Smoothwall wins top innovation award

Internet security and web filtering company Smoothwall has been named as Yorkshire's 'Innovator of the Year' at this year's Business Masters Awards.

The awards were hosted by business news website thebusinessdesk and celebrate all aspects of entrepreneurship and tenacity of businesses in Yorkshire.  They were presented in front of an audience of 200 business people at the historic Aspire building in Leeds.   

The judging panel praised Smoothwall's ability to help organisations combat employees using social networking websites in company time and also highlighted the company's success in marketing its technology to customers as diverse as American Football team the Detroit Lions, thousands of UK schools and the US military.
 
Richard Moore, Managing Director of Smoothwall, explains: "We're delighted to win this award which is a major coup because in the technology industry innovation is a key aspect of everything we do and is something that we're continually focused on.

"When it comes to upcoming innovations, most businesses are moving onto mobile devices and protecting those devices away from the network is challenging for businesses.  Employees also want to bring their own devices into their networks and IT managers need to be able to securely integrate those so that's the area we are moving the business into."
 
Smoothwall, which is privately owned, has a 7millon turnover and employs over 100 staff across its Leeds head quarters and offices in Southampton, North Carolina and California.  The company has enjoyed year on year growth of 40 per cent since its inception in 2001.