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Riverdeep wins Company of the Year 
Monday, November 12 2001
by Matthew Clark


The Irish Software Association named e-learning company Riverdeep Group "Company
of the Year" in its annual awards ceremony over the weekend.



Openet Telecom won the "Young Company of the Year" award at the ceremony that
was attended by almost 500 people. The "Technical Innovation Award" went to
Headway Software and NewWorld Commerce won the "Marketing Innovation Award." 







Speaking at the ceremony, Billy Huggard, chairman of the Irish Software
Association, offered some good news for the industry. He claimed that in a survey
to be published later this month, 75 percent of the organisation's members
believe revenues will increase over the next 12 months. 





"We need to be careful about overdoing the doom and gloom," he said. "The
winners and companies nominated for this year's awards demonstrate the strength
and resilience of the Irish software industry. There are some 30,000 people now
employed in the industry in Ireland and the majority of firms are confident about
prospects going forward." 







Tanaiste Mary Harney, who presented the awards, said that despite the downturn,
recent developments should be kept in perspective. "The long-term future of the
ICT sector, both internationally and in Ireland remains optimistic," she said.
"I have no doubt that the ICT industry will remain a dynamic player in the
world economy, and that it will continue to play a major role in the Irish
economy in the future." Harney said she believed that Ireland was well
positioned to weather the storm that the industry is suffering. 





Riverdeep Group plc is one of the largest publishers of K-12 (kindergarten to 12
years old) interactive learning products in the world. It beat out another major
Irish e-learning company SmartForce for the award as well as banking software
company Eontec, CRM provider Fineos and enterprise compliance management software
company Qumas.





Openet Telecom, the ISA's "Young Company of the Year", won over some stiff
competition from other new Irish companies including Web services company Cape
Clear, CRM company eWare, m-commerce software provider Macalla and location-based
services software company Mapflow. 





Headway Software, the "Technical Innovation" winner, defeated some notable
companies including Automsoft, Eontec, Network 365 and Openet Telecom. In
addition, NewWorld Commerce won out over Fineos, Globogift, Qumas and Vordel. 





The ISA has an executive council of 24 companies that act as the short-listing
committee for the awards. The council draws up the short-list from all the
nominated companies in the four categories. The committee then interviews the
short-listed companies and decides the winners. The ISA Awards are sponsored by
Davy Stockbrokers, Enterprise Ireland and Logica.