Computerworld Honors Finalists

Computerworld - ABOUT THE PROGRAM: The 56 finalists, from 10 countries, represent the most innovative and visionary applications of information technology from the 2004 Computerworld Honors collection. Finalists were selected by a panel of distinguished judges based on benefit to society, importance of IT, originality, success and difficulty.
Finalists in each of the 10 categories are being honored today at Washington's historic National Building Museum.
This year's full collection of finalists and laureates includes technology applications from 33 states and 26 countries. Case studies will be posted online at www.cwheroes.org, where the entire collection is available to scholars, researchers and the general public worldwide.
BUSINESS & RELATED SERVICES

• Accenture Ltd. -- Overseas U.S. citizens cast votes with confidence from any Internet-capable PC, doubling the number that can participate in elections.


• BizRate.com -- The world's largest independent shopping search engine provides 1 million users each day with prices, availability and consumer ratings.


• Equifax Inc. -- Automated monitoring and reporting of credit files alerts consumers to transactions that may be the result of identity theft.


• Exostar LLC -- End-to-end encryption assures that only two users -- the sender and intended recipient -- can read Internet-delivered documents.


• Foundstone Inc. -- A vulnerability management system scans systems and Internet addresses, keeping the University of California, Irvine's computing network available to students and staff.

• Case Western Reserve University -- The world's fastest metropolitan network provides Gigabit connectivity to all of Cleveland's nonprofit institutions and paves the way for the first-ever citywide Wi-Fi access.


• Harvard Medical School -- Students access an entire medical school curriculum online with wireless devices, moving easily from classroom to library to home.


• MIT and Sapient Corp. -- The materials used in the teaching of virtually all university and graduate subjects are made available without charge on the Internet, promoting the university's mission.


• Perkins School for the Blind -- A vast library of Braille and unabridged recorded books, together with large-print versions, serves users who can't read traditional type.


• University of Michigan -- Collaboratively developed, community-oriented digital resources and multimedia initiatives celebrate multiculturalism and diversity.

• Calpine Corp. -- One of North America's leading power companies helps ensure reliable and profitable operation by means of consolidated Internet information portals.


• Galp Energia SGPS SA -- The first-ever system for customer identification by fingerprint allows drivers one-touch purchasing of gasoline.


• Little Diversified Architectural Consulting -- Integration of natural light analysis into 3-D architecture software facilitates the design of sustainable buildings that take maximum advantage of natural light.


• SAT Corp./Lyondell-Citgo Refining LP -- Mobile workflow management technology catalyzes a new focus on proactive and preventive maintenance of oil refinery assets, lowering costs and eliminating most secondary failures.


• SK Corp. -- Korea's largest petroleum and chemical company transformed 140 legacy systems into a single integrated ERP environment.


• Wildlife Center of Virginia -- A teaching hospital for wildlife medicine uses advanced e-learning technologies to educate students in Africa and South America.