Village Gamer

Vancouver – Renowned for connecting people and systems to global mobile broadband networks, Sierra Wireless was named Company of the Year at the 2009 Technology Impact Awards (TIAs) hosted by the BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA). The award formally recognized Sierra Wireless’ phenomenal year that included developing the world’s first data devices for the HSPA+ standard, further penetrating the M2M market with the acquisition of Wavecom S.A., increasing their BC-based employees to 250 and, for the first time in company history, surpassing half a billion dollars in annual revenues.

Earning the Leadership in Social Responsibility Award was TELUS and its ‘Give Where You Live’ philosophy. Since 2000, TELUS, team members and retirees have contributed $137 million and more than 2.6 million hours of community service. Having also contributed over 2000 computers and laptops during the 2008 calendar year, TELUS was further recognized with an appreciation award by Computers for Schools – an organization that provides increased access to computer technology for students and learners of all ages.

James Topham, retired partner of KPMG, was awarded the prestigious Bill Thompson Award for career achievement. James enriched BC’s technology industry for over 30 years. During that time, he advised more than 100 technology companies and spent countless hours contributing to technology?related associations and philanthropic efforts. This includes being a founding member of the BCTIA. James is currently involved with three small technology firms as a financial advisor and director.

Over 700 representatives from BC’s technology and business community came together at the new state-of-the-art Vancouver Convention Centre to recognize British Columbia’s top technologies, companies and individuals.

Other winners include:

Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology
Heart Force Medical Inc. (Vancouver) has developed the Ballistocardiograph™ (dBG), a non?invasive medical device that assesses cardiac function by sensing forces generated from heart muscle contractions and relaying results via Bluetooth technology.

Best Application of Technology
ACL Services Ltd. (Vancouver) delivers business assurance technology for audit and compliance professionals, allowing companies to concurrently interpret and analyze multiple heterogeneous systems all from a centralized control station.

Excellence in Product Innovation
Sophos (Vancouver) provides a web security and control appliance that features real-time monitoring and prevention of 100% of known and 90% of unknown malware, as well as patent-pending technology that automatically blocks ‘rogue’ surfers as they attempt to bypass web filtering.

Most Promising Start?up
Energy Aware Technology Inc. (Vancouver) helps improve demand-management energy conservation using an In Home Display (IHD) that communicates with the utility’s smart meter to continually monitor and notify residents of their power usage and associated costs.

Emerging Company of the Year
Elastic Path Software Inc. (Vancouver) uses a flexible e-commerce framework, based on open source technologies and full access to source code, to give enterprise clients complete control over their
e-commerce projects.

Team of the Year
Mixpo’s (Vancouver) team of five dedicated developers maintained and even advanced the business’ alpha product while concurrently, and in nine short months, re-created the company for a burgeoning niche by delivering the robust and highly scalable Mixpo VideoAd Platform.

Person of the Year
Jonathan Rhone (President and CEO, Nexterra Energy Corp.) is one of BC’s most prominent advocates of the clean tech sector, using his time and effort to ensure environmental sustainability remains a top priority in the province. Jonathan also secured a fourth round of financing and increased year-over-year revenues by 300% for his company Nexterra – developers of advanced gasification systems that convert waste fuels into clean energy.

“Tonight’s winners and finalists reaffirm the breadth of BC’s technology sector, delivering cross-cutting innovations that touch all sectors of the economy,” said Pascal Spothelfer, President and CEO of BCTIA. “We congratulate all winners and finalists for their ingenuity, adaptability and particularly their resiliency in a challenging economic climate – they are all making their mark on the world.” This year, over 100 applications were received from technology companies of all sectors and sizes and from all corners of British Columbia.