Research centre wins second award for excellence

The Cooperative Research Centre for Distributed Systems Technology (DSTC) has won the Queensland Information Technology and Telecommunications (IT&T) Award for Excellence in Research for the second consecutive year.

Unlike DSTC's nomination for the 1995 awards (which covered the Centre as a whole), the 1996 nomination focused on a particular aspect of the Centre's research work - Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).

This work was conducted entirely at the Centre's headquarters at the University of Queensland.

Initiated in 1994, the IT&T Awards provide a focal point for the information technology industry in Queensland and highlight the prominence and number of high quality firms in the State. The 1996 awards attracted more than 120 companies nominating in 12 categories including Export, Industry Development and On-Line Services to Research.

According to DSTC Chief Executive Officer David Barbagallo, Centre researchers are recognised as world experts in the technology behind CORBA known as object technology.

CORBA provides the infrastructure allowing computers across local and wide-area networks to co-operate. The research was done as part of the Centre's membership of a world-wide Object Management Group (OMG).

The international consortium comprises over 600 information technology businesses including the world's largest software vendors and hardware vendors and major software users. OMG aims to make object technology a realistic, superior alternative to traditional software construction. The organisation does not produce software itself but helps drive the software industry to consensus on distributed computing standards.

'Receiving the award underscores DSTC's reputation as a world-recognised centre for expertise in distributed systems technologies. The information industry's judging panel chose the Centre because of its established international reputation in the area of object technology; its commitment to keeping Australia in the forefront of IT&T development; and its capacity to attract value-adding specialist personnel,' Mr Barbagallo said.

'The award is further acknowledgment of DSTC's success in producing industry-relevant research, as evidenced by the CORBAnet project. Through close association with our commercial participants, DSTC is in a unique position to react to industry's needs and co-exist equally effectively in the commercial and research worlds.

'Our particular aim is to position DSTC as a source of expertise in all aspects of distributed systems technologies for Australia and Asia. We have achieved this aim through our association with our partners, notably our long-standing association with the University of Queensland. Commitment and support from participants enabled the Centre to have a truly heterogeneous and interactive environment in which CORBAnet could be housed.'

Apart from the University, the other participants in the DSTC are the Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, Bond University, the University of Technology Sydney, the Queensland Government (CITEC and the Department of Business Industry and Regional Development), the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Digital Equipment Corporation and Telstra.

For further information, visit DSTC's World-Wide Web site at: http://www.dstc.edu.au or contact Mr Barbagallo (telephone 3365 4310 or email d.barbagallo@dstc.edu.au).