The top 100 IT projects of 2009

If it ever was a question, 2009 put an end to any doubts about the resiliency of IT.

Navigating severe budget cuts, unanticipated reorganizations, and quickly evaporating revenue opportunities across most markets in the wake of financial turmoil, IT retrenched, pushed ahead, and launched new endeavors to advance company prospects despite the near historic odds stacked against it. And it is in this spirit that we at InfoWorld salute those who continue to drive IT forward.

Every year, the InfoWorld 100 Awards celebrate 100 IT organizations that have implemented and integrated technologies in innovative ways in pursuit of concrete business goals. These 100 real-world projects stand as proof that striking a new path in IT can reap deep organizational rewards. This year has been no exception — especially in light of widespread layoffs and limited resources.

For some, resiliency has meant moving forward with long-range initiatives aimed at overhauling essential operations. Shifts toward SOA, end-to-end ERP implementations, projects geared at extending the value of IT to the shop floor — each demonstrates the value of IT when it comes to modernizing business.

For others, retrenchment has spurred efficiency initiatives, with server virtualization, datacenter automation, and green IT projects streamlining operations while ensuring IT is making headway against the permanent energy crisis.

For still others, financial uncertainty has meant doubling down on existing assets, with initiatives geared toward collaboration, knowledge management, and customer relations leading the way.

Open source made further inroads at some organizations, while others brought essential business operations in-house or launched projects aimed at leveraging the potential of cloud computing. Overall, the variety of projects highlighted as part of the InfoWorld 100 Awards testifies to the fact that today’s IT underlies every facet of business, and that those leading the charge are doing far more than keeping the lights on — they’re redefining their organizations.

View the winners of the 2009 InfoWorld 100 Awards

More InfoWorld awards

• 2009 InfoWorld Technology of the Year Awards
• 2009 CTO 25 Awards
• 2009 Green 15 Awards

Accenture www.accenture.com
Unified Collaboration Initiative
Project lead: Frank B. Modruson, CIO
Project description: Accenture developed Accenture Client Exchange, a communications and collaboration platform that provides employees and clients presence, secure IM, voice and videoconferencing, virtual desktop sharing, and network-enabled phone functionality based on technology from Microsoft and Cisco.
Industry: Services

Activision Blizzard www.activision.com
WAN-Optimized Development Initiative
Project lead: Thomas Fenady, Senior Director of IT
Project description: Activision Blizzard increased the efficiency of its worldwide development efforts by revamping its network and moving away from MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) and DS3s (Digital Signal 3) in favor of WAN optimization technology from Riverbed.
Industry: Entertainment

ADP www.adp.com
Client Service Initiative
Project lead: Jeff Mullins, Vice President, Field Automation Engineering
Project description: ADP developed Workspace Manager, a unified customer service agent desktop built on Microsoft .Net and integrating Web, Java, Win32, mainframe, and legacy applications within a single user interface, while supporting the development of new composite application interfaces and eliminating the need for client service agents to individually log into 17 Citrix Presentation Server infrastructures.
Industry: Services

ADP Dealer Services www.adpdealerservices.com
Mobile Field Service Initiative
Project lead: Doug Karlson, Vice President and General Manager, Field Services Engineering
Project description: ADP Dealer Services launched a mobile field service initiative centered around technology from Antenna Software to provide its field engineers access to legacy data and the company’s Clarify CRM app.
Industry: Services

Advance Auto Parts www.advanceautoparts.com
Energy Management Initiative
Project lead: James Curry, Energy and Systems Manager
Project description: Advance Auto Parts launched an energy management initiative, integrating technology from Teletrol Systems into its IT infrastructure at more than 500 of its 3,300 auto parts stores, reducing its per-store energy consumption by as much as 30 percent.
Industry: Retail

Aflac www.aflac.com
Distributed Call Center Support Initiative
Project lead: Dominic Cols, Senior Project Manager
Project description: Aflac developed a .Net-based rich-client call center application, integrating the IVR-initiated system to several information systems via an SOA.
Industry: Insurance

Alvarado Independent School District www.alvaradoisd.net
Disaster Recovery Consortium
Project lead: Kyle Berger, Executive Director of Technology Services
Project description: Alvarado overhauled its educational network, installing LCD projects and Smart Board technology in classrooms, equipping students with hosted electronic portfolios, and establishing a Compellent SAN-based disaster-recovery consortium for allocating backup space to both Alvarado and neighboring school districts.
Industry: Education

AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group www.absg.com
Rapid Call Center Integration
Project lead: Greg Glaser, Program Manager for CRM solutions
Project description: AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group overhauled its call center operations, replacing six legacy systems in eight business units with a new platform based on technology from Salesforce and Cast Iron.
Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Apptix www.apptix.com
Unified Hosted Services Delivery Platform
Project lead: John Kersse, CTO
Project description: Apptix consolidated numerous service delivery platforms accumulated via acquisitions into a unified provisioning, billing, and management platform for all its hosted services.
Industry: Service provider

Arrow Electronics www.arrow.com
ERP Initiative
Project lead: Ash Brooks, Vice President of IT, Enterprise Computing Solutions
Project description: Arrow launched an Oracle-based ERP initiative within its Enterprise Computing Solutions business unit, implementing 34 modules, including functionality for CRM, lead management, finance, order processing, and SCM, integrating the SOA platform with several internal warehouse management and export compliance systems, as well as external partner interfaces via EDI and RosettaNet.
Industry: Retail

Aspect www.aspect.com
Unified Communications Initiative
Project lead: Jamie Ryan, Senior VP of IT/CIO
Project description: Aspect completed an enterprise-wide Microsoft OCS-based unified communications implementation, integrating voice, voice mail, audioconferencing, Web conferencing, IM, and presence technologies online.
Industry: Technology

AT&T www.att.com
Knowledge Management Initiative
Project lead: Pam Parisian, Senior Vice President, Consumer IT
Project description: AT&T developed the Atlas Knowledge Management system for call center representatives, replacing several regional KMSes with a unified, AJAX-derived Web app, based on a flexible in-house built architecture and third-party search.
Industry: Service provider

Avnet www.avnet.com
Supply Chain Automation and Inventory Management
Project lead: Bob Pischke, Vice President of IT Applications
Project description: Avnet overhauled its supply chain and inventory management operations, integrating seven systems, including BI, quoting, and ERP, into its Software AG-based SOA.
Industry: Distribution

Batesville Casket www.batesville.com
Quality Improvement Initiative
Project lead: Robert Shane, Programmer/Analyst
Project description: Batesville Casket automated its metal fabrication operations, integrating its ERP and manufacturing systems and implementing touch screens and scanning technology to reduce human intervention with manufacturing equipment.
Industry: Manufacturing

BMC Software www.bmc.com
Datacenter Process Automation
Project lead: Mahendra Durai, Vice President, Infrastructure & Operations
Project description: BMC Software automated its server rebooting and certification processes, integrating automated system alerts generated by monitoring tools with Run Book Automation scripts employed to manage and remediate server degradation and outages.
Industry: Technology

Booz Allen Hamilton www.boozallen.com
Enterprise 2.0 Implementation
Project lead: Walton Smith, Sr. Associate
Project description: Booz Allen Hamilton developed an enterprise 2.0 platform, integrating open source, commercial packaged, and custom-developed applications, including Confluence, B2evolution, Scuttle, and Simple Machines, to serve more than 23,000 employees.
Industry: Services

Central Iowa Power Cooperative www.cipco.net

Smart Metering Initiative

Project lead: Don Chaon, Manager of Data Systems

Project description: CIPCO rolled out a smart metering system to 13 rural electric cooperatives based on technology from Wilson, Sierra Wireless, and Verizon Wireless.

Industry: Utilities Chapdelaine & Co. www.chapdelaine.com

SOA Initiative

Project lead: Ken Torres, CIO

Project description: Chapdelaine built an SOA infrastructure for its trading data exchange based on WSO2 middleware.

Industry: Financial services Choctaw Casinos www.choctawcasinos.com

Large-Scale Video Surveillance Initiative

Project lead: Jason Pritchard, Integration Manager

Project description: Choctaw Casinos completed a large-scale video surveillance project tapping cameras from Axis Communications, video management software from Genetec, and Pivot3 severless clustered storage.

Industry: Entertainment Cisco Systems www.cisco.com

Operational Security Oversight Dashboard

Project lead: Michael Machado, Manager of Security Engineering and Operations, Cisco Collaboration Software Group (WebEx)

Project description: Cisco built a RedSeal software-based security oversight dashboard to continuously analyze the configurations of its Cisco Collaboration Cloud firewalls and routers, as well as the results of daily vulnerability scans, identifying patching priorities, validating the enforcement of corporate network security polices, and ensuring compliance with PCI and other regulations.

Industry: Technology

City of Richland www.ci.richland.wa.us

Enterprise Content Management Initiative

Project lead: Jon Amundson, Assistant City Manager

Project description: The City of Richland, Wash., streamlined its operations, launching an ECM initiative in partnership with ImageSource, integrating technology from Oracle, ABBYY, Cardiff, and ILINX to automate workflow and transitioning the city away from paper-based processes.

Industry: Government Clearent www.clearent.com

Cloud-Based Development Project

Project lead: Mark Peck, Senior Vice President of Technical Operations

Project description: Clearent built a .Net-based credit card payment processing system tapping high-performance cloud-based services from Appistry.

Industry: Financial services Cleveland Indians www.indians.com

Video Capture and Archiving Platform

Project lead: Whitney Kuszmaul, Network Manager

Project description: The Cleveland Indians established an advanced video capture and archiving platform to serve at-bat video clips of nearly 2,600 games per year via touch-screen systems, expanding the system to its spring training facility, while upgrading its datacenter and adding a disaster recovery site, leveraging technology from Microsoft, VMware, CommVault, and NetApp.

Industry: Entertainment Cognizant www.cognizant.com

Web 2.0 Collaboration Platform

Project lead: Sukumar Rajagopal, Senior Vice President/Chief Knowledge Officer

Project description: Cognizant developed a Web 2.0-based collaboration and knowledge management platform based on Microsoft SharePoint, combining structured and unstructured data in the form of blogs and wikis to service more than 5,000 projects among its 64,000-plus employees, clients, and business partners.

Industry: Services Con-way www.con-way.com

Freight Network Rationalization Using Network Simulation Tool

Project lead: Jackie Barretta, VP/CIO

Project description: Con-way developed a Web-based simulation tool for analyzing the effects of proposed changes to its existing linehaul network, based on C++, PL/SQL, and Access.

Industry: Transportation ConvergEx www.bnyconvergex.com

Complex Event Processing for Trading Intelligence

Project lead: Joseph Weisbord, Managing Director

Project description: ConvergEx launched a complex event processing initiative for its financial trading operations centered around technology from StreamBase.

Industry: Financial services Credit Solutions www.creditsolutions.com

Enterprise CRM Project

Project lead: David Janecek, Vice President of IT

Project description: Credit Solutions developed a customized CRM solution using .Net technologies such as DevExpress, Plinqo, and ASP.Net, as well as Cisco VoIP integration, SQL Server, and Faxcore.

Industry: Financial services Cricket Communications www.mycricket.com

Datacenter Infrastructure Initiative

Project lead: Doug Bird, VP of IT Operations and Security

Project description: Cricket Communications overhauled its datacenter infrasctructure to provide high-speed switching, 10Gbps throughput, and disaster recovery, tapping technology from Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, and F5.

Industry: Service provider Culpeper County of Virginia web.culpepercounty.gov

Cybersecurity Initiative

Project lead: Todd Frazier, Systems Administrator

Project description: Culpeper County shored up its Net-based and wireless operations, integrating technology from ForeScout, Panda, McAfee, and Cisco into its security infrastructure.

Industry: Government CUNA Mutual Group www.cunamutual.com

Voice Signature Initiative

Project lead: Rick Roy, CIO

Project description: CUNA Mutual launched a voice signature initiative, developing the Web services necessary to integrate in-house data with third-party voice signature technology, as well as a wide array of legacy apps, such as sales and marketing, order fulfillment, and policy administration.

Industry: Insurancey

Data Center Inc. (DCI) datacenterinc.com

Storage Consolidation and Server Virtualization Initiative

Project lead: Robert Ross, CSO/VP of Network and Technical Services

Project description: DCI partnered with ISG Technology to implement a consolidated virtual server infrastructure based on technology from NetApp, Sun, Oracle, and VMware.

Industry: Financial services

Dell Computer www.dell.com
Multsite Virtualized Training Solution
Project lead: Scott Purcell, Technical Training Advisor
Project description: Dell created a virtualized learning infrastructure to provide enterprise Linux OS training to students at geographically remote sites, tapping technology from Red Hat, Dell, and EMC.
Industry: Technology

Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles www.dkslaw.com
Infrastructure Overhaul and Disaster Recovery
Project lead: Don Champagne, Director of Administration
Project description: Deutsch, Kerrigan & Stiles revamped its IT infrastructure, transitioning its Microsoft-based operations from a single server location to collocation with disaster recovery technology provided by Neverfail.
Industry: Legal

Direct Energy www.directenergy.com
Billing Platform
Project lead: Joe Abidaoud, Director
Project description: Direct Energy launched Project Gibraltar, a semi-SOA-based billing platform developed using agile methodologies, Tibco enterprise middleware, and .Net.
Industry: Utilities

East Grand Rapids Public Schools www.egrps.org
Secure Networks and Campus Access Project
Project lead: Jeff Crawford, Manager of Networking and Security
Project description: East Grand Rapids Public Schools built out its campus network, tapping Cisco technology for WLAN and firewall funcationality, Avenda for network access control, and Enterasys switches to support a blended Apple, Novell, Linux, Windows, and OS2 server environment.
Industry: Education

El Centro Regional Medical Center www.ecrmc.org
Operations Overhaul
Project lead: John Gaede, Director of IS Management
Project description: El Centro Regional Medical Center has launched a campaign to overhaul its operations, complete with a secure Aerohive wireless network, hands-free voice communication from Vocera, RFID tracking, and Symbian devices and tablet PCs in advance of a campus-wide electronic health records implementation.
Industry: Health care

EMC www.emc.com
Datacenter Efficiency Project
Project lead: David Scheffler, Director IT Data Center Operations; Paul Divittorio, Director of Enterprise Systems and Application Hosting; Sadasiva Prathab, Director of Global Information Infrastructure Services
Project description: EMC launched a power- and resources-efficiency effort across its six datacenters, increasing its use of server virtualization and tapping hot and cold aisles, hot air ceiling plenums, and cabinet filler panel management to decrease overall energy expenditures and carbon emissions.
Industry: Technology

Emerson Electric www.emerson.com
Product Lifecycle Management Initiative
Project lead: Steve Rhodes, PLM Project Manager
Project description: Emerson Electric launched a global product lifecycle management initiative centered around technology from Siemens.
Industry: Technology

Federal Health Architecture, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, Department of Health and Human Services www.connectopensource.org
Open Source Health Information Exchange Gateway
Project lead: Vish Sankaran, Program Director
Project description: Twenty federal agencies combined efforts to build the Connect health information exchange gateway, tapping open source infrastructure technologies such as the Glassfish application server, Open ESB, and NetBeans.
Industry: Government

FedEx Services www.fedex.com
Multichannel Shipment Visibility Initiative
Project lead: Arnie Matson and Kelly Pringle, Manager of IT
Project description: FedEx extended its shipment tracking system to include real-time visibility via the Web, desktop, and the iPhone using Adobe Flex and AIR, as well as native Objective-C for the iPhone.
Industry: Distribution

Fiserv www.fiserv.com
Datacenter Consolidation Project
Project lead: Jim Walker, Senior Technology Analyst
Project description: Fiserv consolidated its datacenter operations in the wake of its iTech acquisition, migrating iTech’s virtualized server environment to Fiserv’s existing virtualized datacenter.

Industry: Services The George Washington University www.iss.gwu.edu
University Wireless Internet Deployment
Project lead: Dave Steinour, Interim CIO
Project description: George Washington University launched a wireless campaign across its three campuses, deploying more than 2,000 wireless access portals to support 28,000 users.
Industry: Education

Globant www.globant.com
Talent Information and Management System
Project lead: Nestor Nocetti, VP Innovation Labs
Project description: Globant developed Glow, an SOA-based talent information and management system built on an array of open source technologies, including Java, Spring, Lucerne, PostgresSQL, Jasper Reports, JFreeChart, Apache Axis, and JSP and DWR.
Industry: Services

Goodwin Procter www.goodwinprocter.com
Electronic Records Initiative
Project lead: Andrew Kawa, Senior IT Manager
Project description: Goodwin Procter launched Closing Binders Online, an electronic records initiative based on .Net, Adobe PDF files, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal to consolidate business documents in a centralized repository accessible through a corporate knowledge management and collaboration portal.
Industry: Legal

GreenBank www.greenbankusa.com
Storage Initiative
Project lead: Jason O’Dell, AVP/IT Manager
Project description: GreenBank transitioned its backup operations from a tape-based system to a disk-based system tapping technology from ExaGrid and CommVault.
Industry: Financial services

Halifax Health Systems www.halifaxhealth.org
Wireless Infrastructure Initiative
Project lead: Tripp Sills, Network Architect
Project description: Halifax Health equipped its state-of-the-art medical extension facility with wireless telephony, EMR-enabled mobile medical carts, bedside bar code scanning, remote video interpreting, and 802.11n wireless, integrating technology from Motion C5, Siemens, Vocera, Nortel, and Meru Networks.
Industry: Health care

Harvard Medical School hms.harvard.edu
High-Performance Computing Initiative
Project lead: Marcos Athanasoulis, Director of IT
Project description: Harvard Medical School built an internal compute cloud to ensure compute resource availability to 500-plus researchers around the world, tapping Platform LSF, IBM hardware, Isilon and EMC storage, and biomedical software solutions such as MatLab and SAS.
Industry: Education

Hay Group www.haygroup.com
Private Cloud Initiative
Project lead: Tuan Ngo, Director, Worldwide Network Operations Group
Project description: Hay Group migrated its EMC VMware-based virtualized operations to a vSphere-based private cloud that virtualizes and centralizes all of the company’s Exchange, SharePoint, and SharePoint Server systems across 85 offices in 47 countries.
Industry: Services

HD Supply www.hdsupply.com
Open Source VoIP Initiative
Project lead: Nigel Saldanha, Vice President and CTO
Project description: HD Supply developed an Asterisk-based open source VoIP system for a newly established disaster-recovery warm site.
Industry: Distribution

HealthTrans www.healthtrans.com
Data Warehouse Initiative
Project lead: Duane Green, Vice President, Systems Operations
Project description: HealthTrans built a 100TB data warehouse for managing pharmacy benefit programs, centered on technology from Sybase.
Industry: Health care

Hovnanian Enterprises www.khov.com
Integrated ERP and CRM Initiative
Project lead: Lori Fraticelli, Director of Development
Project description: Hovnanian consolidated 20 separate legacy ERP and CRM applications into an Oracle-based system running on virtualized Hewlett-Packard servers.
Industry: Construction

International Game Technology www.igt.com
Automated Manufacturing Operation
Project lead: Richard Hardcastle, Business Process and Implementation Manager
Project description: International Game Technology automated its manufacturing operations, extending existing SAP systems to manufacturing via an interactive AES layer, tapping RFID and bar code technology, as well as xDDI functionality from Acsis.
Industry: Manufacturing

Interstate Transport www.interstate-transport.com
Emergency Response Logistics Initiative
Project lead: Nathaniel Engelsen, CIO
Project description: Working with the Florida Department of Emergency Management, Interstate Transport developed an emergency resources tracking system, using .Net, IVR, and Web portals to integrate the system with legacy inventory, GIS, and management suites.
Industry: Transportation

iQor www.iqor.com
Biometric-Enabled ERP System
Project lead: Vikas Kapoor, CEO
Project description: iQor overhauled its call center operations with TeQ21, a biometric-enabled ERP system that integrates VoIP, human resources management, compliance management, and network and data management, as well as thin client technology from Hewlett-Packard and biometrics from DigitalPersona.
Industry: Services

Johnson & Johnson www.jnj.com
Social Media Employee Collaboration Platform
Project lead: Ryan Mazeffa, IT Manager, Web Services, IT Services
Project description: Johnson & Johnson developed a corporate collaboration platform based on technology from Adobe, Microsoft, and Photon Infotech and integrated the platform into a .Net-based SOA layer to leverage existing open source investments, such as OpenFire, Red5, and Drupal.
Industry: Pharmaceuticals

Juniper Networks www.juniper.net
Web 2.0 Initiative
Project lead: Michele Goins, CIO
Project description: Juniper overhauled its Web presence with Juniper.net 2.0, a 45-server Web infrastructure based on Interwoven content management, Autonomy integrated search, and Akamai content delivery.
Industry: Technology

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. kmbs.konicaminolta.us
CRM Initiative
Project lead: Nelson T. Lin, VP of IT Services/CIO
Project description: Konica Minolta extended the capabilities of its SaaS-based CRM through Web services to automate business processes and account data management, integrating the on-demand platform with numerous back-end ERP systems, as well as third-party apps supported by various business partners.
Industry: Manufacturing

Kool Smiles www.koolsmilespc.com
Thin-Client EHR Initiative
Project lead: Mark Blomquist, Chief Technical Architect
Project description: Kool Smiles built out a Wyse-based thin-client infrastructure to support the electronic health records systems at 13 new dental offices across the United States.
Industry: Health care

Lathrop & Gage www.lathropgage.com
Telepresence Network Initiative
Project lead: Ben Weinberger, CIO
Project description: Lathrop & Gage revamped its IT communications infrastructure, switching from ISDN to IP and implementing telepresence, tapping technology from Polycom and Riverbed.
Industry: Legal

Layered Technologies www.layeredtech.com
Automated Server Provisioning Platform
Project lead: Terrance Bush, COO/CIO
Project description: Layered Technologies automated its server provisioning operations, integrating ordering, billing, inventory managment, and purchasing into the system using SOAP, Java, and Microsoft AX.
Industry: Service provider

Lincoln Trust www.lincolntrustco.com
Simplified Infrastructure Foundation for Company Spin-off
Project lead: Charlie Billings, IT Director
Project description: Lincoln Trust launched a greenfield IT infrastructure due to its company spin-off, virtualizing its hardware footprint with VMware on Dell and tapping NetApp storage technology, Lombardi BPM software, Microsoft Office SharePoint, Cisco VoIP, and custom applications developed to follow SOA and WOA designs.
Industry: Financial services

Lincoln Trust www.lincolntrustco.com
Business Process Management Initiative
Project lead: David Neitz, Vice President of IT
Project description: Lincoln Trust completed a series of projects using a BPM program approach, developing a data warehouse to support 15 new business processes across 10 business units, as well as a data delivery mechanism based on Microsoft SharePoint Portal, ProClarity, and SQL Server Reporting Services.
Industry: Financial services

Lionbridge Technologies www.lionbridge.com
IT Infrastructure Overhaul
Project lead: Frank Smith, Manager, Corporate IT Core Infrastructure
Project description: Lionbridge overhauled its IT infrastructure, tapping Hyper-V server virtualization, FalconStor gateways, and Sun and Hitachi storage arrays to serve a dispersed Microsoft-based enterprise.
Industry: Services

Media Innovation Group www.themig.com
Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence
Project lead: Brian Lesser, Vice President and General Manager
Project description: The Media Innovation Group developed an advertising delivery platform based on technology from Netezza.
Industry: Media

MetLife www.metlife.com
Supercomputing Initiative
Project lead: Brian Cartwright, Director
Project description: MetLife developed a centralized supercomputing grid for performing actuarial activities based on technology from Microsoft, Oracle, and Cognos.
Industry: Insurance

MGM Mirage www.mgmmirage.com
Enterprise IT Management Initiative
Project lead: Tim Frawley, VP/CTO
Project description: MGM Mirage centralized the governance and management of its 100,000-plus IT assets and services using the ITIL best-practices framework on a backbone of asset management solutions from CA.
Industry: Entertainment

Mine Safety Appliances www.msanet.com
Storage Consolidation and Server Virtualization Initiative
Project lead: Scott McCullough, Manager of Technical Operations
Project description: Mine Safety Appliances consolidated its datacenter operations, establishing a virtualized environment built on technology from Citrix and NetApp in support of its Oracle-, SAP-, Lotus-, and Windows-based enterprise.
Industry: Manufacturing

NetApp www.netapp.com
Enterprise Business Intelligence Project
Project lead: Dongyan Wang, Senior IT Director, BI & Data Management
Project description: NetApp launched a comprehensive BI initiative, developing an SOA-style framework based on technology from Oracle, Microsoft, and Cisco and a data warehouse built on Oracle 10g to pull in data from several upstream apps, including Siebel CRM, Oracle ERP, and PeopleSoft HRMS.
Industry: Technology

The Nord Center www.nordcenter.org
Biometric Authentication and E-Forms Initiative
Project lead: Chris Rojek, CIO
Project description: The Nord Center transformed its documentation process into a fully electronic, biometrically authenticated system based on technology from Microsoft and Digital Persona.
Industry: Health care

NYSE Euronext www.nyse.com
Datacenter Initiative
Project lead: Steve Rubinow, Executive VP/Co-Global CIO
Project description: NYSE Euronext launched an initiative to build out and consolidate datacenter operations, switching from a three-tier to a two-tier architecture, integrating the datacenters to legacy systems via Juniper switches and routers.
Industry: Financial services

O2 Litmus www.o2litmus.co.uk
SOA Initiative
Project lead: James Parton, Head of O2 Litmus
Project description: O2 Litmus unified its communications network around a software-based delivery platform that embraces WOA and SOA principles blended with native protocols.
Industry: Communications infrastructure overhaul

Organic Valley Family of Farms www.organicvalley.coop
Storage Consolidation Initiative
Project lead: Curt Parr, Technical Services Manager
Project description: Organic Valley Family of Farms, in partnership with Mocha Data and VMPowered, launched a storage efficiency initiative centered on NetApp technology in service of its VMware-based server environment.
Industry: Agriculture

Peerless Foods www.peerlessfoods.com.au
Open Source Business Intelligence System
Project lead: Adrian Hamilton, CIO
Project description: Peerless Foods developed an ERP system based on open source software from Ingres and Jaspersoft, automating end-to-end business processes, including forecasting, ordering, production, packaging, and distribution.
Industry: Retail

Pegasus Solutions www.pegs.com
Customer Reservation Initiative
Project lead: Peter Ehlke, Principal Systems Engineer, Architecture Team
Project description: Pegasus built RezView, a central reservation system based on Oracle RAC, Splunk, and OpenSolaris, migrating more than 8,000 hotels to the system.
Industry: Services

ProcureStaff Technologies www.procurestaff.com
Human Capital Business Intelligence Data Warehouse
Project lead: Allen Rittscher, President and CTO
Project description: ProcureStaff launched a business intelligence and data warehouse initiative geared toward aggregating and cleansing human capital management data for BI analysis, tapping SQL Server, ETL packages based on SQL DTS, and various reporting, OLAP, and analytics technologies.
Industry: Services

Purdue University www.purdue.edu
Multi-Campus Supercomputing Initiative
Project lead: John P. Campbell, Associate Vice President of IT
Project description: Purdue built DiaGrid to pool unused compute cycles across several campuses using the open source Condor distributed computing system developed by the University of Wisconsin and Cycle Computing CycleServer compute management functionality, pushing the total capacity of its supercomputing system to 177 teraflops.
Industry: Education

Qwest Communications www.qwest.com/business
Web Portal
Project lead: Rick Wertheimer, Program Manager; Betsy Keyes, Director of eMarketing
Project description: Qwest, in partnership with EffectiveUI, consolidated 12 portals pulling data from more than 100 legacy systems into a unified online hub for large business customers
Industry: Service provider

RCN Metro www.rcnmetro.com
Order Management System Initiative
Project lead: Christopher Lowe, Senior Director of IS/IT
Project description: RCN Metro built a .Net-based order management system that leverages Oracle 11g on the back end and integrates into legacy NOC, trouble-ticketing, alarm-monitoring, material requisition, and billing systems.
Industry: Service provider

Reliance Communications www.rcom.co.in
Web 2.0/SSO-Enabled Collaborative Platform
Project lead: Dr. Sumit Chowdhury, CIO
Project description: Reliance Communications developed a Web 2.0-based collaborative platform, unifying multiple, department-focused information architectures through use of SAP ERP, WebSphere, Intel servers, F5 load balancers, LDAP servers, single sign-on, and iGoogle as a design framework.
Industry: Service provider

Reliance General Insurance www.reliancegeneral.co.in
Mobile Claims Management Initiative
Project lead: Sriram Naganathan, Chief Technology and Operations Officer
Project description: Reliance General developed a .Net-based claims management system around an SOA framework and extended this CMS in partnership with Vieva Intech to field agents via Web and SMS technologies.
Industry: Insurance

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC www.rockannex.com
High-Availability Video Surveillance
Project lead: David Waggett, General Manager
Project description: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC partnered with ADT and All Covered to deploy a leading-edge video surveillance system featuring 48 high-resulotion Mobotix Vision IP network cameras integrated with Overland NAS.
Industry: Entertainment

SaveMart www.savemart.com
Virtualization Initiative
Project lead: James Sims, CIO
Project description: SaveMart standardized on VMware-based virtual-server environments as a result of its acquisition of 125 new grocery stores, scripting automated backup to NAS storage devices rather than more expensive SAN boxes.
Industry: Retail

SaveMart www.savemart.com
Open Source Initiative
Project lead: James Sims, CIO
Project description: SaveMart migrated its retail operations from proprietary solutions to an open source-based architecture centered around Ingres and Suse Linux as a result of its acquisition of 125 additional grocery stores.
Industry: Retail

Seattle Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center www.seattlechildrens.org
Enterprise Architecture Overhaul
Project lead: Wes Wright, VP/CTO
Project description: Seattle Children’s Hospital overhauled its enterprise architecture tapping both virtualization technologies and modern OS and hardware from Citrix, VMware, EMC, Microsoft, Computer Associates, and Symantec, virtualizing more than 300 applications, and eliminating more than 100 physical servers.
Industry: Health care

SNC Setao www.semtao.fr
Storage Initiative
Project lead: Olivier Parcollet, IT Manager
Project description: SNC Setao revamped its Semtao transportation network’s storage operations to meet expanding data demands, integrating technology from Pillar and Falconstor into its VMware/Oracle-based infrastructure.
Industry: Transportation

Sohu www.sohu.com
Datacenter Infrastructure Initiative
Project lead: Zhou Lin, Senior Director
Project description: Sohu built out a next-generation datacenter architecuture based on technology from H3C to support the Sogou search engine.
Industry: Services

Southwest Airlines www.southwest.com
Automated Flight Disruption Messaging Initiative
Project lead: Fred Taylor, Senior Manager of Proactive Customer Service Communications
Project description: Southwest Airlines developed an automated flight disruption messaging system based on a communications platform from Varolii, creating a SOAP-based gateway for real-time information exchange, front-end interfaces, and computer telephony integration hooks to call center agent apps.
Industry: Transportation

State Street www.statestreet.com
Infrastructure Transformation
Project lead: Madge M. Meyer, Executive Vice President
Project description: State Street overhauled its IT infrastructure, tapping server virtualization, VoIP, virtual tape libraries, high-availability storage, and Linux on the mainframe.
Industry: Financial services

Sybase www.sybase.com
SOA Initiative
Project lead: Jim Swartz, CIO
Project description: Sybase transformed its revenue systems into an SOA using a blend of enterprise Java; open source frameworks, such as JSF, iBatis, and Hibernate; and custom frameworks, AJAX, and RosettaNet XML.
Industry: Technology

Tata Consultancy Services www.tcs.com
Global Lifecycle Talent Management
Project lead: Alok Kumar, Vice President/CIO
Project description: Tata Consultancy Services developed a talent management system, tapping SOA and BPM engine technology to improve workforce planning, performance, and feedback for its 140,000-employee operations across 42 countries.
Industry: Services

Thomson Reuters compumark.thomson.com
Intellectual Property Workflow Automation Initiative
Project lead: Betsy Hussin, Vice President, Product Development, Thomson CompuMark
Project description: Thomson Reuters developed an AJAX-enabled workflow platform, integrating it into an SSO-enabled unified online environment.
Industry: Services

U.S. Army www.us.army.mil
Army Knowledge Online Security Monitoring
Project lead: Earl Noble, Program Manager, AKO/DKO
Project description: The U.S. Army overhauled its approach to securing the Army Knowledge Online/Defense Knowledge Online portal consolidating data from myriad devices and applications and integrating security monitoring technology from ArcSight into a variety of legacy systems.
Industry: Government

University of Chicago Medical Center www.uchospitals.edu
SOA Records Management and Governance
Project lead: Ben Patel, Assistant Director, IT
Project description: The University of Chicago Medical Center shifted its records management system to a services-based model, tapping technology from Layer 7 to provide security and governance.
Industry: Health care

University of San Diego www.sandiego.edu
On-Campus Wireless Security Project
Project lead: Douglas Burke, Director of Network and Telecommunication Services
Project description: The University of San Diego embarked on a campuswide wireless security project, integrating technology from Aruba, CashNet, and Avenda Systems.
Industry: Education

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra www.vancouversymphony.ca
High-Availability Ticketing System
Project lead: Debbie Marcus, Office Manager
Project description: The Vancouver (British Columbia) Symphony Orchestra brought its online ticketing service in-house, centering its new, high-availability system around technology from Tessitura and Neverfail.
Industry: Entertainment

Varian Medical Systems www.varian.com
Mobile Support Initiative for Medical Devices
Project lead: Matthew Morse, Senior IT Administrator
Project description: Varian overhauled into mobile support for medical devices, replacing laptops with Zenprise-managed BlackBerry devices and developing a custom mobile service CRM app for the BlackBerry that enables service technicians to access the data necessary to diagnose and repair medical devices in the field.
Industry: Health care

Wells Fargo & Co. www.wellsfargo.com
Corporate Risk Assessment Automation
Project lead: Ross Lillestol, Technology Manager, Enterprise Information Management Operations
Project description: Wells Fargo developed an automated AJAX-based risk assessment system, integrating it with 80 .Net-based business apps in compliance with NIST and FFIEC standards.
Industry: Financial services

Wells Fargo & Co. www.wellsfargo.com
Business Process Management Initiative
Project lead: Paul Tazbaz, Enterprise Architect
Project description: Wells Fargo has undertaken a BPM initiative in the wake of its merger with Wachovia, integrating Tibco software with an open source reporting engine and business intelligence and reporting tools.
Industry: Financial services

West Virginia University www.wvu.edu
On-Campus Net Security Initiative
Project lead: Stephen Belcher, Assistant Director of Network Operations
Project description: West Virginia University launched a two-tiered on-campus Net applications security initiative blending security technology from Palo Alto Networks and Cisco to ensure availability of vital learning Web apps.
Industry: Education

Westmont College www.westmont.edu
Cloud Computing Initiative
Project lead: Reed Sheard, Vice President, CIO
Project description: Westmont College transformed its IT infrastructure to a cloud-centric one, migrating several systems to cloud-based services provided by Meraki, Google, Postini, and Salesforce.com.
Industry: Education