ACADEMIA

Infobright has been named a finalist in the 2012 Illinois Technology Association (ITA) CityLIGHTS awards in the Rising Star Award category.

For Infobright, the open source analytic database company, the past year was one of notable growth and development. The company's high-performance analytic database lets users analyze large volumes of web data, call records, network logs and other "machine-generated data" at half the cost and 90 percent less work than other solutions.

The ITA received a record-setting number of nominations this year, with the ITA's panel of judges selecting the top entries in each of nine award categories.

"A 'Rising Star' in the data management and analytics arena, Infobright has caught the attention of developers, businesses and organizations looking for a more simple, affordable and resource-efficient way to turn heavy volumes of incoming data into useful insight. In 2011, the company had its most successful year to date, doubling its customer base," said Susan Davis, vice president, marketing & product management at Infobright. "With an increasing presence at both the innovation hub at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Research Park and at Chicago's TechNexus, the company has demonstrated its investment in the region's technology community and has seen increased corporate momentum with Chicago-based CEO Don DeLoach at the helm. We are proud to be part of Illinois' solid community of talented entrepreneurs, engineers, developers, scientists and other professionals focused on advancing technological and cultural change. It's a great time to be a part of this ecosystem."

"It was no easy feat for the judges to determine the finalists for each award," said ITA CEO Fred Hoch. "The past 12 months have been a time of unprecedented growth, accomplishments and innovation in Illinois, and this energy is reflected in the quantity and quality of CityLIGHTS awards nominees."

Public voting is online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CLVOTING through April 25. Winners are determined by a blended score based equally on public voting and the judges' panel in all categories except the CityLIGHTS award, which is selected by the ITA Board of Directors.

Winners will be announced at the CityLIGHTS Awards Gala Thursday, May 10, 2012, in the Great Hall at Union Station in Chicago. The gala, which sold out last year, attracts more than 700 people from 400 organizations including business owners, investors, legislators and policymakers.

The panel of judges consists of 68 esteemed technology leaders, including Dan Lyne, World Business Chicago; Patricia Anderson, Apartments.com; Howard Tullman, Tribeca Media FlashPoint Academy; Ed Domain, Tech.li; Mark Achler, Redbox; Jai Shekhawatof, Fieldglass; Irv Shapiro, Ifbyphone; Lance Pressel, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce; Roger Liew, Orbitz Worldwide; Ross Kimbarovsky, Crowdspring; and Troy Henikoff, Excelerate Labs.

There are nine award categories: The CityLIGHTS award; CEO of the Year; Technologist of the Year; the Newcomer award; the Rising Star; the Lighthouse award; the New Concept award; the Best Strategic Use of Technology award; and the Prominent Woman in Tech award, the 2012 write-in award category.