Today the Western Australian Department of Education will be presented with the National iAward for e-Government, after claiming the winner’s title at the 2012 iAwards Gala Dinner and Awards Night in Melbourne last month.
The iAwards, which is now in its 18th year and deemed to be Australia’s leading technology awards program, recognises organisations at the cutting edge of technology innovation, as well as leading professionals across the ICT industry.
Kinetic IT nominated and assisted the Department of Education throughout the iAwards judging process in a bid to honour their Standard Operating Environment Version 4 (SOEv4), which incorporated a combination of technology and systems never before used in such an innovative and large-scale manner.
“We’re proud to have played a part in this win for the Department of Education – we were heavily involved in the design and implementation of SOEv4 and definitely saw how such innovation and scalability would benefit Australian ICT and the wider Australian community for years to come,” says Kinetic IT CEO Terry North.
According to the Department of Education’s CIO Bevan Doyle, “The SOE is an outstanding development which will assist schools to get on with teaching and learning and not be distracted by basic technology issues.”
SOEv4 provides schools (regardless of size, special needs or geographic location) with a reliable, cost-effective standard platform that brings with it consistency and quality of service delivery, high availability of all services, increased information security and increased effectiveness of upgrade activities – eliminating the need for ICT training as staff move between schools.
According to Wayne Fitzsimmons, Chair of the Pearcey Foundation, “Choosing winners from these nominations was a very difficult task but those selected represent the most outstanding innovating companies with world class R&D in the Australian ICT industry today.”
“The Department of Education provides services for more than 253,000 students in more than 770 schools. It’s the largest employer in Western Australia and has grown exponentially during the decade we’ve worked together – it’s vital that their ICT environment remains competitive on both a national and global scale,” adds North.
National iAwards winners are given the opportunity to go on to represent Australia against the best innovators in the Asia-Pacific ICT industry who come together at the APICTA Awards in December this year.
