Among the many companies acknowledged at the prestigious event, one mobile firm was saluted as company of the year, writes John Collins

JUST DAYS after its acquisition by New York-quoted AmDocs, for an initial consideration of $60 million, ChangingWorlds, the software provider for mobile operators, was named the Irish Software Association's company of the year at an awards ceremony in Dublin last night.

ChangingWorlds chief executive David Moran said the award was a recognition of the company's achievements in the last two to three years. During that time, ChangingWorlds went from being a company that traded in Europe only to one that does business globally, with significant market share in Asia and the US.

Mr Moran said the company had "six solid deals" with operators in Asia, including Hong Kong's CSL and Celcom in Malaysia. In July, it announced a deal with Sprint, the third-largest mobile operator in the US, which was understood to be worth in excess of €20 million.

ChangingWorlds opened an office in Brazil last September to target operators in Central and South America.

"We now have a truly global presence," said Mr Moran. "This just confirms we have the right strategy for our target markets and recognises our ability to execute."

ChangingWorlds was founded in 1999 by Paul Cotter, who got the idea for the company's personalisation technology while completing a PhD in University College Dublin. Based on subscribers' preferences and past activity, the software the firm has developed ensures mobile internet users see content relevant to them when they go online using their handset.

The acquisition by Israeli firm Amdocs sees ChangingWorlds come full circle - initially it applied its personalisation technology to provide customised television listings on the web. Amdocs said it plans to expand ChangingWorlds software to run on PCs and television set-top boxes.

Mr Moran said the ChangingWorlds brand would be retained and it will now start integrating its patented technology with Amdocs products, which enable service providers to offer new capabilities to subscribers. He said all staff were being retained and Amdocs had significant plans to invest in the business.

"We can take the best of ChangingWorlds and combine that with the best of Amdocs, which has deep relationships with the top players globally," said Mr Moran. "That will enhance our sales activities and speed up our product roadmap."

Mr Moran said the biggest challenge running a software company in Ireland was hiring "top-notch" staff. He said ChangingWorlds had seen lots of opportunities in the market but had been limited in its ability to pursue them by the availability of staff.

Last year, ChangingWorlds booked a pretax profit of €1.6 million on revenues of €13.2 million. Mr Moran said the firm "could have thrown off bigger profits" but had chosen to invest in its product portfolio, which he said is "a couple of years ahead of what the competition has".

ChangingWorlds currently employs 150 staff and has three locations in both Dublin and the US, as well as offices in Kuala Lumpur, where it has a development centre. It also has offices in Australia and Brazil.

Peter MacManamon, Parthus co-founder and an active lobbyist, was named software person of the year at the awards, which are sponsored by William Fry solicitors and state development agency Enterprise Ireland.

Music video service Muzu TV was named new company of the year. Derry-based Singularity, which announced an expansion this week, was recognised for its sales achievements. Telecoms software firm Opennet scooped the technical achievement award, while Cork life sciences software provider Qumas won the collaboration category.