BC Companies and Individuals Making Their Mark Globally 

Vancouver, BC, (via Marketwired) June 6, 2013 – Local entrepreneur Warren Roy and enterprise data security company Layer 7 Technologies were named to top honours as Person of the Year and Company of the Year respectively at the 2013 Technology Impact Awards (TIAs) hosted by the BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA).

A serial entrepreneur, Warren Roy is the CEO & Founder of Global Relay (www.globalrelay.net), an electronic message archiving company that services the global financial services sector. Roy is recognized for the astounding growth trajectory of his company, which added over 200 employees, and $30 million in annual revenues, much of it recurring, in the past five years. A charismatic leader, Roy is cited as one of the main reasons that Global Relay attracts and retains its strong international team.

Layer 7 Technologies, recently acquired by CA Technologies, is recognized by both Gartner and Forrester as a leading provider of solutions for securely availing enterprise data for use in mobile and cloud environments. Accepting the award on behalf of Layer 7 were Co-Founder Dimitri Sirota and CEO Paul Rochester.

“Layer 7 and Global Relay exemplify the world-class companies that we are creating here in BC”, stated BCTIA President and CEO Bill Tam. Our industry has a long standing reputation of cultivating entrepreneurial talent to grow global successes, and both of these companies and their leaders exemplify just that,” stated Tam. “They represent the passion and perseverance of entrepreneurship that is pervasive in our tech community,” Tam added. 

Other 2013 Technology Impact Award winners include: 

Adoption of Technology – OpenRoad Communications Ltd. and Transportation Investment Corporation

People-Friendly Tolling – To deliver its high-volume, friendly, customer-centric website for tolling on the new Port Mann bridge, Treo.ca, the Transportation Innovation Corp (TI Corp) selected OpenRoad Communications. 

Proving that the savings from investments in User Experience (UX) can far exceed the additional costs, the Treo.ca site delivered significant savings compared to call-centre and in-person servicing costs. The site exceeded targets for both the total number of registrations processed as well as the percentage processed online.

Within the first 75 days, vehicle registration were more than double the original goal of 250,000, with 80% signing-up online exceeding the original target of 60%.

Community Engagement – Global Relay

Racing for Success – Global Relay delighted the entire Canadian cycling community in 2012 when it committed $1,000,000 over 5 years to revive the Gastown Grand Prix, and a further $400,000 to help young Canadian cyclists qualify for the Olympics. 

Global Relay’s involvement stems from a desire to give back to its community in a fashion that encouraged employee engagement and teamwork. At the same, Global Relay’s involvement in such a high-profile public event has helped it gain local exposure, a requirement for a company that has added over 200 employees since 2007 and which shows no signs of slowing down. 

Emerging Company of the Year – QuickMobile

Transforming the Event Experience – QuickMobile’s mobile event app platform is transforming meetings and events with apps that engage and delight event organizers and their audiences. Organizations can now create an always-on communication channel that allows them to increase attendee participation, build loyalty, and generate additional revenue through richer experiences. 

Founded in 2006, QuickMobile is trusted by some of the world’s most respected enterprises and associations including 25 of the Fortune 100. With more than 130 employees and a global network of over 30 channel partners, QuickMobile has produced close to 2000 apps and millions of downloads. 

Excellence in Product Innovation – PMC

Need for More Speed & Bandwidth Capacity – 100G Optical Networks – Insatiable demand for services cloud services like Netflix and Dropbox requires providers like TELUS to build ultra‐high capacity optical networks. To help create these fast and high capacity networks, PMC-Sierra has introduced the DIGI 120G, the industry’s first 100 Gigabit‐per‐second (Gbps) optical transport processor. 

To develop the DIGI 120G, PMC’s engineers integrated over 2 billion transistors while reducing power by 50% contributing towards green-networks. PMC has partnered closely with multiple Tier‐1 optical equipment manufacturers who will install systems using the processor in networks in Canada, USA, China and Europe. 

Most Promising Pre-Commercial Technology – Nanotech Security Corp.

From Butterfly Wings to Anti-Counterfeit – Mimicking the shimmering effect of a Morpho Butterfly’s wings, Nanotech Security Corp. is bringing world-class nanotechnology to the authentication and anti-counterfeiting markets. The security feature, known as KolourOptiks®, is created using patented algorithms and electron and ion beam technology to embed hundreds of millions of nano-holes into nearly any material. 

Nanotech uses technologies licensed from Simon Fraser University. Their initial target market is businesses and governments that produce and distribute paper currency.

Most Promising Start-up – FundRazr

Crowdfunding for Social Good and Innovation – FundRazr’s unique ability to raise more money by reaching more people through social media has dramatically improved the lives of thousands of people in 18 countries.
Co-developed and co-marketed with PayPal, FundRazr helps fund diverse projects and causes for individuals, groups, non-profits, artists and entrepreneurs. From accident and illness expense recovery to disaster relief and animal rescue to arts and start-ups, FundRazr helps a global audience crowdfund anything anywhere. 

Team of the Year – Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (LTSA)

Business Modernization Team – The Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia (LTSA) has a mission critical mandate managing property registrations, yet its systems were out-of-date, difficult to support and incompatible with newer technology. Faced with significant technology and operational risk, the LTSA launched an aggressive make-or-break transformational project known as the Business Modernization Initiative. 

To deliver this transformation, the LTSA formed its Business Modernization Team which involved 56 employees distributed across four offices, with even more employees involved in system testing. The transformation, likened by the team “to performing heart surgery on a patient while the patient did a triathlon”, is now complete. The team’s well-planned change management program has enabled LTSA employees to embrace the benefits of automation. Customers and stakeholders are strongly supportive – 95% of LTSA’s business is now done electronically. 

Celebrating British Columbia’s top technologies, companies and individuals were 1,000 people from BC’s technology and business community. In their 20th year, the TIA’s award dinner was held at the state-of-art Vancouver Convention Centre.

“Tonight’s winners and finalists reaffirm the diversity of BC’s technology sector, delivering cross‐cutting innovations that touch all sectors of the economy,” said Bill Tam, President and CEO of BCTIA. “We congratulate all winners and finalists for their ingenuity, adaptability and particularly their resilience in an ever-changing landscape – they continue to put a spotlight on British Columbia by making their mark on the world.” 

To download the complete media release, click here.
To learn more about the 2013 Technology Impact Awards, visit www.thetias.com