Megabyte launch first edition of annual IT Project Award for University

This year’s prize, an IPAD 2, was recently presented by David Galea, Head of Business Development and Marketing at Megabyte, to B.Sc (Hons) ICT student Yanika Anne Cassar for her Final Year Project ‘Performance and Security Enhancement of a SCADA Radio Network’. 

Cassar’s project objective was to switch from a UHF Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to an Internet-based system using 3rd Generation mobile telecommunications, allowing for improvement in performance and enhancement in security and requiring a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to safeguard the transmission of data. 

The award marks Megabyte’s desire to encourage and nurture local talent in the ICT sphere and shall be issued annually.  The University of Malta’s IT Faculty grades projects for their academic merits, which comprised 30% of Megabyte’s scoring, with a further 30 % allotted for creativity and innovation and 40% for commercial adaptability, therefore emphasising the practicality and realistic application of project ideas. 

Rainer Van Beckum, CEO at Megabyte said: “These students are the future resources of all IT companies in Malta and we feel it is only right to give something back.  Megabyte would also like to encourage other local IT firms to also create their own awards for the educational institutes to further promote the industry as a whole and promoting the consideration of commercial application when project subject matter is being decided by students”.

Runners up for the 2011 Megabyte IT Project Award were Lara Agius, Raissa Marie Attard, Daniel Grech and Maverick Hili, all of whom deserve special mention for some very intriguing ideas, and excellent quality of work.