Business awards success for Nottingham graduate and entrepreneur

Aware Monitoring at the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce Best Business Awards 2011
27 Sep 2011 16:55:24.137
PA 285/11

A tech start-up founded by a Nottingham University Business School alumnus and entrepreneur has a bright future ahead, according to judges at a prestigious regional business awards.

Aware Monitoring, one of the UK’s fastest-growing website performance monitoring companies, picked up the Most Promising New Business accolade at the recent Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce Best Business Awards 2011.

The company, set up by Nottingham graduate Nick Barker and co-founder Simon Oxley, was recognised for its innovative service, providing businesses with real-time updates on the content load time, availability and optimisation of their website.
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Aware Monitoring fought off competition from two other strong contenders, A Star Media, a film production company specialising in corporate videos for the web, and The Elm Tree at Elmton, a public house which focuses on fresh local food.

Nick said: “This is wonderful news for the company and we are delighted, especially since the category was sponsored and judged by Experian, a data-driven company that knows IT and the technology market. It’s a ringing endorsement that they saw huge potential for our service.”

Aware Monitoring is a tangible demonstration of its founders’ solid credentials in enterprise. Nick was among the first cohort to study on Nottingham University Business School’s MBA in Entrepreneurship, a programme which aims to provide students with a well-rounded education in management while promoting entrepreneurial creativity and skills development. He has since returned to his alma mater as guest lecturer on the University’s entrepreneurship courses.

In the company’s early days, Nick received support from Nottingham University Business School’s EnterpriseLab, which aims to provide guidance on business development to students setting up their own ventures, as well as practical assistance in the form of seminars and networking opportunities, access to office space and meeting rooms and one-to-one surgeries with professional advisors.

Nick continued, “The support we have received from the University and the EnterpriseLab has been invaluable. It has been a great help to be able to access world-class facilities and resources as well as to have the backing of a network that is keen to assist us in establishing and promoting the business.”

Aware Monitoring now operates out of the Sir Colin Campbell Building on The University of Nottingham Innovation Park, which offers business incubator facilities to new start-ups and innovation-led companies.

Dan Edge, EnterpriseLab Coordinator at Nottingham University Business School, said: “We’re delighted for Nick and Simon and it’s fantastic to see a company which received support from the EnterpriseLab at the very beginning of their journey receive the recognition that this award provides.

“We hope their achievements can inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs from Nottingham.”

Aware Monitoring was also a finalist in another category of the awards, Innovation through Technology, which went to Uppercut Productions Ltd for its specialist remote aerial video and photography service it provides using miniature, GPS-guided HeliCam drones.

This latest recognition for Aware Monitoring follows success last year in winning New Enterprise of the Year at the Nottingham Post Business Awards. It is also a finalist in the UK IT awards organised by BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, in the UK Innovation and Entrepreneurship category, the results of which will be announced in November.

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Notes to editors:

More information about Aware Monitoring and its services is available from the company’s website at www.awaremonitoring.com

 The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘Europe’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking, a league table of the world’s most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions, which ranked Nottingham second in the world overall.

The University is committed to providing a truly international education for its 40,000 students, producing world-leading research and benefiting the communities around its campuses in the UK and Asia.

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power. The University’s vision is to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health.

More news from the University at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/news

 

Story credits

 
More information is available from Nick Barker on +44 0845 680 0002, nick.barker@awaremonitoring.com or Dan Edge on +44 (0)115 846 6950, dan.edge@nottingham.ac.uk

Emma Thorne Emma Thorne - Media Relations Manager

Email: emma.thorne@nottingham.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0)115 951 5793 Location: University Park
 

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