TopCAT Innovation Awards Celebrate Region’s Vibrant Tech Community

January 17, 2008

The Central Ohio tech community showed up in force to celebrate the 2007 TopCAT Innovation Awards presented by TechColumbus Thursday evening. Over 900 were on hand for the celebration of the achievements and strength of the region’s global knowledge economy. “We’ll be here for years to come as we help realize a dream of making this the Silicon Valley of the Midwest,” said Ravi Kunduru of Ventech who was the winner in the Minority Owned Enterprise category. There were 13 awards given in various categories along with two student awards. The evening, considered the Academy Awards of the tech community, featured a lively networking reception followed by dinner and the ceremony hosted by WBNS 10 TV’s Andrea Cambern. “There’s certainly a lot of great news here,” said Cambern. The vibrancy of the region’s tech community was evidenced not only through the strength of the winners, but also in the number, diversity and stories of the various nominees. “I wouldn’t want to start a tech business anywhere else but Central Ohio,” said William Dawson of NexTech Materials who was honored as Executive of the Year for companies with less than 50 employees. Congratulations to all the winners.

Sypherlink was selected by TechColumbus as a finalist in the following categories:

• Outstanding Service of the Year (less than 50 employees):
  Sypherlink National Information Exchange Gateway
  Information is the foundation for national security and public safety, and yet exists in disparate computer systems scattered across federal, state, and local entities. They do not speak the same language, inhibiting sharing. Sypherlink’s National Information Exchange (NIE) Gateway is becoming the government’s most embraced service for jump-starting cross-agency data sharing and intelligence efforts. Launched in May 2007, this turn-key solution addresses government’s inter-operability issues by combining Sypherlink’s patented data-matching technology, conformance to federally-mandated data sharing standards, and the company’s national security subject-matter expertise into a single, unique service.
  

• Outstanding Technology Team:
  Sypherlink National Security Practice
  Sypherlink’s National Security Practice is a team of the industry’s most technically experienced developers, solutions engineers, and implementations specialists. Formed in early 2007, the team quickly "stormed, normed, and performed" to develop an industry-leading solution for jump-starting government data-sharing efforts: The National Information Exchange (NIE) Gateway.
  

• Executive of the Year (less than 50 employees):
  James Paat, Sypherlink CEO
  James Paat is founder and CEO of Sypherlink, an information-management-software company. Under his leadership, the company launched the National Information Exchange (NIE) Gateway which contributed to its more than 300% revenue growth. Sypherlink’s patented technology is now being used by dozens of customers ranging from Global 1000 companies to large public sector organizations. Mr. Paat also secured a significant second round of venture funding for the company and signed industry-leading customers. Mr. Paat formerly was founder, president, and COO of EC Outlook, a business integration company providing business process management solutions and has received "40 under 40" recognition by Business First.
  

The TechColumbus TopCAT Awards began in 1997 as a means of recognizing and celebrating the achievements of Central Ohio's focused technology industries. For a full list of the 2007 winners, visit: http://www.techcolumbus.org/en/art/?781