Kennett Square-based Tangent Energy Solutions, an energy solutions provider that manages commercial and industrial customers' energy resources during peak demand periods, and Pittsburgh cloud provider Sierra w/o Wires, were big winners at last Friday's TechQuest Awards in Harrisburg.

 

Tangent Energy Solutions earned Growth Company of the Year, besting finalists Red Privet and Phoenix Contact. Sierra w/o Wires took home the other big prize, Technology Company of the Year, besting Hewlett Packard Company and Department of Public Welfare and DSS.

 

Just last month Tangent Energy Solutions announced a three-year deal with Colonial School District to manage the district's peak energy use and reduce energy costs by $166,400 over that period. The Chester County firm, established in 2007, installed solar energy assets at three schools there last year that could save $1.5 million over 20 years.

 

Sierra w/o Wires announced in March it achieved two new Microsoft competencies in its effort to provide remote systems monitoring and management, cloud/virtual hosting, physical machine hosting, software development and hardware/software reselling. Also last month the company added Deaf-Talk, Inc., an industry leader in on-demand video sign language interpreting, entered into a long-term agreement for IT support.

 

The other big news of the night was the awarding of the inaugural People's Choice Award, which honors an individual or company that is raising Pennsylvania's technology community by earning global visibility. Nancy Kiscadden, a Lower Dauphin High School computer sciences and math teacher took home the honor for mentoring of a group of her junior/senior students led to winning the 2011 Nanoline Contest and a trip to Germany.

 

Another new award was the Best of Innovators Showcase, which went to Carlisle-based Z-Band, which earlier this year was hiring up to three new employees to assist in the new technologies it's launching in 2012.

Other awardees included:

Outstanding Leadership in Technology: Martin E. Judge, Judge Group (Montgomery County). Finalists -- Rohan Mehta, Bulwark Ventures; Dr. Eric Darr, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

Technology Educator of the Year: Dr. Scott Inch, Bloomsburg University (Columbia County). Finalists -- Andy Petroski, Director of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University; Lisa Butler, Spanish Techbook creator and Hershey Middle School teacher.

Technology Provider of the Year: Phoenix Contact (Dauphin County). Finalists -- Computer Aid, Inc., WorkXpress.

Best Application of Technology: Tobyhanna Army Depot (Monroe County). Finalists -- New Holland Agriculture, PENNVEST.

Public Service Innovation: J Net the Pennsylvania Justice Network (Dauphin County). Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare - Bureau of Child Support Enforcement System, News/TV.

Technology Product of the Year: WorkdXpress (Dauphin County. Finalists -- Z-Band, PA Department of Agriculture.

Growth Company of the Year: Tangent Energy Solutions (Chester County). Finalists -- Phoenix Contact, Red Privet.

Innovation in Broadcasting Technology: WHP TV21 (Dauphin County). Finalists -- WHTM ABC 27, WGAL NBC 8, and WPMT FOX 43.

JOE PETRUCCI is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.