IN a first for a Western Australian company, Perth-based IT firm L7 Solutions Pty Ltd has been awarded the 2005 ANZ Cisco Commercial Partner of the Year for the Australia/New Zealand region at the Cisco Global Summit in San Diego, California. L7 Solutions managing director Matt Sullivan said the criteria for winning the award included implementing innovative solutions, year-on-year growth, advanced technology implementation, customer satisfaction level and overall achievement. “It is a huge achievement for a WA-based organisation to win it for the entire Australia and New Zealand region,” he said. “As we really focus on the market here in Perth, our market potential is relatively small. “It is also satisfying that we were up against the large established national and international players based on the east coast.” Mr Sullivan said the evaluation period for the awards began in January 2005 with the company having only started operations in March 2004. “For Cisco, a multi-billion dollar company, to recognise the achievements of an up-and-coming player, means a lot for L7 and its client base,” he said. Mr Sullivan and L7 Solutions technical director Brett Looney travelled to San Diego for the summit, the only WA representatives. “You really get to see the magnitude of a company like Cisco and where you fit into the global scheme of things,” he said. “Cisco were also showcasing the roadmap for the organisation for the next few years and there are some exciting technologies that are currently under research and development that we were privy to see demonstrated.” L7 Solutions provides IT professional services and solutions to the corporate and government market segments. The company began operations in 2004 and is now boasting more than 30 staff and 160 active customers. The company recently achieved Microsoft gold certification. Meanwhile, at the WA Information Technology & Telecommunications Awards, a non-IT based company, Messages On Hold, won the 2005 infrastructure award. Messages On Hold won the award for IT excellence for the provision of its core service, also called Messages On Hold. Though the service itself – providing promotional messages, mixed with music for waiting callers on hold – lies more in the field of marketing, the company relies heavily on cutting edge IT developments to stay at the forefront of its industry. “We use information technology to help ‘wow’ our clients with outstanding customer service,” said Messages On Hold managing director Kym Illman. “Rather than just a collection of bits and bytes, we see IT as a flexible tool to help reduce human error, while freeing up our employees to build better relationships with their clients.” Using a combination of specialised software and hardware, the company is able to produce customised audio productions for prospects that can be heard within minutes. “We’re able to offer these to every prospect that calls, at no charge,” Illman said. “It’s a powerful way to turn information technology into an effective marketing tool.” Among the other winners were iiNet Ltd, which received the telecommunications award for its VoIP project, City of Bunbury and Sinclair Knight Merz, which won the regional award for the South West Electronic Library (SWEL), and RAWsat Pty Ltd, which received the exporter award for Remote Communications. The achiever award went to Nathan Buzza for CommtechWireless, while the innovation award was won by Thumtronics Ltd for The Thummer. The Department of Land Information won the online award for its Land Enquiry System, iTech Consulting Pty Ltd won the product award for ReadOn, Seniors Technology Centre won the service delivery and training award, while Simon Newton won the student project award. The winners in the 10 categories were selected from a field of 23 finalists.