From excellence in product innovation to most promising pre-commercial technology, the finalists in the British Columbia Technology Industry Association's (BCTIA) 2013 Technology Impact Awards (TIA) include a range of local tech firms whose positive impact can be felt far beyond the borders of this province.
"The 2013 TIA finalists are clearly making their mark on the world, selling to and partnering with some of the largest organizations around the globe," BCTIA president Bill Tam said in a release. "These companies represent thousands of jobs, tens of millions in investment, research and development and hundreds of millions in annual exports."
Four Lower Mainland firms were named by the BCTIA as finalists for its prestigious Company of the Year Award:
- Absolute Software Corp., which offers endpoint security and management solutions for digital devices;
- Alpha Technologies Ltd., which designs powering solutions for the telecom, traffic, security, industrial and renewable energy industries, among others;
- Global Relay Communications, which specializes in message-archiving solutions to help meet the recordkeeping and supervision requirements of regulators; and
- Layer 7 Technologies, which helps organizations control how they expose their data and applications to outside divisions, partners, mobile developers and cloud services.
"We have a tremendous amount of respect for what the BCTIA stands for and all of the work it does to create a community right here in B.C. for technology to thrive," said Absolute Software chairman and CEO John Livingston.
"Technology is very important to our local economy and job creation. There are many extremely bright, innovative companies in B.C. that are helping to change the world for the better."
Honoured by the BCTIA nomination, Alpha Technologies president and CEO Mark Schnarr says that "homegrown recognition" is always welcome – even after business has expanded to less local markets.
"B.C. is where we're headquartered, where we've grown and where we continue to employ a lot of people," said Schnarr. "It's certainly nice to have a local high-tech community of people you can sit down with, bounce ideas off of and learn from. It's a great group to be part of."
While Dimitri Sirota, Layer 7's chief strategy and marketing officer, appreciates the fact that the BCTIA "does its best to create a centre to the tech community in B.C.," he believes that the local industry remains somewhat splintered – particularly when compared with similar hubs south of the border.
"I have a lot of friends who have achieved success in Vancouver, but there's still work to be done," he said. "However, it's terrific to be recognized for this award, which takes revenue – in other words, our growth and our progress – into account when selecting the finalists."
Sirota reveals that the Company of the Year Award nomination makes "a nice bookend" for his firm, which seven years ago was named most promising startup by the BCTIA. Layer 7 is now preparing for its next chapter after being acquired in late April by IT leader CA Technologies for an undisclosed sum.
Global Relay CEO and founder Warren Roy, on business in Singapore at press time, echoes the sentiments of his fellow nominees.
"We were extremely proud and excited as a company when we heard the news," Roy told Business in Vancouver. "It's great to be noticed in your own hometown, where so much of your energy and effort has been exerted over so many years. Honestly, home is the nicest place you can be nominated for something like this."
Vancouver, he adds, has been a particularly good place to grow his business.
"It's is the only region in Canada where you can build evaporative cooled data centres, thanks in large part to its cool and dry summers," Roy explained. "This allows Global Relay to reduce its data centre operational costs by about 50% and, ultimately, makes us more competitive in the market."
The winners of the 2013 Technology Impact Awards will be honoured by the BCTIA at a 20th-anniversary awards gala, which takes place on June 6 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
