CNSX Markets Named Outstanding Data Provider by FISD

FISD presented the 2012 Outstanding Data Provider Award to CNSX  Markets Inc.,  operator of the Canadian National Stock Exchange and Pure Trading. The award was presented at the FISD General Meeting in New York on December 18.

This award was created by the FISD Service Level and Communications Working Group to recognize the exchange or data provider that most closely adheres to the Working Group’s Best Practice Recommendations. These recommendations are guidelines for communication and notification sent by exchanges and information providers to their customers and downstream distribution partners for events such as system upgrades, administrative and policy changes, new product introductions, and unplanned interruptions.

Other nominees for this year’s award were BATS Chi – X Europe, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and Oslo Bors.


Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA. Follow the SIIA Public Policy team at @SIIAPolicy.

You Be the Judge: Call for SIIA CODiE Awards Judges in Ed Tech Categories

SIIA today announced its call for judges for the 2013 CODiE Awards in Education categories. For the past 27 years, the CODiE Awards have celebrated excellence in the education industry, and finalists and winners have later garnered market share in U.S. classrooms.

The Education Division is looking for educators and administrators to review 3-5 products each between mid-November and late January. Sign up to be a judge at the CODiE Awards web site.

“The educators are the real experts,” said Karen Billings, vice president of the Education Division at SIIA. “They know what other products are out there, and they have probably used a number of different products in their category, so they have the expertise. They are the best judge of what is going to work in the classroom, and that is a big part of what we mean when we say a product is the best.”

This year, there are 22 education categories, which include:

* Best Classroom Management Solution
* Best Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution
* Best Cross-Curricular Solution
* Best Education Community Solution
* Best Education Game or Simulation
* Best Education Reference Solution
* Best Educational Use of a Mobile Device
* Best Instructional Solution in Other Curriculum Areas
* Best K-12 Course or Learning Management Solution
* Best K-12 Enterprise Solution
* Best Mathematics Instructional Solution
* Best Personalized Learning Solution
* Best Postsecondary Course or Learning Management Solution
* Best Postsecondary Enterprise Solution
* Best Postsecondary Learning Solution
* Best Professional Learning Solution for Education
* Best Reading/English/ELL Instructional Solution
* Best Science/Health Instructional Solution
* Best Social Sciences Instructional Solution
* Best Solution for Specials Needs Students
* Best Student Assessment Solution
* Best Virtual Learning Solution

For more information on the CODiE Awards, visit http://www.siia.net/codies.


Wendy Tanner Wendy Tanner is CODiE Awards Coordinator. Follow the CODiE Awards on Twitter @CODiEAwards

An Honor to Present Education Awards to Industry Veterans

Presenting this year’s education awards during the recent Ed Tech Industry Summit in San Francisco was very special for me personally. It was great to be up on stage with two very key people in our industry as we honored them with SIIA’s education awards. We presented Charles Blaschke with the Ed Tech Impact Award, an honor we started just four years ago. We then presented Dr. Patrick Suppes with a Lifetime Achievement Award, the first time this award has been given at the Summit.

Each of these awards were given after reviewing quite a list of candidates. Our education technology industry has a growing number of veterans who have contributed ideas, products, and services for some decades– and some for over 50 years!

Our Ed Tech Impact Award went to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc., an education industry veteran whose work goes back over four decades. He is president of his Washington D.C.-based firm, where he provides data and analysis about Federal funding policies and K-12 technology spending, including Title I, IDEA/Special Ed, the new ARRA stimulus funding, and other related Federal programs.

Many of those in the audience raised their hands when he asked if any were or had been his clients. I raised my hand, remembering how I would get his monthly reports that my company had subscribed to. I would then share those reports with our sales reps who were always interested in Charles’s specific state-by-state funding information.

It’s become a tradition for the new Ed Tech Impact honoree to receive the award from the last recipient. The first awardee, Ellen Bialo (IESD), presented it to Tom Greaves (The Greaves Group) two years ago and Tom presented it to Kathy Hurley (Pearson) last year. This year Kathy, now with the Pearson Foundation presented it to Charles Blaschke, this year’s awardee and her husband!

For the Lifetime Achievement Award, we chose Dr. Patrick Suppes, now the Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University. Suppes began conducting research using computers to teach students in the 1960s and even though he recently turned 90 years old, he is still doing online instructional development! He founded Computer Curriculum Corporation (CCC) in 1967, and served as CEO for many years, while maintaining a large class schedule at Stanford University.

We were lucky to have Ron Fortune, a colleague and CEO at CCC, introduce Dr. Suppes by providing background information about his 50+ years of experience in education technology. Dr. Suppes accepted the award from SIIA President, Ken Wasch, and gave very insightful comments about how far we’ve come – and haven’t come – in our industry. He pondered on the effects of cross-age tutoring via online, as well as the opportunities with voice recognition technologies. After his award, many in the audience came up to congratulate him and request pictures; some were SIIA members who had worked at CCC at the same time as Suppes and Fortune.

Few attendees with start-ups and early stage companies attending this year’s Ed Tech Industry Summit likely knew either of these men – or were aware of their work – before we presented them with the awards. Jenny House, President of RedRock Reports who sponsored the awards luncheon, remarked afterwards that the audience at the Summit luncheon was ‘getting older and – at the same time – younger’.

But we also agreed that whether young and old, the audience really appreciated the accomplishments and contributions the two awardees have made to our industry. It was truly an honor to introduce Patrick Suppes and Charles Blaschke to everyone in the audience, but in particular, to those very young companies who will grow and advance the use of technology in K-20 education.


Karen BillingsKaren Billings is Vice President for the Education Division at SIIA.

SIIA Honors Education Industry Veterans with Prestigious Awards

SIIA’s Education Division this week honored Dr. Patrick Suppes, Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University, with its first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. SIIA also presented the Ed Tech Impact Award to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc. In addition, the Education Division honored long-standing members of the Division during the recent Ed Tech Industry Summit (ETIS) in San Francisco.

During a special awards ceremony, SIIA President Ken Wasch and SIIA Vice President for Education Karen Billings presented Suppes with the award, which highlighted his accomplishments and contributions to the education technology industry. Suppes began conducting experiments using computers to teach students in the 1960s and led the charge of online instructional development. Computer Curriculum Corporation, the company he founded in 1967, is now part of Pearson Education Technologies. Among countless other awards, he received the National Medal of Science in 1990. With 50 years of experience in education technology at Stanford, Suppes is now Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, and is Director and Faculty Advisor at Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth.

In addition, SIIA presented the Ed Tech Impact Award to Charles Blaschke, Founder and President of Education TURNKEY Systems, Inc., a 40-year-old Washington D.C.-based firm which provides data and analysis about Federal funding policies and K-12 technology spending, including Title I, IDEA/Special Ed, the new ARRA stimulus funding, and other related Federal programs. Among many other contributions to education and technology, Blaschke developed one of the first two IEP special education administrative systems and co-authored the first Title I Policy Manual.

Several companies also were recognized by SIIA for helping support the ed tech industry through their long-standing membership of the association. Member companies recognized at the awards luncheon for attaining long-term membership levels included:

25 years of membership
Interactive Education Systems Design, Inc. (IESD)

20 years of membership
o Adobe

15 years of membership
o Texas Instruments Education Technology Group

10 years of membership
o Headsprout, Inc.
o CyberSmart! Education Company
o Apple Education
o Knovation/netTrekker/Thinkronize


Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

SIIA Announces CODiE Award Winners for Business Software Industry

SIIA today announced the winners of the 2012 CODiE Awards in business software categories during a special awards presentation held during the SIIA’s annual All About the Cloud conference.

All of the business software nominated products and services were first reviewed by a field of software industry executives, whose evaluations determined 119 finalists. SIIA members then reviewed these finalists and voted to select 28 CODiE Awards Winners, listed here by category, company, and product/service: [Read more...]

SIIA Announces CODiE Award Winners for Education Technology Industry

Last night, SIIA announced the winners of the 2012 CODiE Awards in education technology during a reception and dinner at SIIA’s annual Ed Tech Industry Summit. Overall, 29 winners were recognized for their products and services deployed specifically for the education technology market.

All of the education technology nominated products and services were first reviewed by a group of tech-savvy educators from across the nation, whose evaluations determined 128 finalists. SIIA members then reviewed these finalists and voted to select 29 CODiE Award winners, listed here by category, company, and product/service: [Read more...]

SIIA Announces CODiE Award Winners for Digital Content Industry

SIIA announced the winners of the 2012 CODiE Awards in the digital content industry during a special awards reception and dinner yesterday. Fourteen winners were recognized for products and services deployed specifically for the digital content market, in conjunction with SIIA’s 11th annual Information Industry Summit, held Jan 24-25 in New York City.

IIS Jan 2012 NYC-218

View SIIA and John Blossom‘s pictures from the awards reception.

The 89 nominated products and services were first reviewed by third-party judges, whose evaluations determined the 52 finalists. SIIA members then reviewed these finalists and voted to select the winners.

The CODiE Awards, originally called the Excellence in Software Awards, were established in 1986 by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), now SIIA, so pioneers of the then-nascent software industry could evaluate and honor each other’s work. Since being established in 1986, the CODiE Awards program has recognized more than 1,000 companies for achieving greatness in the software and information industries.

Check out tweets, photos and more from the awards reception on the CODiE Awards Storify.

The 2012 CODiE Award Winners, listed by category, product/service and company, include:

Best Consumer Information Resource
Safari Books Online – Safari Books Online

Best Content Aggregation Service
ProQuest – The Vogue Archive

Best Digital Rights Management Solution
SafeNet, Inc. – SRM Group – Sentinel Cloud

Best Financial/Market Data Information Service
PitchBook Data, Inc. – PitchBook

Best Governance, Risk & Compliance Information Solution
Bloomberg Government – Bloomberg Government (BGOV)

Best Lead Generation Service
NetProspex – NetProspex B2B Contact Solutions

Best Legal Solution
LexisNexis Group – LexisNexis Client Center

Best Medical and Health Information Product
Leadership Directories, Inc. – Leadership Health Focus

Best Online Business Information Service
Cision – Cision

Best Online News Service
Thomson Reuters – Thomson Reuters Multimedia Center

Best Online Science or Technology Service
Reprints Desk, Inc. – Bibliogo

Best Political Information Resource
LexisNexis Group – Nexis

Best Sales & Marketing Intelligence
Eloqua Corporation – Eloqua Revenue Suite

Best Solution Integrating Content Into Workflow
NetProspex – NetProspex B2B Contact Solutions


Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.