Austrian Companies ASFINAG & X-Tention Win the Cisco and IDG international Innovation Awards 2010

* ASFINAG scoops award for implementing reliable communication network in Austria’s tunnels
* Upper Austrian IT outfit X-Tention takes prize for its use of innovative IT solutions to link doctor’s surgeries, care homes and hospitals

VIENNA, Austria - Austrian companies cleaned up at the Cisco Innovation Awards 2010 ceremonies, where ASFINAG, an operator and builder of road network infrastructure, and Upper Austrian information technology service provider X-Tention earned plaudits for their innovative projects. Cisco and leading international ICT specialist IDG Global Solutions present the annual Innovation Awards for pioneering projects implemented by Cisco customers in Europe. A jury made up of prominent industry professionals reviews projects in seven categories ranging from best data centre to most successful company-wide IP network. This year companies submitted 100 projects from all over Europe.

As Hans Greiner, Cisco regional sales manager for Public Sector, pointed out: “The fact that Austria was represented twice at the Cisco Innovation Awards 2010 is an indication of the country’s highly innovative economy. ASFINAG and X-Tention both showed how Cisco technologies can be used to optimise data and communications processes. For Cisco these two companies are important European references for innovation as a key success factor.”
ASFINAG rewarded for highly secure and reliable communication in Austria’s tunnels

ASFINAG Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßen-Finanzierungs-Aktiengesellschaft won the Cisco Innovation Award 2010 in the Most Innovative Unified Communications and Collaboration Project category for implementing the Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS) in Austria’s tunnels. This system permits ASFINAG to connect analog and digital networks, including landlines, mobile phones and the radio networks used by the fire and ambulance service and the police. These services all use different networks, which are not compatible with each other. In the event of an emergency, IPICS facilitates rapid and reliable communication with all the emergency services. IPICS has already proven its worth and is being used extensively in the Arlbergtunnel, Europe’s longest road tunnel.
X-Tention awarded prize for standardised exchange of patient files

X-Tention Informationstechnologie GmbH took the Cisco Innovation Award 2010 in the Most Innovative Data Centre Project of the Year category for its role in the Cisco Medical Data Exchange Solution (MDES) project. MDES is a technology for highly secure, standardised exchange of patient data between hospitals, care homes and doctor’s surgeries. MDES was developed by Cisco in cooperation with Tiani Spirit of Austria, a world leader in its area. X-Tention, a hospital IT specialist, implemented the system at the Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen, currently Cisco’s international e-health reference for connecting hospitals, care homes and doctor’s surgeries via networks. X-Tention is also working with Cisco on a number of similar projects in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and South Africa.
Cisco Innovation Awards 2010

The world’s leading supplier of network and communications products established the Cisco Innovation Awards to recognise projects that champion new and pioneering technologies while delivering tangible results that take the industry as a whole forward. The Cisco Innovation Awards 2010 took place on 26 January 2010 in Barcelona as part of the European Networkers at Cisco Live 2010 conference, one of the continent’s top IT industry events.
About Cisco Systems

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Europe is supplied by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.

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