the 19th annual 2010 TUANZ Innovation Awards
in association with  

winners announced

TUANZ Innovation Awards in association with Voco and run in partnership with IDC were announced this evening in a glittering ceremony.
The Awards, hosted in 2010 by John Campbell, are a prestigious event in the telecommunications sector and this year were attended by many industry notables who gathered to honour innovation in the sector.

TUANZ congratulates the following Award winners for 2010:

JUDGED AWARDS:

TUANZ Telecommunications Innovation Award sponsored by VectorFibre
Winner: M-Com
Judges' comments:
M-Com is set to become the world leader in mobile banking and payment services.  Their innovation and constant product evolution is changing the way people do banking.  Their solutions covering standard banking, online banking, mobile proximity payment and mobile money transfer have already been sold to over 180 banks around the world.  They have established a strong presence in developed markets and are now poised to take on emerging markets.  M-Com is a great example of an innovative New Zealand company taking the world by storm.

TUANZ Initiative of the Year Award sponsored by Voco
Winner: M-Com
Judges' comments:
This is the second time M-Com have been finalists in the Innovation Awards, and in the past twelve months they have introduced a number new initiatives for their core product.  In particular the judges were excited by their mobile offering, their mobile wallet offering, the opportunities in emerging markets and the company growth.

TUANZ Mobile Application of the Year Award sponsored by Motorola
Winner: Run the Red and KHF Media
For: Run the Red and RedX Mobile Marketing Platform
Judges' comments:
A highly interactive – multi platform product.  Significant export potential.  With a high level of telecommunication input.

TUANZ Education Award sponsored by Aurecon
Winner: Kiwibank and Social Capital
For: heaps!
Judges' comments:
Overcomes a gap in the provision of financial literacy.  Has a wide application to all New Zealanders with a bank account.  Not only will it help solve New Zealand financial literacy problem, it also has the potential to grow the New Zealand economy.

TUANZ Healthcare Award
Winner: Gen-i, Alcatel Lucent, Auckland District Health Board
For: Mobile Telehealth
Judges' comments:
Simplicity with wide implications for the population, reduces cost of care, benefitting those with high medical needs.  Clearly a worthy telecommunication application.

TUANZ Rural Award
Winner: Re:Gen by Harmonic and Gen-i
Judges' comments:
One of the judges more difficult decisions.  A highly innovative product, providing traceability and sustainability.  Avoids pasture saturation and maintains satisfactory pond levels and benefits the farmer by saving fertilizer.

TUANZ Local & Central Government Services Award
Winner: North Shore City Council
For: Online Consenting Solution
Judges' comments:
The judges had a very hard time deciding between the Metlink’s Route Plan and North Shore City Council’s Consent Planner.  However they selected North Shore City Council’s Consent Planner due to its potential to transform and simplify the entire consents process and in doing so saving vast sums of money.  The building consents process affects many sections of society, from the general public wishing to apply for consent, the professional sector and of course the Council staff themselves.  The transparency for the end user was also a key factor in their decision.

TUANZ Commerce Award
Winner: Kiwibank and Social Capital
For: heaps!
Judges' comments:
Judges were faced with diverse range of finalists with very different value propositions for the commerce category.  However they felt that Heaps goes beyond counting your money and changes consumer behaviour.  With a bank behind them at the outset, it also has huge export potential. 

TUANZ Telecommunications Journalist of the Year sponsored by 2degrees Mobile
Winner: Tom Pullar-Strecker
From: The Dominion Post
Judges' comments:
All Tom’s articles were well written and easy to read with a good understanding of the audience.  The article on Telecom’s split was a good example of scoop investigative journalist.  The second article was an excellent article showing behind the scenes analysis of the impact of Telecom’s separation from a number of different angles.  The third article, a review of Teresa Gattung’s book Bird on a Wire was readable and interesting and well structured as a book review.

TUANZ ICT Innovator of the Year Award sponsored by Kelly
Winner: Steve Fuller
For: Open Access network for Schools
Judges' comments:
There were two very different contenders for the Innovator of the year but after in depth discussion judgement that Steve Fuller deserved the award for his tireless efforts over a 3 year period to deliver fibre to the schools.  This involved a keen understanding of the political situation, bringing the Ministry of Education on board, working with key individuals and gaining the support of the schools themselves, effectively changing the business model that can replicated elsewhere in NZ.

TUANZ Next Generation Fibre-Optic Network Award sponsored by Northpower Fibre
Winner: FX Networks
For: The FX Next Generation Network
Judges' comments:
FX has done for national networks what Citylink did for metro networks.  They have challenged old-world business models, breaking down old-world thinking and have shaken up the place.  They have an innovative interaction with customers, wide market impact and a co-operative operation. 

VOTED AWARDS (decided by TUANZ members):

TUANZ Internet Service Provider of the Year Award sponsored by Telecom Wholesale
Winner: SNAP Internet

TUANZ Telecommunications Carrier of the Year Award sponsored by the Telecommunications Carriers’ Forum
Winner: 2degrees Mobile

TUANZ Technology Media of the Year Award sponsored by Kordia
Winner: Computerworld

TUANZ Chairman’s Award, selected by TUANZ Chair Pat O'Connell:
Winner: Chris Quin, Gen-i
Chairman's comments:
Early this year Telecom came under great pressure and received huge criticism when the XT network suffered its well remembered outages. I think if you were to ask any CIO, any network manager, any major Telecom customer in New Zealand: who showed the leadership, who communicated, who went the extra mile for both Telecom and its customers? - everyone would be fulsome in their praise of one person who stood up, took control, worked himself to the bone, and took responsibility in the crisis. That person  turned a complete telecommunications disaster into a PR coup for Telecom. The recipient of this year’s chairman's award is Gen-i's Chris Quin.

For further information and/or photographs of the Award winners, please contact Katherine Hall – 09 488 1885, katherine@tuanz.org.nz.