moving from
point email and document archival solutions to
company-wide records management and full
eDiscovery solutions. Some of this is being
driven by the need to ensure compliance with
government regulations and the need to meet
new federal rules for civil procedure. But
enterprises also see an opportunity to lower
costs and improve efficiency through greater
transparency. Many enterprises will also
migrate to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
broadly and deploy content management solutions that extend and enhance this platform.
This is a great honor and we hope that it
reflects positively on the commitment we
have made toward having a world-class computing infrastructure. The Computerworld
Honors Program is well-respected and is
essentially the Oscars of the IT world.
EAST-WEST GATEWAY
Town and Country, MO, United States
Virtual Emergency Operations
Center (VEOC)
Challenge
Manual forms slowed the process of collecting data and processing requests for assistance. Each EOC operated independently,
slowing response to citizen’s needs in the
event of a large scale emergency.
Solution
The East-West Gateway Council of
Governments (EWGW) provides a forum for
cooperative problem solving for St. Louis and
its seven surrounding counties, a regional
population of 3M people. The St. Louis Area
Regional Response System (STARRS) initiative coordinates planning and response for
large-scale critical incidents. Emergency
Management Agencies (EMA) in each region
coordinate activities at the disaster scene
including food and water distribution, as well
as damage assessment. STARRS is improving
operational efficiency with the implementation
of a Virtual EOC(VEOC), linking all the regional centers together to improve data collection
and resource coordination. This model helps
accelerate delivery of vital resources and
assistance to citizens in a time of emergency.
1.Trends Transforming Government:
Performing on Demand; Sense and Respond
• Horizontal integration of processes and
infrastructure across the entire enterprise,
including key partners, suppliers, and customers
- Through the Internet
- Through Internal Operations
- Through Non-Traditional Organizations
- Through Market-Based Approaches
2. Trends Transforming Government: Using
Networks and Partnerships; Develop
Collaborative Models
• Characteristics of new challenges:
- Outside boundaries of any one agency
- Not part of traditional service delivery
system now in place in most agencies
- Not playing by the same rules as traditional agencies
3. Role of performance measures
• More than a tool of accountability
• More of a language for common action
4. Key attributes of success
• Right people and incentives, not traditional
policy management approaches
“The Computerworld Honors Program is a
great honor for the St. Louis Region and for
the St. Louis Area Regional Response
System. I am very happy that we would be
recognized for all of our hard work. This project crosses multiple jurisdictions, multiple
political entities, and different first responder
organizations. To have the hard work of the
first-responder community acknowledged by
this award would be invaluable because these
people are essential to the well-being of our
community, and they get little thanks for their
hard work. This would certainly be an award
that would be very meaningful to this great
group of people, and we would be honored to
receive this award.” Mr. Nick Gragnani,
Executive Director STARRS
FAMILY SERVICES OF
METRO ORLANDO
AFFILIATE OF KIDS
HOPE UNITED
Orlando, FL, United States
Performance Management
Dashboards
Kids Hope United is a nationally acclaimed
human service organization with an affiliate,
Family Services of Metro Orlando (FSMO),
which protects children and strengthens families in Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties.
When the state of Florida privatized its child
welfare process, the FSMO affiliate, a not for
profit company, was the state’s choice to care
for abused, neglected and abandoned children
in Orange and Osceola Counties. FSMO has
enabled its leadership to access business performance information through ongoing reports
and analysis that use information from the
organization’s databases and state data
sources to provide up to date performance data
that allows FSMO to assure efficacy of its system and to make adjustments that will improve
the lives of the 3500 children they serve.
FSMO has recently enabled an Adoption
Dashboard that tracks the performance of the
entire adoption process-tracking 400 kids daily
from the point at which they enter the system
to the day when they are adopted. Instead of
having to guess or look up information, FSMO
can instantly see all information-such as placement status, adoptive parent match and court
dates-for all of its kids and help prevent kids
from falling through cracks. The dashboard
helps FSMO identify and solve holes in its system before they become real problems.
Within the context of Child Welfare, FSMO
believes the need to assess performance
based contracts in a manner that can efficiently and accurately measure performance
will require agencies and states to look at
technology advancement. Currently, states are
building child welfare software that will
become (or is) the child’s case record. Part
of such a system include, to some degree,
reporting and analysis. However, because of
the differing nature of individual agencies,
there will need to be supplementary reporting
mechanisms that can use parallel system
data to articulate performance status.
Business Intelligence will be increasingly
valuable because of this issue.
Also within the Child Welfare system, automation of case worker tasks will be improved
through technology. Voice dictation and electronic transcription into the database, mobile
offices, real-time electronic assessment tools,
and GPS mapping are a few innovations that
are currently being assessed for viability.
The child welfare system has a long history of
not having technological expertise or “know
how.” This assumption, for the most part, is
warranted when comparing our processes to
other business types. However, in recent
years, technology has become a central concern with child welfare agencies due to the
limited funds associated with this business
construct and the increasing performance
requirements of the funding sources. In order
to be fiscal stewards and improve the quality
of service delivery, technology is increasingly
becoming a necessity of our business model.
validates the child welfare industry as having
technological expertise and is moving in a
direction that uses technology for the sake of
helping those children “less fortunate, whose
lives revolve around daily abuse and neglect .
. . whose lives we need to cherish so our
society itself can evolve and become a pillar
of hope for all to see.” We see technology as
a dramatic evolutionary move that will help
realize that hope.
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HEMA-QUEBEC
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
SIGRHQ
Hema-Quebec, a blood services organization,
uses SAP software to ensure that the 1,300
employees and 16,000 volunteers are better
able to serve the province of Quebec’s 7-million residents.
SIGRHQ (Système intégré de gestion des
ressources humaines), a computerized human
resources management system, encompasses
the following targets: enhanced blood supply
planning; optimized blood drive planning; efficient staff assigning and comprehensive
employee data management, including time
entry and evaluation; automated union agreements and rules; payroll; and employee benefits.
The project required reviewing and refining
73 processes and integrating disparate
sources of information to decrease time
spent on human resource functions. Today, as
a result of the SAP implementation, HemaQuebec is developing a complete, efficient
database system that serves as a comprehensive operational record. The new system
enables improved strategic analysis and planning in the delivery of blood products and
services, resulting in better services for blood
donors and recipients, and employees.
Information Technology will help us provide
even more of a donor and user focus.
Everything we do will be geared toward ensuring that people we work for - the patients who
require our blood and blood products - receive
them where they need them, when they need
them. Our current project works toward that
goal. For instance, we have fewer people
inputting data. That process provides two specific benefits: It ensures that our data is more
accurate, and therefore we can better serve
our target audience, and it frees up our
human and capital resources, which we can
then put to frontline use.
In addition, we see systems becoming more
flexible, adaptable and integrated, so that
when an organization needs to add new functionality - whether it’s finance, HR or product
delivery related - it’s a simpler process. We
see the trends moving away from numerous
disparate systems to systems that are more
integrated and play well together.
We also expect IT to become more userfriendly and anticipate new and easier-touse interfaces so that our employees can
get up to speed faster on new systems. We
are already seeing this happen with some
vendors and we expect to see more IT users
be able to take advantage of this advancement by 2010.
We anticipate that advancements in computing power and speed will continue, allowing
us to become more mobile in some of the
more remote communities we serve and freeing up our employees to provide more clientfacing services.
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
With these advancements comes a challenge
to older organizations. As technology
advances, it makes it easier for new organizations to use the advancements to outperform
their competition while they try to catch up.
Technology will continue to advance how
companies operate, but it will be a constant
battle to stay in your market.
We take great pride in our IT implementation
at Héma-Québec and the services we provide to the population and our hospital
clients throughout a very large geographic
area. Our work to improve these services for
more than seven million people provincewide should be recognized. This recognition
benefits the employees who have shown the
initiative and passion to revamp and enhance
our services and, furthermore, leads to a better understanding of our important services
within our home market.
The Computerworld Honors Program is a
well-known and respected awards program
within the IT industry, and this kind of expert
endorsement reflects well on those who have
strived to lead our organization forward. We
certainly believe we are worthy of the honor,
as our implementation represents a sort of
pioneering effort in our industry. Working with
a software vendor, even though SAP is well
known and respected, represented a stark
differentiation from past practice in our industry, which has traditionally relied on homegrown IT. Our achievements - including
enhanced blood supply planning; optimized
blood drive planning; efficient staff assigning
and comprehensive employee data management - are significant. They open the doors
for others to follow, and provide a blueprint
for our industry.
Our industry is undergoing significant change.
As with all nonprofits and public sector enterprises, money is tight and getting tighter.
Such organizations are expected to do, as the
saying goes, more with less. We are. By
implementing our IT in the fashion we have,
we have provided a valuable case study for
similar organizations, whether they are located in Canada or elsewhere. The
Computerworld Honors Program can shine a
light on our accomplishments and provide
them with a much larger sphere of influence,
which we believe has the potential to benefit
many of our peer organizations.
HONG KONG
HOUSING SOCIETY
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Management Information System
Hong Kong Housing Society is a non-profit
organization that serves the needs of the Hong
Kong community in housing and related services. The organization strives to be a world-class
housing solution provider and innovator. The
Housing Society has built and managed about
80,000 housing units across the territory
under different housing options; it provides
property management to about 45 housing
estates around the Hong Kong SAR and
assists the Government to promote building
management and maintenance. Their system
was built to closely monitor property management operation and financial decisions, these
days it takes the Housing Society just two
hours to prepare data for management reports
which means the information is up-to-date
when delivered to management every morning.
This is a great benefit to the Housing Society’s
operations which need timely business intelligence in order to effectively serve its market
niche - the “gap” between private developers
and public housing.
With the advance of micro-chips processing
power, wire-less network, static memory and
flash-based GUI, I predict in 2010 majority of
managemenet information systems would be
multi-media based and can be retrieved and
accessed through hand-held mobile devices.
Being nominated to this program is already
our great honor and I really want to share our
experience and successful story to other IT
practitioners and hopefully this could help
them saving their time and money.
HUMANE SOCIETY
OF THE UNITED
STATES
The Humane Society of the United States
(HSUS) is using Palm Treo smartphones to
increase workflow productivity by enabling
employees to collect information while out
in the field and share it with colleagues,
policy makers, press and customers on the
spot. For emergency management and general business, the nation’s largest animalprotection organization needed a simple,
affordable and reliable way for its highly
mobile staff to stay in touch, even in disaster areas where power for laptops and traditional phone lines is unavailable. Treo smartphones were crucial during and after
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Employees
were working 24 hours a day managing
calls, searching for and rescuing animals.
With so many HSUS staff traveling, they
needed email access to stay in touch. Treo
smartphones enable HSUS field staff to not
only coordinate internal responses to breaking news but also effectively communicate
with pet owners, vendors, animal shelters,
and other external contacts.
Over the next 3 years, people will be more and
more using technology outside of the traditional
computer/user model of the past. We are seeing
the beginning of this trend now in the flourish of
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text messaging, downloaded music, blogging,
videos, and podcasts. When people can access
and more importantly send opinions and information from any where, at any time, the traditional
centralized sources of information will give way
to communities, and ultimately to an extremely
democratic approach to communication. Gaming
will lead the way - better graphics, voice over ip,
and of course the physical approach of products
such as Wii will transition into more and more
portable devices. Television may even begin to
become more interactive as instant responses
are available from the audience. This happens in
game shows and reality shows such as
American Idol; it may also for example influence
the course of a story line as the show is happening if the audience can vote on one of three possible endings and then see that ending.
personal luggage on a plane, it enables faster
deployment and easier access to critical
information and the tools required to respond
effectively to disasters and opportunities to
reduce communications costs.
users (and the ultimate beneficiaries) is often
invisible to the outside world. We know that
we are doing a good job, it is nice to have
that perception confirmed from elsewhere!
I believe that the structure of the industry will
evolve, with a focus on career paths within
organizations and a move away from shortterm contract employment. Companies will
engage with less suppliers, entailing larger
contracts with a greater focus on the long
term ownership costs. The debate between
strategic IT investment and tactical IT investment will be understood at the board level as
a critical business decision.
MARS DISCOVERY
DISTRICT
Technology will become at the same time less
obtrusive - physical hardware size will
decrease - and more prevalent - smaller,
portable devices with instant access to send
or recieve information 24/7.
The implementation of best practices in service management (ITIL), sourcing strategies
(insource vs outsource), IT governance, budget architecture, staff motivation, project management and architecture will deliver a lower
risk environment for IT investment. This will
not reduce costs, but it will allow business
leaders to take decisions on IT investment in
a more robust manner.
This democratization will also lead to more
problems with security, particularly as more
and more programs and documents are
accessed and stored online. Bandwidth needs
will increase dramatically, particularly broadcast and wifi technologies.
I am extremely honored and humbled for
That HSUS to be chosen for the
Computerworld Honors Program. At its
heart, the Information Technology field is a
service industry; technology exists to serve
people and enhance their lives, not the other
way around. The amazing case studies of
previous Laureates are incredible testimonies to that philosophy and those
involved have truly made people’s lives better or easier through their work. In short, I
am awed and amazed by this opportunity!
THE INTERNATIONAL
FEDERATION OF RED
CROSS AND RED
CRESCENT
SOCIETIES
Geneva, Switzerland
“Network in a Box”
Founded in 1919, the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
knows better than most the need to react
fast to a disaster. Working with Cisco®, the
two organizations have developed a prototype
“network in a box”. The solution brings vital
voice and data communications to the scene
of a disaster within two hours of its arrival,
compared to the 48 hours needed to set up
traditional networks. Based on Cisco off-theshelf components, the “network in a box”
offers a more flexible and cost-effective ICT
network and promises to significantly improve
the National Societies’ “e-preparedness” for
disasters on the ground. Transportable as
IT will evolve differently in different countries,
with its inherent flexibility supporting cultural
specificities. Certain aspects will however
standardize throughout the world, such as
email usage and English as a language. We
will continue to see inequality between
nations in IT, with some advances through
novel applications (one laptop per child) and
some retreats due to the complexity and
investment required in IT. Attempts to address
this must focus on IT as enabling service
delivery (eg health, legal structures) and not
on IT as a service in itself.
The nomination is important as it can highlight the potential of investment in ICT in
humanitarian action. The project proposed is
but a glimpse of the overall integration of ICT
in the management of major disasters within
IFRC. Much of the effort goes thanklessly
unrewarded, such as the financial systems
and the maintenance of basic infrastructure.
The nomination is a chance to show that the
humanitarian industry can be serious in its
engagement with industry and with best practices. Where NinaB builds on industry expertise, IFRC is also systematically engaged in
introducing best practices in other areas of IT.
Examples include the implementation of a
structured IT governance model, a move into
ITIL service management practices and a
robust software development lifecycle. With
this transformational effort, we can ensure
that we maximize the value of our spend on
IT. Our aim is to be more efficient in delivering
our important programmes in disaster management, health and advocating for the vulnerable. At the same time we wish to manage
the IT spend leaving more money to fund our
direct humanitarian action.
To be nominated is very rewarding for the
staff of the Information Systems Department.
Their endless hard work and concern for
vide the capital resources necessary to realize
the dream. More importantly, it allows us to tell
our story and reach out to a new community
and potentially discover new collaborators who
have similar objectives. COMMUNICATE o
COLLABORATE o INNOVATE
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
MEDICAL MISSIONS
FOR CHILDREN
Multimedia Communications
Infrastructure
Paterson, NJ, United States
Opened in May of 2005, MaRS is a not-for-profit
corporation founded by leaders from the business and public sectors to improve commercial
outcomes from Canada’s foundation of science
and technology innovation. MaRS connects and
fosters collaboration between the communities
of science, business and capital through co-location in the MaRS Centre and more broadly
through catalytic programs, structured networks
and the MaRS web portal. Operating in 700,000
square feet of space, with 2,000 users working
within 45 partner organizations, MaRS implemented a standards-based, scalable and redundant network that would bring all the core applications together on one common environment,
that allows the users easy access, whether
they’re physically there, at home, or on the road.
The multimedia communications infrastructure is
key in fostering this kind of collaboration.
The statistics on the plight of children in medically underserved countries are staggering. In
poor nations, children under five years of age
bear 30 percent of the total burden of disease. Of the 11 million children under five
years of age who die each year, more than 85
percent are from medically underserved countries. This translates to 40,000 children dying
each day. And, according to the World Health
Organization, in most hospitals in underserved
communities the pediatric death rate ranges
between 20 to 50 percent, compared to just 2
to 4 percent in the United States.
The market is shifting from a product based
model to a services based model.
I believe that the unification of protocols and
standards will mean that applications will be
device/operating system independant.
There will be a bigger presence surrounding
“on-demand” and utility computing/storage.
The pace of innovation is unparalleled and
there will continue to be a bigger focus on
content than ever before. As applications
become much more utility based, content will
continue to drive market innovation similar to
the current Web 2.0 buzz.
The network is the most critical utility based
service. There will need to be a massive
upgrade of public networks to support converged applications and realize true mainstream adoption.
MaRS is a unique place with a unique mission
and vision. MaRS has exceptional thought leadership and a passionate will to succeed. Hard
work, and a never say never attitude took MaRS
from an idea in 2000 to reality in 2005. That
culture is embedded in our everyday activities at
MaRS - the need to push beyond the box and
provide innovative thought leadership and programs to insure Ontario and Canada is positioned to compete in the knowledge based
economy. Participation at the 2007
Computerwold Honors Program recognizes our
position as a thought leader as well as recognizing the efforts of our supporters who believed in
the mission and vision and were willing to pro-
173
Transferring Medical Knowledge
From Those Who Have It to Those
Who Need It Using Technology
In response to this global health care crisis,
Frank Brady founded Medical Mission for
Children in 1999. Through the use of an
expansive telemedicine network based on
Polycom video collaboration systems, MMC
dramatically improves the level of pediatric care
available to children with severe medical conditions living in medically underserved areas.
With the increase in availability and affordability of High Definition video equipment and
the boom of Internet access, I am compelled
to think that telemedicine will achieve mainstream acceptance over the next few years.
In its infancy, telemedicine, while effective,
had limitations due to lack of bandwidth and
lackluster video quality. Over the last several
years, we’ve seen advances in the video conferencing industry that have helped to make
telemedicine a much more viable option.
Additionally, increased bandwidth at lower
cost will allow remote areas greater access to
the Medical Broadcasting Channel’s IPTV
offering as well as the On-Demand access to
their Global Video Library of Medicine. These
technological advances will help to close the
knowledge gap that currently exists between
the developed and developing world.
It is always gratifying when you are recognized by your peers. For Medical Missions for
Children to be selected to participate in the
2007 Computerworld Honors Program means
that as an organization we are helping to lead
the way in the effort to effectively translate
the latest advances in Information Technology
to the world of healthcare. Being involved in
the Honors Program also affords us an
opportunity to create greater awareness
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
about a problem that will continue to grow if
not addressed - the disparity of care and
knowledge gap that exists between the US
and the developing world. The more people
see the plight of these underserved populations, the more capital, both human and financial we are able to bring to the table.
MEDSHARE
Decatur, GA, United States
Accenture and MedShare Create a
New Supply Chain
The ultimate way to change lives is to save
them-and that’s something MedShare
International has been helping to do since
1998. This non-profit organization collects surplus medical supplies and equipment in the U.S.
and distributes them to hospitals and medical
facilities that serve the poor in economically
developing countries. At the heart of
MedShare’s operations is a robust supply chain
network and IT infrastructure that inventories
donated goods at the organization’s Atlanta distribution center and, via a Web-based application, enables needy hospitals around the world
to place online “orders” for needed supplies. In
2006, MedShare-with help from Accentureused strategic technology from LogicTools to
develop a global operations strategy for
expanding MedShare’s highly successful
regional model across the U.S. This new strategy will enable MedShare to use enhanced
technology to more cost-effectively gather and
distribute more products to more people-and,
thus, help save more lives-worldwide.”
Information Technology continues to evolve
and be an integral part of each organization.
The biggest challenge will be making the
right technology choices and working to
involve the complete enterprise to achieve,
profitability and enhanced growth.
It is an honor to be included in such a prestigious program. Our involvement in this program highlights the good work our organization continues to provide to our constituents.
NPOWER NY
Many nonprofits are not as effective today
because of physical limitations based on their
geographic location, funding and lack of useful technology for recruitment, communications, collaborating and information sharing.
Nonprofits organizations regardless of their
geographic location will be able to “network”
online with each other, collaborate with each
other on projects and more efficiently build
their membership. This will allow a combined
focused effort to solve world problems
instead of singular efforts as is done today.
Technology for mobility, communications,
information sharing, fund raising, financial
management, global conferencing will all be a
part of this solution. And it will be affordable
so that all nonprofits regardless of size or
focus have access for their membership and
the people they serve.
Nonprofits in the future will:
• Be mobile
• Have access to on-demand technology tools
• Offer instant information and impact measurements
• Have direct channels to the public and the
people they serve
The changes in technology, the economy and
globalization will affect the boundaries
between businesses, governments and nonprofits. Technology will be leveraged for more
collaboration and sharing among different
groups, delivering the high quality of service
and information to continue the mission-critical work of nonprofits globally.
a wonderful opportunity to showcase the
work we have done at NPower NY and how
having strong and capable corporate partners
can make the difference between success
and failure. Oftentimes when a nonprofit
aspires to make great impact, it is unable to
reach those goals because of capacity constraints and lack of resources. IT Basic is
one of the rare instances in which a nonprofit
and several of its corporate partners have
dedicated themselves to the design and
development of a visionary solution that has
the potential to transform the nonprofit sector
and the way it uses technology. We are very
excited to tell our story. And we think the
Computerworld Honors Program can help
shine the spotlight on this unique venture.
IT Basic
ITBasic is a total IT solution for small nonprofits. It allows remote monitoring and management of IT environments to keep operations running hassle free. ITBasic offers small
non-profit technical suppor and many
instances resolution to all the most common
hardware and/or software problems, help
desk support, basic training in productivity
software and Internet use, backup services
and assistance with technology planning, all
at the fraction of the annual cost of having an
IT professional on staff.
SOUTHCENTRAL
FOUNDATION
Anchorage, AK, United States
Enterprise-wide NAS/IP SAN
Southcentral Foundation (SCF) is an Alaska
Native nonprofit healthcare organization serving over 46,000 Alaska Native and American
Indian people living over a 107,413 square mile
radius. SCF’s prior Fibre Channel SAN had
174
performance and reliability problems, resulting
in lengthy backup and recovery processes.
These technology issues inhibited SCF’s ability
to implement a disaster recovery plan and hindered staff’s ability to serve patients.
The implementation of a NetApp IP-SAN
saved SCF an estimated $90,000 on anticipated upgrades to its old solution, significantly reduced backup times, and enabled the
organization to implement an effective disaster recovery system.
SCF serves as a role model in the healthcare
industry, proving that the quality and availability of healthcare services can continually be
enhanced without causing skyrocketing costs.
Its technology enabled service model, based
on NetApp unified storage, benefits the community and the multiple healthcare organizations that look to SCF for IT expertise, guidance, and services.
Virtualization of more resources - storage,
applications, user environment. The user
experience is largely based on a single PC
or application these days, and as more applications are moved to web-based platforms,
the user will no longer be dependent on
several inter-dependant systems, or at least
won’t be conscious of it. Application virtualization builds on the storage and infrastructure advances we have made today, and will
provide the same cost, management, and
reliability benefits that it provided for storage. I certainly hope provisioning of
resources and storage will make major
strides as well. The end-user, whether a
technologist or otherwise, should be able to
get what they need without jumping through
several hoops to provide it.
TEN THOUSAND
VILLAGES CANADA
New Hamburg, Canada
Non-Profit Store System
Ten Thousand Villages is a not-for-profit, selfsupporting Fair Trade Organization (FTO).
FTOs are non-governmental organizations
designed to benefit artisans, not to maximize
profits. They market products from handicraft
and agricultural organizations based in lowincome countries, providing consumers with
products that have been fairly purchased
from sustainable sources.
Ten Thousand Villages operates over 40 stores
across Canada. The company enlisted the
technical expertise of PeaceWorks Computer
Consulting Inc., a consulting group dedicated
to providing affordable computer consulting for
the non-profit, charity, and academic sectors.
Ten Thousand Villages needed a centralized
system to manage day-close operations data
from all stores and bring it all into one database
for analysis and summarization of management
reporting. This was established by selecting a
data management platform upon which to build
the store management system. The reliable
technology was essential to building a manageable system that did not need attention and
intervention from non-technical store staff.
In the past 5 years we have seen tremendous
increases in the flow of information and the
type of information that can easily be transferred. In the next few years I would anticipate
more work being done on the ability to review
and analyze this information. As we have seen
in our project, the collection of data is now at a
very advanced level both in terms of the volume
of information and the speed with which it can
be collected. The challenge now is being able
to use the information to effectively manage
the business. This is where I hope and anticipate technology taking us in the next few years.
Although Ten Thousand Villages is a significant player in the fair trade world, we are still
relatively small in the larger retail world. For
us to be a part of the Computerworld
Honours Program is an indication that there
is a place in the world of technology for
organizations that are striving to make a positive change in the world. It is also something
that could bring attention to the work we are
doing in helping others have an opportunity at
a better life.
We are also pleased that PeaceWorks
Computer Consulting is a part of this. We
have been working with PeaceWorks for
many years and we see this as a recognition
of their committment to working with nonprofit and charitable organizations.
THE WELL PROJECT
Nellysford, VA, United States
Complete Implementation of
Website to Spanish
The Well Project is a tiny non-profit using
innovative technologies to save lives around
the world. It is a story of extraordinary technological efficiency that benefits a segment
of society that has been traditionally overlooked and even shunned.
The Well Project provides comprehensive Webbased information about HIV/AIDS research
and treatment options, with a focus on women
- who now account for over 50 percent of
cases diagnosed worldwide. The organization’s
international information portal (IIP) was undertaken to make HIV/AIDS information concurrently available in multiple languages and
extend beyond the English-speaking audience
it has been serving since 2003. Since Latinas
are among the groups with the steepest
increase in HIV infection rates, the first IIP
implementation culminated in the successful
launch of a Spanish-language portal. EMC’s
Documentum content management solution,
BEA WebLogic portal software and Lionbridge
Technologies’ Freeway™ language software
and translation services serves as the portal’s
technology foundation.
Information will continue to have a broader
global reach, through better networking infrastructures in areas around the globe where
they don’t exist today. As more people have
greater access to increasing amounts of
Web-based information, they will demand a
greater focus on delivering content that is
both more relevant and up-to-date. One of
the challenges with the Internet is that there’s
so much content being created every day that
qualifying content strictly by subject matter
will no longer be acceptable. Especially when
it comes to search engine results, how current the data is will grow in importance relative to subject matter.
When users conduct searches today, their
search engine may deliver content created in
2003, and they’ll waste time sorting through
outdated information trying to get the “latest
and greatest.” Advances in information technology will need to focus on more effective
information lifecycle management of Webbased content as the data explosion continues.
Search engine providers and IT managers in
enterprises everywhere will have to adopt a
disciplined, ILM-based approach to prioritizing
content based on the currency and relevance
of information, not just its subject matter just as The Well Project is doing today across
all of the content on its Web portals.
Program allows The Well Project to showcase
an innovative international information portal
solution that can serve as a model for other
sites supporting multiple language portals.
The Well Project wants to inspire other similar
sites - both within the HIV/AIDS community
and among groups addressing other issues
and audiences. The IIP project is a perfect
example of how much there is to be gained
by seeking out and integrating state-of-theart enterprise technologies to disseminate
information to a global audience.
The Well Project is already employing content
and lifecycle management best practices
across a multi-language, multi-portal setting.
The IIP portals are the proof of concept that
concurrent multilingual content can be maintained in a dynamic environment where that
content is continually evolving. And that it
can be done cost-effectively on a large scale
with a very small staff, when you choose the
right products and build upon a flexible,
extensible foundation.
175
WORLD VISION
CANADA
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Correspondence System
World Vision is a non-profit Christian humanitarian aid and relief organization that is active
in more than 90 countries around the world
with their focus on children. World Vision uses
their Correspondence System to keep contact between the children and their sponsors.
In 2010 information technology will be even
more readily available to the population as a
whole. The barriers to obtain technology and
integrate it into everyday life will be
decreased.
Major advancements in technology will focus on
improving the environment, how technologies
interact with the planet, and our quality of life.
Honors Program is an affirmation of the hard
work the World Vision Canada team has
accomplished. Also, recognition by a prominent authority on the IT industry is an honor
and provides a sense of pride for our team.
This opportunity again confirms World Vision
Canada’s commitment to serve the poor while
being responsive in sharing up-to-date program/field information with our donors by
employing innovative technology solutions
that enables the organization to achieve operational effectiveness.
Transportation
AIR CANADA
Ville St. Laurent, Canada
Air Canada ‘’Corporate Pass’’
BI System
Air Canada, the premier air travel organization
in Canada, devised the Corporate Pass program to make it easier for corporate customers to purchase, book and manage travel,
as well as to track all associated expenses
through a self-service portal. We used
Business Intelligence (BI) technology to provide an online reporting environment for
Corporate Pass customers. The BI environment features up-to-date, 24x7 access to
flight bookings and Pass usage history.
Employees enjoy the ease of use and flexibility
of the Corproate Pass product while travel
managers rely on these robust online reporting
tools to track and manage all user activity. To
our knowledge this is the first application that
allows airline customers to use online business
intelligence for their reporting requirements.
Some airlines provide “canned” reports with
limited features to their corporate customers.
With Corporate Pass, we provide true business
intelligence to outside customers.
Technology is becoming more simple and
available to business users. In the coming
years, it will reach more people. Self-service
applications will expand to different kinds of
businesses, and BI technology will increasingly be deployed to business users as part of
their every-day jobs. Additionally, providing
business intelligence capabilities to customers will be essential for companies that
want to become market leaders.
It is a great honor to participate in the
Computerworld Honors Program. Recognition
for innovation is very important as we always
try to push the envelope and find better ways
to serve customers. It is gratifying to know
that small projects can have a large impact
on the business.
BRIDGE MOBILE
Singapore, Singapore
Bridge ConciergeGo
Bridge Mobile Alliance, Asia’s largest network
of top mobile operators, launched Bridge
ConciergeGo - a one-stop mobile travel portal
that provides travelers and roamers convenient access to useful country information
within the region on their mobile phones.
Bridge ConciergeGo provides an innovative
means of obtaining information on the go - by
leveraging on the ubiquity and portability of
the mobile phone. With its comprehensive
information coverage across major cities in
Asia, mobile users today can now conveniently obtain essential local travel information,
local country hotlines and promotions within
LAUREATES 2007
LAUREATES 2007
T R A N S P O RTAT I O N
the convenience of their mobile phones when
they roam, thereby enhancing their travel
experience in the region.
Bridge ConciergeGo currently covers eight
Asian markets and 13 major cities including
Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth,
Brisbane), Hong Kong, India (New Delhi,
Mumbai), Indonesia (Jakarta, Bali), Malaysia
(Kuala Lumpur), Philippines (Manila),
Singapore and Taiwan (Taipei).
DEUTSCHE POST
WORLD NET
(DPWN)/DHL
Bonn, Germany
Common REporting SysTem
(CREST)
The CREST project successfully designed,
implemented and rolled out a new financial
consolidation, reporting and planning system
based on SAP SEM (Strategic Enterprise
Management). During roll-out more than
2,500 users were trained on new planning
and reporting procedures and processes as
well as key blueprint concepts. This new system, now used by more than 2,000 reporting
/ organizational units around the globe,
ensures one common language across the
whole group based on a group-wide standardized chart of accounts (P&L, B/S and
key operational performance indicators).
Overall, it’s one of the largest SAP SEM projects/ implementations world-wide.
I do not see dramatic changes in business IT
within the next three years. The focus will be
in ensuring faster and more reliable information while reducing overall IT cost. IT will
become more and more the key success factor for some industries.
The major change I expect in the nearer
future is a move from the “old fashioned” IT
organization having no or only little business
knowledge to an organization where applications are under the full control and responsibility of the business experts. This implies
applications being “customized” and “controlled” by the business experts themselves
without dedicated IT responsibility. From my
point of view this will lead to business applications better supporting business needs,
being more flexible, less complicated, and
very likely less expensive to support (higher
IT productivity). This will be a fundamental
change not only for software developers and
vendors but probably even more so for the
internal organizations in companies.
For Deutsche Post World Net it is an honor to
be nominated for this very important and
famous program award.
178
JACKSONVILLE
AVIATION
AUTHORITY
Jacksonville, FL, United States
Advanced Network Design
The requirements handed down from the CEO
were to provide an advanced network that would
provide seamless coverage for someone from
curb side to terminal gate. The airport’s executive
management team did not want gaps in coverage
and wanted redundancy built into the network so
if one AP went down, the users could still use the
service. The work effort required design, planning,
cabling, implementation and remote monitoring of
a Public Wireless LAN for the Jacksonville
International Airport. The system includes centralized management and security as well as the ability to provide secure and prioritized access. The
insight and planning that took place in the initial
design of the wireless network has provided the
groundwork for seamless introduction of other
technologies, like VoIP, use of PDAs and other
wireless technologies. This system is capable of
expansion to handle new, future technologies.
Technology will always be an integral part in
planning and executing corporate strategy. It
will be the vehicle through which ideas are
exchanged and implemented to accomplish
specific goals. The world is moving in a
direction that will result in three competing
economic powers; the Pacific Rim, European
Union and the Americas. Technology will be
the engine to unite the participating countries.
I also believe you will see more technology executives attaining corporate leadership positions.
I believe it is always nice to be recognized for any
work you accomplish. I am pleased that I have
been considered for the chance to compete. In
reality, we need to keep in the present and look
for the next opportunity to please the customer.
MANHEIM
Manheim Simulcast
Manheim is the world’s largest provider of automotive remarketing services. A wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, Inc., Manheim is transforming the wholesale vehicle buying and selling
experience through investments in technology,
global expansion, and innovative products and
services. Manheim Simulcast is an Internet-based
sales channel that allows customers to buy and
sell online in live auction sales, via real-time audio
and video from virtually anywhere. The Manheim
Simulcast experience enables customers to participate in vehicle sales as they occur in auction
lanes while saving time and travel-related expenses. This innovative technology was developed to
meet customer demand for convenience, efficiency and access to an increased base of customers
to increase sales. Manheim Simulcast provides
access to over 120,000 vehicles each week via
750 sales and 89 North American locations, in
addition to Great Britain, Australia and New
Zealand. Manheim Simulcast is currently used by
over 50% of its customers.
IT is already an integral part of our daily lives, but
as integration and communication capabilities
continue to progress, the notion of anytime/anywhere will be an expectation within our society
and certainly with our customers. In an economic environment continuing to be driven by the
need for information, IT professionals will continue to evolve skills in the area of business knowledge, process consulting and product integration.
To be a Computerworld Honors nominee means
an opportunity to share one unique approach of
creating flexibility and saving time for customers.
Through the extension of the physical marketplace, Manheim brought more inventory sources
to our customers and created more opportunity
to participate real-time in multiple sales to find
their inventory needs. We believe this unique
application of technology capability is a tremendous building block to future solutions to meet
the needs of our customers.
R.L. POLK
Southfield, MI, United States
reFuel
As we enter into an economy that demands realtime information, the completeness and accuracy
of the data companies provide to customers
becomes paramount to satisfaction. R.L. Polk &
Co. (Polk) has served the automotive industry as
a premier provider of automotive information and
marketing solutions since 1922. In December
2004, The Polk board of directors approved a
comprehensive business process reengineering
program and the creation of RLPTechnologies, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Polk, to develop a new
solution to continually improve data management.
Over a 16 month time frame the project team
developed and implemented a standards based
Service-Oriented Architecture(SOA)as the foundation for the new solution. The business vision
that was delivered to Polk enabled the company
to be 50% more efficient and 50% faster while
focusing on delivering 100% quality.
We see several areas going forward.
Convergence & Extended Mobility of computing devices. Device convergence (PC, Cell,
PDA, web browser, and digital entertainment)
is beginning to have significant impact on
corporate America, and corporate IT has to
support and secure these devices. Further,
software developers and providers must deliver a rich, valued added experience with a significantly reduced form factor.
Moore’s law provides step function in business
value because of commodity computing for the
enterprise (e.g. Linux on Intel). This trend is
also powered by “true” grid computing models
and power of open source innovation, which is
gaining acceptance by Corporate America.
Data explosion and resulting challenges from
this trend are the reason we embarked on our
enterprise re-engineering effort. Continued
exponential data growth combined with increasing regulation, legislation and well documented
security concerns are converging to unleash a
Data Tsunami on Corporate America. This trend
is explored in detail in a white paper entitled
“Managing the Data Tsunami” on www.rlpt.com.
Collecting, processing, storing and managing
data is expensive and relatively easy to measure. But what about the quality and more
importantly cost of poor quality?
The hard cost for any company can be significant, but what about the soft cost of making
a decision based on bad (inaccurate, incomplete, old) data? Most computer science is
just applied to the “hard cost” side of the
equation. It is my closely held belief that we
need to apply computer science to the quality
and data relevance side of the equation.
The companies which can derive “decision
quality” information from this tidal wave of
data (in a timely and efficient manner) will
have a distinct competitive advantage. The
companies that can’t will drown, in a sea of
data that will be inaccurate, incomplete, contradicting ……and worst of all expensive.
Very simply, it is an honor and a tribute to a
team of about 150 people. This team has
made significant personal sacrifices over two
years to re-engineer Polk’s data compilation
processes. The technology behind re-FUEL is
revolutionary, the process improvements are
“game changing” but the most significant
achievement is the team that did all of this.
The majority of that team are still together at Polk.
While nothing can compare to the pride and
sense of accomplishment that they share from
re-FUEL, the external recognition of a prestigious
award and the opportunity to share the experience with others in the industry is a reminder of
the accomplishments, and in some small way
compensation for the all extra efforts expended.
SIMPLIFYING
PASSENGER TRAVEL
INTEREST GROUP
Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France
MiSense Biometric Security Trial,
Heathrow Airport
In October 2006, the Simplifying Passenger
Travel Interest Group (SPTIG) of the
International Air Transport Association
launched an ambitious pilot program at
London’s Heathrow Airport to improve security while enhancing air travelers’ experiences.
The pilot, which runs through March 2007, shows
that biometric and other emerging technologies
can improve security through more accurate pas-
179
senger identification, and expedite passenger
flow and reduce costs through automation. The
pilot project also demonstrates how sharing
information among airlines, airports and immigration authorities can eliminate duplicative processes and increase efficiencies while measurably
improving passenger experiences.
The trial is being led by the BAA and UK
Immigration Service, along with SPTIG members
Accenture, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, IER,
Raytheon Systems, Sagem and SITA. The SPTIG
is deserving of inclusion in the Computerworld
Honors Program because it is proving that biometric technologies can be applied on a grand
scale to make people’s lives easier and safer.
We believe that biometrics will see widespread take-up over the next few years and
will play an increasingly important role in
securing borders and improving identity management across a number of industries.
Honors Program means being a part of technology history and bringing recognition to projects that use technology for the greater good.
STAR ALLIANCE
Frankfurt, Germany
Staralliance.com - An Online
Experience Designed to Meet
Changing Traveler Expectations
Star Alliance is the world’s leading global airline alliance, composed of 18 member carriers with a combined 16,000 daily flights to
855 destinations in 155 countries.
In December 2006, the network recreated its
online travel experience to meet the changing
needs of international travelers. The new website
design and technology reinforces the seamless
innovation of Star Alliance, providing customers
more control over their travel while maintaining the
cultural flair and brand of each member carrier.
Staralliance.com provides global, alliance-relevant products and services from a single location. Travelers can search for multiple-leg trips
across airlines; check flight status across their
complete itinerary; and access flight schedules,
timetables, baggage tracing, benefits information, and notifications via e-mail or SMS. The
redesign’s long-term benefits include unique
features, increased ease-of-use, and an e-environment able to host all relevant alliance products and services- all effectively changing the
way travelers interact with their various carriers.
More than information technology being different, what needs to be considered is the evolution of how customers embrace technology in
their day-to-day lives. As an industry organization that serves close to 400 million travelers
a year, Star Alliance needs to provide its services in the form that travelers expect it: by
LAUREATES 2007
2010 it is predicted that 50% of all travel will
be booked online in North America. Most travelers will use the web for researching their
journeys, using journey-related services, and
sharing travel experiences with friends and
families. Star Alliance will use information
technology to offer customers the service they
expect, when and where they expect it, to stay
ahead of its competitors.
Star Alliance has undertaken a large, complex
and innovative project to reaffirm its leadership
position among airline alliances. Participating in
the Honors Program is recognition to all those
who have made the project a success - and
recognition that hundreds of millions of travelers
deserve the service that Star Alliance network
can provide, whether they are on- or offline.
SUREXPRESS
Oklahoma City, OK, United States
SureXpress needed a comprehensive system
to track scheduled deliveries, process call-in
deliveries, confirm deliveries and collect proof
of delivery. And they needed all this information posted to a secure website.
Using Palm Treos with Serialio bar code scanners, running P.O.D. Verify software, SureXpress
now has access to real-time tracking of packages, especially sensitive materials that could
become a federal matter if misplaced. The company learns about problems immediately, rather
than waiting for bills of lading to be reconciled
2-3 days later and the delivery process is faster
with the elimination of paper.
Billing times have been cut from 2-3 weeks
to one day, thanks to a P.O.D. feature that
electronically invoices customers immediately
and also automates payment of contract drivers. Using Treos, they reduce costs to about
40 percent of what other software/hardware
is capable of while having more capability and
reliability in an accessible form.
Scanners will start to interpret data. Software
applications will become intelligent providing
enhanced automation by speeding processing, reducing errors, providing structure so
that fewer policy/procedures are breached.
More data scanned into digital systems will
be recognized allowing for automated processing, storage, retrieval, and formatting for
summarized reporting without labor.
Screens will be bigger/brighter on much
smaller/lighter handheld size devices.
Hardware devices will all be a fraction of the
size yet with more capability, easier use, more
durability in transporting and just as easy to
read. Touchscreens will be commonplace
opposed to typing or a mouse. Wireless coverage will become a non-issue with better
towers, receivers and satellites.
Software providers will become the market outlet for hardware manufacturers. Software com-
panies will bundle the hardware cost into their
user fees. Eventually including capital acquisition, reair, maintenance, and software upgrades
in scheduled payments. Meaning the software
provider will have a financial component behind
all this to finance the end users cash flow and
give cash to the bundled providers included in
the software makers bundle of products and
services. Reducing the likelihood of a customer
changing brands because the customer
becomes too dependent on the provider. They
can not afford to move. It is less expensive to
retain business than to buy, or sell to a new
market. Pricing will be fixed not variable to customers to let them cap their cost.
Other changes will be improved audio technology. Speaking to enter data or processing commands. Drivers, warehouse sorters especially
benefit from being hands free allowing them to
multi-task safely. These folks don’t type anyway.
Standardize file useage for common recogniztion
on varied hardware/software devices or applications on various data base platforms with be the
norm. Allowing for enhanced integration and file
exchanges. Hardware/software devices will
become universal like the 110 electrical voltage.
Being nominated for our automated dispatch,
tracking and monitoring Suretrack) is very rewarding. SureXpress is a small company with an
extremely limited IT budget with no IT personnel.
Management and staff have limited training and
experience in the computer world. Therefore
being nominated gives us a strong indication that
our work and effort is worthwhile. Since we have
such limited resources being nominated and
hopefully having our case study recieve Laureate
status would validate all our efforts. Such status
would provide Sutetrack creditability with mangement, staff, independent drivers, employed drivers
and especially our customers. This is very important to us since we would not otherwise really be
able to validate our intense efforts attempting to
improve our system with automation and
improved efficiency and effectiveness. Knowing
some companies spent 300 million and we are in
competition with them let’s us know we are doing
something right. Providing SureXpress confidence it would not have otherwise. The request
to submit a case study by Computerworld Honors
Progam created confidence, which creates positive attitudes removing barriers for Suretrack
progress with our customers, staff and contractors. There acceptence of our program is
enhanced since we have been selected as one of
the better new applications of technology in the
transportation world even though we are small.
Translation, more willingness for those involved to
learn and put our Suretrack systme into practical
use. Enhanced willingness means an improved
probability of successful implementation and use
of Suretrack internally by our employees or externally by contractors and customers so there is
less training time, less retraining and fewer errors
in the implementation process. Meaning bettter
service for our customers and cost savings, very
important to a small company.
Winning an award would really boost our
sales/marketing efforts. Critical for a little
company wanting to grow .
180
TRANS LINK SYSTEMS
Gauteng, South Africa, South Africa
Trans Link Systems smart card
(OV-chipkaart)
In 2007, the Netherlands will become the first
country worldwide with an electronic ticketing
and payment system for domestic public transport-train, tram, bus and ferry. Trans Link
Systems--founded in September 2001 by the
Netherlands’ five major transport operatorswas tasked with designing, building, launching,
rolling out and operating the electronic system.
Working with international companiesAccenture, Thales, Vialis, MTR Corporation and
Octopus Cards-Trans Link Systems is tackling
the technical complexities of the electronic,
multimode and multi-provider transport system.
Implemented in the Greater Rotterdam area
and Amsterdam, the system includes 10 railway
stations, 47 metro stations and 150 busses. By
2009, the system is expected to handle 1.4 billion trips and transact about 2.5 billion annually
on a countrywide basis. Benefits envisaged for
the Dutch public include faster, easier travel;
streamlined traffic flows; safer, more convenient
customer transacting; information to help transport operators improve services and manage
operations more efficiently.
Since the 1960s, IT has evolved from specialty
to a mainstream business necessity. Going forward, we are seeing two divergent trends with
respect to the role of IT in business and government organizations. At one level, IT’s role is
becoming commoditized. Much of what IT has
traditionally provided to the business-hardware,
software and even some services-can now be
done better and cheaper by third parties, or over
the Internet. But while the lines between hardware and services and software and services are
blurring, the line between business functions and
the technologies used to execute them is
becoming increasingly distinct. This is good
news for both business and IT.
IT is entering a new and transformational stage
in its history, akin to the client-server and Internet
evolutions, but with greater import for the IT
organization itself. In this new epoch, IT will
become service-oriented and process-centric,
meaning that it is focused on the business service or process being delivered rather than the
underlying technology that delivers it. Serviceoriented architectures are one driver, but the
trend impacts the broader enterprise technology
environment-everything from business intelligence to knowledge management to collaboration to software development.
Participating in the 2007 Computerworld
Honors Program represents a wonderful
opportunity to share with a global audience
how the innovative technologies Trans Link
Systems is deploying are transforming the
way public transport is provided to the entire
country of the Netherlands.
THE GLOBAL ARCHIVES
AND ACADEMIC COUNCIL
Well before the turn of the 21st Century, it had become abundantly clear that the information technology
revolution was truly global in scope and scale and that its history belonged to all the nations of the world.
Simultaneously, individuals and organizations in search of inspiration and answers to increasingly complex questions were turning to those faced with similar issues around the world.
In the year 2000, the Computerworld Honors Program, in consultation with its Chairmen’s Committee and
Laureates, its friends and advisors from academia and the IT industry, and with invaluable assistance from friends
in the diplomatic corps, began to disseminate its annual collection of primary source materials to national archives,
state and university libraries, research institutions and similar repositories around the world.
PORTUGAL
• Instituto Superior Tecnico
• University of Oporto
QATAR
• Qatar University
RUSSIA
• European University at St. Petersburg
• Lomonosov, Moscow State University
• St. Petersburg State Technical University
SCOTLAND
•
•
•
•
Edinburgh University Library
Queen Margaret University College
UHI Millennium Institute
University of Glasgow
SINGAPORE
• Singapore Polytechnic University
SOUTH AFRICA
•
•
•
•
Castle of Good Hope
Rhodes University
University of Cape Town
Xavier University
SPAIN
To date, over 350 institutions are actively engaged in the preservation, protection and dissemination of these materials
and have been designated Members of the Computerworld Honors Program Global Archives and Academic Council:
• Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
Instituto de Automatica Industrial
• Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
SWEDEN
• Royal Institute of Technology
ARGENTINA
• Turbo Linux
• Universidad Torcuato Di Tella
AUSTRALIA
COLOMBIA
• Colombian Institute for the Development of Science
& Technology
• National University of Colombia at Medellin
• Australian Information Industry Association
• Australian Trade Commission
• Commonwealth Science and Industry Research
Organisation
• Mt. Eliza Business School
• National Library of Australia
• National Museum of Australia, Research Library
• Queensland Institute of Technology
• The University of New South Wales
CZECH REPUBLIC
AUSTRIA
ECUADOR
• Vienna University
• Vienna University of Technology
BELGIUM
• University of Ghent
• University of Ghent, Dept. of Telecommunications &
Information Processing
BRAZIL
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Agencia Cidadao
Biblioteca da Universidade de Brasilia
Biblioteca da Universidade de Rio de Janero
Biblioteca Nacional Centro
Camara Americana de Comercio-Amcham
Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa no Estado de Sao
Paulo
Fundacao Getulio Vargas
General Electric do Brasil Ltda.
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica
Instituto de Pesquisa Economica Aplicada
Instituto de Pesquisas Eldorado
Instituto para Educacao em Medicina e Saude
Ministerio da Ciencia e Tecnologia
Universidade de Sao Paulo
Universidade Estadual de Campinas-Pro-reitoria de
Extensao e Assuntos Comunitarios
BULGARIA
• American University in Bulgaria
• City University Programs
CANADA
• HEC
• International Development Research Centre
• McGill University, Schulich Library of Science and
Engineering
• Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Royal Ontario Museum
• University of Manitoba
• University of Toronto
• University of Waterloo
• Wilfrid Laurier University
CHINA
• Institute of Science and Technology Information of
China
• Tsinghua University
• Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Academy of Science of the Czech Republic
• Charles University
DENMARK
•
•
•
•
Aarhus School of Business
Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
Handelshojskolen i Kobenhavn
Technical University of Denmark
• Banco Central del Ecuador
EGYPT
• American University in Cairo
• Alexandria University
FINLAND
IRELAND
•
•
•
•
Dublin City University
Dublin Institute of Technology
National University of Ireland, Galway
Trinity College Dublin
ISRAEL
TURKEY
• Centro Cefriel
• Free University of Bozen - Bolzano
JAPAN
• University of Hyogo
• University of Tokyo
KENYA
• Kenyatta University
• Strathmore University
• University of Nairobi
MALAYSIA
Deutsches Museum, Bonn
Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts
Fraunhofer Society
German Museum of Technology
Heinz Nixdorf Museum
University of Paderborn
HONDURAS
• Consejo Hondureno de Ciencias y Tecnologia
• Universidad de San Pedro Sula
HONG KONG
• The University of Hong Kong
INDIA
• Kuwait University
• Universiti Teknologi MARA
• University of Malaya Library
MEXICO
• Universidad Anahuac
• Universidad de Guadalajara
• Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
NETHERLANDS
• Ministry of Economic Affairs
• Ministry of Education, Culture & Science
• National Research Institute for Mathematics &
Computer Science
• Techniek Museum
• University of Amsterdam Computer Museum
NIGERIA
• University of Benin
• University of Ibadan
• University of Lagos
Cognizant Corporate Library
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Institute for Development and Research in Banking
Technology
• Jadavpur University
• University of Madras
NORWAY
INDONESIA
POLAND
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
• Bandung Insitute of Technology
• University of Indonesia
184
• Industrial Technology Research Institution
• National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
ITALY
FRANCE
•
•
•
•
•
•
TAIWAN
THAILAND
KUWAIT
GERMANY
• Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
• ICARE Research Institute in Computing and
Telematics
• Neiman Library of Exact Sciences and Engineering, Tel
Aviv University
• University of Haifa
• Israel Institute of Technology
• Helsinki University of Technology
• Helsinki University of Technology, Library of
Computer Science and Engineering
• Lappeenranta University of Technology
• Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers
• La Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie
• National Institute for Research in Computer Science
and Control
SWITZERLAND
• Norwegian University of Technology and Science
• Universitete I Oslo
• University of Bergen
PERU
• Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia
PHILIPPINES
• University of the Philippines Diliman
• University of the Philippines Manila
• Lublin University of Technology
• Warsaw University
• King Mongkut’s University Technology Thonburi
• Middle East Technical University
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
• United Arab Emirates University
• United Arab Emirates University
UNITED KINGDOM
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British Museum
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
Lennoxvale
Museum of Science and Industry
Museum of the History of Science
Science Museum
The British Library
The Royal Society
University College London
University of Cambridge, Whipple Collection
University of Oxford, Bodleian Library
University of Sussex
Warwick University
UNITED STATES
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Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Public Library Service
Arizona State University
Arkansas State Library
Auburn University
Baker University
Boise State University
Bowdoin College Library
Brookings Institution Library
Brown University, John D. Rockefeller Library
Bryant University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Museum
Carnegie-Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Colorado State Library
Computer History Museum, California
Connecticut State Library
Coronado Public Library
Dakota State University
Dana College
Dartmouth College
Delaware Public Archives
Delaware State University
DePauw University
Duke University
Eastman School of Music
Emory University
Florida State University
Georgia Institute of Technology
• Georgia Public Library Service
• Harvard University
• Harvard University, Technology and Entrepreneurship
Center
• Hawaii Pacific University
• Healthcare Advisory Board Company
• Howard University
• Idaho State University
• Indiana Historical Society
• Inter American Development Bank
• Internet Public Library
• Iowa State University
• IUPUI University Library’s Special Collections and
Archives
• Johns Hopkins University
• Kansas State University
• Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives
• Kentucky State University
• LeHigh University
• Library of Congress
• Louisiana State University
• Marshall University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Michigan State University
• Middlebury College
• Minnesota State University
• Mississippi Library Commission
• Mississippi State University
• Missouri State Library
• Montana State Library
• Montana State University
• Montana Tech Library
• Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
• Museum of Science, Boston
• National Museum of American History
• National Museum of Natural History
• Nebraska Library Commission
• Nevada State Library & Archives
• New Hampshire State Library
• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• New Mexico Highlands University
• New Mexico State Library
• New York Hall of Science
• New York Institute of Technology
• New York Public Library
• New York University, Elmer Homes Bobst Library
• North Carolina Board of Science and Technology
• North Carolina Museum of History
• North Dakota State Library
• North Dakota State University
• Northern Michigan University
• Northwest Missouri State
• Ohio State University
• Oklahoma State University
• Oregon Institute of Technology
• Oregon State Library
• Oregon State University
• Penn State University Library
• Pepperdine University
• Plymouth State University
• Princeton University Library
• Public Education Network
• Purdue University
• Rand Corporation
• Rhode Island State Archives
• Rice University
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Rutgers University
• Sacred Heart University
• San Bernardino County Museum
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Smithsonian Institute National Museum of American
History
• Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space
Museum
• Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space
Museum
• Smithsonian Institution National Museum of
American History
• South Carolina Department of Archives and History
• South Dakota State University
• St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Memphis
• Stanford University
• Stanford University
• State Library of Iowa
• State Library of Michigan
• State Library of Ohio
• State of Florida Library
• State University of New York
• Tennessee State Library and Archives
• Tennessee Tech University
• The Tech Museum of Innovation
• Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Jefferson Library
• United States Naval Academy
• University of Alabama
• University of Alaska Anchorage
• University of Alaska Fairbanks
• University of Alaska Southeast
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University of Arizona
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas Libraries
University of California
University of California at Berkeley
University of California at Los Angeles
University of Charleston
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado
University of Connecticut
University of Dayton
University of Florida
University of Georgia
University of Hawaii, Manoa
University of Houston, College of Technology
University of Idaho
University of Idaho
University of Illinois Library
University of Iowa
University of Kansas
University of Kentucky
University of Louisiana at Monroe, Sandel Library
University of Louisville
University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
University of Michigan
University of Michigan Library
University of Michigan, Center for Information
Technology
University of Minnesota
University of Mississippi
University of Missouri
University of Montana
University of Nebraska
University of Nebraska, Omaha
University of Nevada
University of Nevada, LasVegas
University of New England
University of New Hampshire
University of New Mexico
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina, Kenan-Flager Business
School
University of North Dakota, Chester Fritz Library
University of Northern Iowa
University of Oregon
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rhode Island
University of San Diego
University of South Carolina
University of South Dakota
University of Southern Mississippi
University of Tennessee
University of the Ozarks
University of Tulsa
University of Utah
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
USC
Utah State Library
Vermont State Library
Virginia Tech University
Wake Forest University, Z. Smith Reynolds Library
Washington State Library
Washington State University
Washington University
Wayne State University
Wesleyan University
West Virginia Archives and History
West Virginia University
Western Carolina University
Wheaton College
Wisconsin State Historical Society
Wyoming State Library
Yale University
VENEZUELA
• Biblioteca Marcel Roche
• United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
• Universidad Simon Bolivar
ZIMBABWE
• University of Zimbabwe
THE OFFICIAL ARCHIVES ONLINE
THE ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE
The Computerworld Honors Program’s official Archives Online harnesses the power of
The Chairmen’s Committee and Sponsors of the Computerworld Honors Program have
the Internet to provide global access to the primary source materials submitted by
made possible the creation of oral histories and video biographies of some of the most
Computerworld Honors Program Laureates. This ever-growing global collection com-
outstanding leaders of the information technology revolution. These interviews are
prises an extraordinary selection of interpretive resources. In addition to sound record-
designed to capture for posterity some of the personal and professional stories of these
ings, still photography, interviews, oral histories and video biographies, the archive now
individuals, their goals, ideals, mentors, sources of inspiration and thoughts on the future
includes literally thousands of case studies of outstanding applications of information
of technology. Transcripts and, in many cases, highlights of the original audio or video-
technology. Nominated over more than a decade by the Program’s Chairmen’s
recordings of these interviews, are rapidly becoming available through the resources of
Committee, these works are submitted for inclusion in the permanent research collec-
the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and The Computerworld
tions of a select group of the world’s leading academic and research institutions.
Honors Program’s Official Archives Online.
www.cwhonors.org
Marc Andreessen, Founder and Vice President,
Netscape Communications Corporation
Robert Ballard, Founding Chairman of the
JASON Project
Edward Barnholt, Chairman, President and CEO,
Agilent Technologies
Craig Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Intel
Bill Bass, Senior Vice President, E-commerce &
International, Lands’ End
Andreas Bechtolshiem, Vice President Giga Byte
Switching, Cisco Systems
Gordon Bell, Chief Scientist, Stardent Computer
Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web
Steve Case, CEO, America Online
Vinton Cerf, Senior Vice President, Internet
Architecture & Technology, WorldCom
Linda M. Dillman, Executive Vice President,
Risk Management & Benefits Administration,
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Robert Dutkowsky, President & CEO, JD
Edwards Corporation
Larry Ellison, President & CEO, Oracle
Douglas Engelbart, President,
The Bootstrap Institute
Gordon Eubanks, President, CEO, Oblix
David Evans, Co-Founder, Evans & Sutherland
Joe Forehand, Chairman and CEO, Accenture
Jay Forrester, Germeshausen Professor Emeritus of
Management, MIT, Sloan School of Management
John Gage, Director, Science Office,
Sun Microsystems
William H. Gates, Chairman, Microsoft
John Chambers, Chairman & CEO, Cisco Systems
Andrew Grove, Chairman, Intel
Gerald Cohen, Founder, Information Builders
John Hammergren, Chairman & Chief Executive
Officer, McKesson Corporation
Craig Conway, President & Chief Executive
Officer, PeopleSoft Inc.
Seymour Cray, Chairman, Cray Computer
Corporation
Hector de J. Ruiz, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, Advanced Micro Devices
Frederick Hausheer, Founder, Chairman & CEO,
BioNumerik Pharmaceuticals
Jeff Hawkins, Co-Founder, Chairman & Chief
Product Officer, Handspring
Bill Hewlett, Co-Founder, Hewlett-Packard
Michael Dell, CEO, Dell Computer
186
187
THE ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE
Max Hopper, Principal and Chief Executive
Officer, Max D. Hopper Associates Inc.
Ann Vesperman Olson, Vice President Customer
Service, Lands’ End
Irwin Jacobs, Chairman, Qualcomm
Paul Otellini, President & Chief Operating
Officer, Intel
Steve Jobs, CEO, NeXT
Bill Joy, Chief Scientist, Sun Microsystems
Robert Kahn, Founder & President,
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
Ray Lane, General Partner, Kleiner, Perkins,
Caulfield & Byers
Ted Leonsis, President, Interactive Properties
Group, AOL Time Warner
David Packard, Co-Founder, Hewlett-Packard
Seymour Papert, LEGO Professor of Learning
Research, MIT Media Lab
Charles Peskin, Professor, New York University’s
Courant Institute
Hasso Plattner, Co-Founder, SAP AG
John Pople, Professor, Northwestern University
Kenneth Lewis, Chief Executive Officer,
Bank of America
Casey Powell, Chief Executive Officer, Sequent
Computer Systems
Steve Markman, Chairman, CEO & President,
General Magic
Linda Roberts, Director, Office of Educational
Technology, U.S. Department of Education
J Andrew McCammon, Pioneer in Theoretical &
Computational Chemistry, University of California
at San Diego
Michael C. Ruettgers, Executive Chairman,
EMC Corporation
John McDonald, Co-Founder,
McDonald & Stredney
Patrick McGovern, Founder,
International Data Group
David McQueen, Professor, New York University’s
Courant Institute
Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems
J Edward McVaney, Co-Founder, JD Edwards
Robert Metcalfe, Founder, 3Com
Anne Meyer, Center for Applied Science and
Special Technology
Lewis Sadler, University of Illinois - Chicago
Biomedical Visualization
Eric Schmidt, Chairman & CEO, Novell
Stratton Sclavos, Chairman & CEO, VeriSign, Inc
Ralph Shrader, CEO, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
Stephen Sprinkle, Managing Director,
Deloitte Consulting
Don Stredney, Co-Founder,
McDonald & Stredney
Matthew J. Szulik, Chairman, CEO & President,
Red Hat
Gordon Moore, Chairman Emeritus, Intel
Ralph Szygenda, Group Vice President & Chief
Information Officer, General Motors
Dr. Nathan N Myhrvold, Chief Technology
Officer, Microsoft Corporation
Joseph Tucci, President & Chief Executive Officer,
EMC
Thomas Nies, Chairman, Cincom
Hal Uplinger, Producer of Live Aid concert
Ken Olsen, Founder & President, Digital
Equipment Corporation
J. Craig Venter, President & Chairman, The
Center for the Advancement of Genomics
188
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE 2007 CHAIRMEN’S COMMITTEE
THE 2007 SEARCH DIRECTORS COMMITTEE
The Computerworld Honors Program proudly thanks the Program’s Chairmen’s
Committee for 2007.
The Computerworld Honors Program proudly thanks those Search Directors who
nominated organizations to the Program for 2007.
3Com, Eric A. Benhamou
Accenture, William D. Green
Adobe Systems, Bruce R. Chizen
ADTRAN, Thomas R. Stanton
Agilent, William P. Sullivan
Alcatel-Lucent, Patricia F. Russo
America Online, Jonathan F. Miller
Apple, Steven P. Jobs
AT&T, Edward E. Whitcare
Autonomy, Dr. Michael Lynch
Avaya, Donald K. Peterson
BEA, Alfred S. Chuang
BearingPoint, Roderick C. McGeary
BMC, Robert E. Beauchamp
Booz Allen Hamilton, Ralph W. Shrader
Borland, Tod Nielsen
Broadcom, Scott A. McGregor
Business Objects, John Schwarz
CA, John Swainson
Capgemini, John Parkinson
CDW, John A. Edwardson
Cincom, Thomas M. Nies
Cisco, John Chambers
Cognizant, Lakshmi Narayanan
Compuware, Peter Karmanos, Jr.
Dell, Michael Dell
Deloitte, James H. Quigley
Eclipsys, R. Andrew Eckert
EDS, Michael H. Jordan
EMC, Joseph Tucci
Epicor Software, L. George Klaus
Extreme Networks, Mark Canepa
F5 Networks, John McAdam
Forsythe Solutions, William P. Brennan
Fujitsu, Toshio Morohoshi
Getronics, Klaas Wagenaar
HCL Technologies, Shiv Nadar
HP, Mark V. Hurd
Hitachi, Dave Roberson
Hyperion, Godfrey Sullivan
i2, Sanjiv S. Sidhu
IBM, Sam Palmisano
Informatica, Sohaib Abbasi
Information Builders, Gerald D. Cohen
Intel, Craig Barrett
InterSystems, Phillip T. Ragon
3com, Chrissy Campbell
Keane, Elizabeth Christopher and Fran Kelly
Accenture, Debby Gaul
Microsoft, Kathleen Tranzillo
AT&T, Laura Mertz
Morgan Stanley, Carol Horn
Autonomy, Katherine Cantor
NCR, Ahu Baskut
BEA, Cameron Deatsch and Helen Lee
NEC, Beth Makosey
Booz Allen Hamilton, Eleanor Schaffner-Mosh
Network Appliance, Katryn McGaughey
Borland, Brian Garabedian
Nortel, Geney Kook
Business Objects, Peter Olson
Novell, Bruce Lowry
CA, Danielle Solimine
Open Text, Richard Maganini
Capgemini, Jonathan Blank
Oracle, Susan Zielinski
CDW, Brian Schwartz
Overland Storage, Sue Hetzel
Cincom, Pat Dowling
Palm, Corinne Nareau
Cisco, Stacey Wilkinson and Judy May
Patni, Heena Kanal
Dell, Mary Kay Hyde
Polycom, Kimberly Klawuhn and Heidi Lorenzen
Deloitte, Daphne Shannon and Randi Caplan
Progress Software, Cynthia Maxwell
Eclipsys, Jason Cigarran
Quantum, Kim Nelson
EDS, Catherine Anderson
Qualcomm, Katherine Brodahl
EMC, Liz Thibeault, Patrick Cooley, and David Seuss
Quest Software, Rachel Gross
Epicor, Lisa Preuss
SAIC, Hilary Stephens
Extreme Networks, Gregory Cross
SAP, Gina Fierro and Michelle Cooper
Forsythe Solutions Group, Kyra Auslander
Sapient, Kelly Guffy and Theresa Cowen
Fujitsu, Karen Richardson
SAS, Margo Stutesman and Beverly Brown
HCL Technologies, Sandy Dawkins
Software AG, Gerda Yearwood
Hitachi, Kat Kirk and Kenneth Chang
SUN, Paul Dilakian
Hyperion, Danielle Boule and Haley Vote
Sybase, Katie Hill, Chrissy Gianfortone, and Christine
Bottagaro
Juniper Networks, Scott G. Kriens
Keane, John J. Leahy
Lawson Software, Harry Debes
Microsoft, William H. Gates
MicroStrategy, Michael J. Saylor
Morgan Stanley, Merritt Lutz
Motorola, Edward J. Zander
NCR, Jim Ringler
NEC, Akinobu Kanasugi
Network Appliance, Dan Warmenhoven
Nortel, Mike S. Zafirovski
Novell, Ronald W. Hovsepian
Open Text, John Shackleton
Oracle, Larry J. Ellison
Overland Storage, Scott McClendon
Palm, Ed Colligan
Patni Computer Systems, Narendra K. Patni
Polycom, Robert C. Hagerty
Progress Software, Joseph W. Alsop
Qualcomm, Sanjay Jha
Quantum, Richard E. Belluzo
Quest Software, Vincent C. Smith
RAD Data Communications, Zohar Zisapel
Research in Motion, Jim Balsillie
SAIC, Ken C. Dahlberg
SAP, Henning Kagermann
Sapient, Alan J. Herrick
SAS, James Goodnight
Seagate, William D. Watkins
SGI, Robert R. Bishop
Siemens, Klaus Kleinfeld
Software AG, Haskell Mayo
Sprint Nextel Corp., Gary D. Forsee
Sun Microsystems, Scott G. McNealy
Sybase, John S. Chen
Symantec, John W. Thompson
Tandberg, Fredrik Halvorsen
Tech Data, Robert M. Dutkowsky
TIBCO, Vivek Ranadivé
Toshiba, Tadashi Okamura
Unisys, Joseph W. McGrath
VeriSign, Stratton D. Sclavos
Verizon, Ivan G. Seidenburg
Wyse, John Kish
Xerox, Anne M. Mulcahy
Yahoo!, Terry S. Semel
190
IBM, Shirley Marshall
Informatica, Deborah Wiltshire
Information Builders, Sabrina Salgado
Infosys, Katherine Cantor
Tandberg, Margie Agin
Tech Data, Jarred LeFebvre
Unisys, Jim Senior
Intersystems, Maureen Flaherty
Juniper Networks, Brett Shore
191
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THE 2007 PROGRAM SPONSORS
The Computerworld Honors Program gratefully acknowledges the generosity, corporate
good-citizenship, and vital contributions these sponsors have made to the history of the
worldwide information technology revolution.
BENEFACTORS AND LEADERSHIP AWARDS UNDERWRITERS
PROGRAM UNDERWRITERS
SPONSORS
Congratulations to the 2007 Computerworld Honors Laureates!
PATRONS
Thanks to your exceptional vision and heroic leadership,
your organizations are harnessing IT
to improve the world.
Special thanks to The Graphic Group, Burlington, MA, for their contribution of
print services for the Computerworld Honors Program formal invitations.
THE COMPUTERWORLD HONORS PROGRAM
The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by the Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation
192
www.boozallen.com
THE COMPUTERWORLD
HONORS PROGRAM
One Speen Street
Framingham, Massachusetts 01701 USA
Phone: 508-620-7758
Fax: 508-626-8524
The Computerworld Honors Program is governed by
The Computerworld Information Technology Awards Foundation
Find the Computerworld Honors Program Collection online at:
www.cwhonors.org

laureates 2007 - The Computerworld Honors Program

Transcription

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