REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire - October 10, 2007) - The most innovative uses of technology
by small and midsize organizations were recognized last evening by Cisco®
(
NASDAQ:
CSCO) as part of the 8th annual Cisco Growing with Technology
Awards. This year's winners included a video-conferencing-based language
translation company, a digital publisher of student-authored college
guides, and a firm that provides robots to deliver medicine and supplies
throughout hospitals.
The Cisco Growing with Technology Awards program was created to recognize
small to midsize organizations that use networking technology in creative
ways to promote products and services, deliver superior value to customers,
improve internal operations, conduct online transactions and extend the
geographical reach of their services.
"As Cisco continues to focus on listening to our customers, collaborating
with our channel partners, and improving our technology solutions for small
and midsize businesses (SMBs), it's important to acknowledge those
organizations that have dramatically improved their business through the
use of technology," said Sue Bostrom, executive vice president and chief
marketing officer at Cisco. "The Cisco Growing with Technology Awards are
a special way to showcase the spirit of technical innovation and
entrepreneurship that embodies the global SMB marketplace."
One grand-prize winner, two runners-up, and one honorable mention winner in
each of five categories (Operational Excellence, Sales and Marketing,
Non-Profit, Public Sector, and Customer Relationship) were selected from
more than 570 applications received by Cisco for this year's contest.
Representatives from Cisco worked with a diverse panel of industry experts
to narrow the broad field and select the 20 winning companies.
"Since our business focuses on mobile robots that roam throughout
hospitals, delivering goods and supplies without a person pushing the cart,
we are highly dependent on networking technology to remotely monitor and
manage the robots for our customers," said Barry Skirble, CIO at Aethon,
Inc., the Cisco Growing with Technology Award grand-prize winner for
operational excellence. "Our internal operations depend on the remote
connections to each customer using the Internet and Cisco technology. We
have dramatically increased our operational efficiencies using the
technology which allows us to remotely control and collect data from our
centralized headquarters to more than 100 hospitals nationwide."
The winners of the Cisco Growing with Technology Awards 2007 are:
Innovators in Customer Relationship
-- Grand Prize: College Prowler (12 employees), Industry: Services &
Media, based in Pittsburgh, Pa.
-- Runners-up: Language Assistance Telemedicine, Inc. (8 employees),
Industry: Healthcare, based in Houston, Texas; and Western States Insurance
(393 employees), Industry: Finance, based in Missoula, Montana.
Innovators in Non-Profit
-- Grand Prize: Shodor (12 employees), Industry: Education, based in
Durham, N.C.
-- Runners-up: Opportunity Access (3 employees), Industry: Charity, based
in Media, Pa.; and Self-Help for the Elderly (627 employees), Industry:
Charity, based in San Franciso, CA.
Innovators in Operational Excellence
-- Grand Prize: Aethon, Inc. (102 employees), Industry: Healthcare, based
in Pittsburgh, Pa.
-- Runners-up: Coastway Credit Union (123 employees), Industry: Finance,
based in Cranston, R.I.; and Think-and-Learn, Inc. (11 employees),
Industry: Education, based in Saratoga, Calif.
Innovators in Public Sector
-- Grand Prize: Warrensburg-Latham Unified School District (125
employees), Industry: Education, based in Warrensburg, Ill.
-- Runners-up: Monte Cassino School (165 employees), Industry:
Education, based in Tulsa, Okla.; and USD 231 Gardner Edgerton Schools (736
employees), Industry: Education, based in Gardner, Kan.
Innovators in Sales and Marketing
-- Grand Prize: SecurElement (11 employees), Industry: Manufacturing,
based in Malvern, Pa.
-- Runners-up: SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Co. (220 employees),
Industry: Finance, based in New York; and GPS Industries (98 employees),
Industry: Services & Media, based Surrey, British Columbia.
Winners were recognized during an awards presentation ceremony last night
at the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood Shores, California. Grand-prize winners
receive $25,000 worth of Cisco networking equipment and services. The first
runners-up receive $15,000 worth of Cisco networking equipment and
services, and the second runners-up receive $10,000 worth of Cisco
networking equipment and services.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco (
NASDAQ:
CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at
http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
For further details on the Cisco Growing with Technology Awards program and
winners please visit:
www.cisco.com/go/technology_awards.
For direct RSS Feeds of all Cisco news, please visit "News@Cisco" at the
following link:
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html
Contact Information:
Press Contact:
Charles Sommerhauser
Cisco
925 371 6341
csommerh@cisco.com
Industry Analyst Relations Contact:
Charlie Guyer
Cisco
978 936 0825
chguyer@cisco.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Marisa Ross
Cisco
408 527 9830
mariross@cisco.com