Microsoft Canada Co. Announces Winner of the 2nd Annual TechNet Canada Innovation Award
Dennis Furtado of Navantis recognized by IT pro community for helping to deliver an election management system
MISSISSAUGA, ON – February 19, 2007 - Microsoft Canada Co. is pleased to announce that Dennis Furtado, the Director of Network Services for Navantis, a leading provider of premium IT solutions and services, is the recipient of the 2006 TechNet Canada Innovation Award. Mr. Furtado is being honoured for his work on a new provincial election management system that will help provide Canadian government agencies and its employees with an agile electronic reporting system to better manage election processes and results. Presented by the Microsoft Canada TechNet team, the award recognizes IT professionals who have used Microsoft-based technology to create a positive impact on their organization or community.
Leveraging a number of Microsoft-based technologies, including Active Directory®, Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2005, Microsoft Desktop Server 2006 and Microsoft SharePoint® Server 2003, the new election system offers provincial agencies a paperless event management process and network employee authentication. The solution will be rolled out in time for Canada’s next provincial election and is designed to help simplify system access protection during a time when government agencies experience significant staff increases. For the voting public, the election management technology enhances the voting process through new self service and real-time reporting capabilities. It will also help meet regulatory conditions, and will assist in the accurate reporting of election results to governing bodies.
Mr. Furtado was specifically recognized for leading the advanced security infrastructure set-up for the new system, which helps ensure all permissions requirements are met for employees accessing the system.
“We realize that IT professionals often put in long hours and are the unsung heroes in their businesses and communities,” said Kerri Connolly, manager of IT Pro Marketing, Microsoft Canada. “Dennis Furtado and his team were very resourceful in developing the provincial election management system. We applaud him on his innovation and his outstanding efforts.”
“I’m tremendously proud of my team and the way we came together for this complex initiative. There were various factors involved in building this solution, including numerous government requirements, differing applications such as intranets, extranets, and public applications, and the fact that our team worked in different time zones,” said Dennis Furtado, Director, Network Services, Navantis. “To see how this solution will help simplify elections management and save significant time and energy for provincial employees and voters, and to be recognized for this work, is extremely fulfilling.”
From an initial group consisting of hundreds of nominations, a panel of judges selected the top five candidates for the prestigious award. The candidates, including Mr. Furtado, were featured in the TechNet Flash newsletter and the TechNet Canada Web site where the IT Pro community voted for its favourite IT professional. Mr. Furtado has won a prize package which includes a Dell Inspiron XPS M1710 Notebook PC loaded with Windows Vista™ Ultimate and the 2007 Microsoft Office System – an estimated retail value of $5,000. It also includes a cash prize of $500 and a $250 donation that will be made on Mr. Furtado’s behalf to the Children’s Miracle Network in his local community.
The Microsoft TechNet program in Canada provides comprehensive, technical resources through events, webcasts, advisor blogs, virtual labs, the TechNet Flash IT newsletter and other online tools to help IT professionals evaluate, deploy and support Microsoft based solutions. For more information, please visit www.microsoft.ca/technet.
To hear more from Dennis Furtado and learn about his solution, you can visit http://www.microsoft.ca/technet/innovationaward5/. Registration information for the next round of nominations is available by signing up for TechNet Flash at http://www.microsoft.ca/technet/tnflash/.
About Navantis
Established by a group of business and technology leaders in 1998, whose vision was to build a company that delivers exceptional customer service and high performing business solutions, Navantis is a leading provider of premium quality enterprise IT services. As a privately held company, Navantis prides itself on its customer focus, consistently delivering quality solutions and superior systems integration every time. With a focus on custom development and integration for portals, communication and collaboration, content management, relationship management and business intelligence solutions, Navantis clients include blue chip and public sector companies in both North America and Europe. Customers such as Altamira, Honda, CIBC, Microsoft, Sirius, AGFA, Bell Canada, CBC and The City of Sudbury have turned to Navantis to help them increase productivity and collaboration through technology. For more information on Navantis, please visit http://www.navantis.com/
About Microsoft Canada
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Headquartered in Mississauga, Microsoft Canada has 10 regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca
