NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence was the recipient of three awards at the AIIA’s annual iAwards last night.
The awards went to:
- NICTA spin-out Open Kernel Labs, which won the Applications and Infrastructure Tools award for their OKL4 embedded operating system and virtual-machine monitor. OK Labs was also a finalist in the Communications Applications section
- NICTA’s Victorian Research Laboratory was awarded a merit award for the Millimetre Wave Gigabit Wireless Project in the Research & Development section
- NICTA Chief Executive Officer Dr David Skellern received the CSIRO Tony Benson Award for Individual Achievement in ICT.
Open Kernel Labs (OK) is a global provider of embedded operating systems and virtualisation technology. NICTA Embedded, Real-Time and Operating Systems . Program Leader Dr. Gernot Heiser is Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Open Kernel Labs.
OK’s open source microkernel operating system, OKL4, offers the highest demonstrated performance combined with strong protection and security features in order to provide developers with a robust, open-source platform for building secure, differentiated embedded applications.
NICTA’s Millimetre Wave Gigabit Wireless aims to provide technology that will enable gigabit speed at a low cost which is easy to deploy wireless networks. The project is led by NICTA Sensor Networks program leader Stan Skafidas.
NICTA Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Terry Percival congratulated NICTA staff on the individual project awards and nominations.
“It is great to see some of our exciting NICTA projects being acknowledged in the public domain,” Dr Percival said. “These initiatives reflect the imagination and talent of our research staff.”
Dr Alex Zelinsky, Director of the CSIRO ICT Centre, presented the CSIRO Tony Benson Award for Individual Achievement in ICT to Dr David Skellern for his long-term contribution to the Australian ICT industry.
“We aren’t the only people who think Dr David Skellern, CEO of NICTA, is fabulous – he’s in the US receiving an award from the IEEE for his lifetime achievement to the engineering industry,” Dr Zelinsky said last night.
Nominees for the award were assessed against a stringent set of criteria by a panel of VIP judges from the ICT industry, government, research and educational institutions and the ICT media in Australia.
The CSIRO Tony Benson Award commemorates the work and dedication of long-term champion of the Australian ICT industry, Tony Benson, who died in February 2005. An industry stalwart for more than 40 years, Tony set an outstanding example of selfless contribution to Australian ICT industry development.
Previous recipients of the award include the founder of Mincom, David Merson, and MYOB's CEO, Craig Winkler.
“It’s a thrill to receive the award,” Dr Skellern said in a message last night at the Awards ceremony. He added he knew Tony Benson for about twenty years and used him as a sounding board. “It’s a pleasure to receive an award named in Tony’s honour.”
Dr Skellern said he was grateful for the outstanding teams he had worked with over his career. “I want to thank all of those I’ve worked with and thank them for achieving the outcomes that we did.
“Australia’s talent in science and technology will thrive and have an impact on Australia’s economy and its standing on a world stage.”
About NICTA
NICTA is a national research institute with a charter to build Australia’s pre-eminent Centre of Excellence for information and communications technology (ICT). NICTA is building capabilities in ICT research, research training and commercialisation in the ICT sector for the generation of national benefit.
National ICT Australia is funded by the Australian Government as represented by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the Australian Research Council through Backing Australia’s Ability and the ICT Centre of Excellence program
NICTA was established and is supported by its members: The Australian Capital Territory Government; The Australian National University; NSW Department of State and Regional Development; and The University of New South Wales. NICTA is also supported by its partners: The University of Sydney; University of Melbourne; the Victorian Government; the Queensland Government; Griffith University; Queensland University of Technology; and The University of Queensland.
Document(s): 
NICTA wins at iAwards (pdf, 43KB)
Contact: Kelly Mills
Phone: 02 8374 5489
Email: kelly.mills@nicta.com.au