Jordan achieves 3rd place in 'Interoperability Award' at the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2009 in Cairo

Interoperability Achievement Award is designed to recognize the software application that best leverages out-of-the-box Microsoft technologies and blends them with other technologies to connect people, data or diverse systems in a new way.

Laith commented on behalf of his team, saying, "It is a great honor to have achieved third place in the Interoperability category and to have reached this far by participating in the final of this competition. It was a great experience and we have met so many young people from all around the world who share the same passion and desire to use technology to better the lives of people everywhere."

Representing Jordan at the Worldwide Finals, Mohammed, Wassim and Laith, also known as the ECRAM team, created the 'Elder Children Remote Application for Mobile' (ECRAM), which was supervised by PSUT Assistant Professor Ashraf M. A. Ahmad. ECRAM is an intelligent server/client application that uses any communication medium to control one mobile phone from another to make calls, find a location, send an SMS and much more.
Prof. Ashraf stated, "I am very proud of my team and their accomplishments at this year's Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals. I'm honored to say that I supervised such talented, innovative and professional young individuals. I look forward to working with Mohammad, Wassim and Laith to further expand on their project and transform it into a successful venture."

Mr. Zeid Shubailat, Country Manager of Microsoft Jordan said,

"We are all very proud of Mohammad, Wassim and Laith for such an incredible achievement. Not only did they make it to the finals of the world's premier student technology competition but they were also recognized and honored for having the creativity and talent to successfully combine Microsoft technologies and other technologies to create an intelligent communication application using a mobile phone."

The project uses SQL Server 2008 to develop a mobile application, whereby parents for example can have full access and control to the mobiles phones of their children, allowing them to make calls, send messages or confirm locations to ensure the safety and security of their children.

Now in its eighth year, the Imagine Cup is a global student technology competition focused on finding solutions to real-world issues. This year, the students' efforts were focused on using technology to help address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The competition encourages the world's most talented software designers, programmers, game developers, and digital media enthusiasts to tackle, head on, issues related to: hunger relief, poverty, education, disease control, healthcare, the environment and other crucial problems facing our world today.

Imagine Cup provides students from all over the world the opportunity to contribute their talents to solving some of the toughest problems, to learn new technology skills and test themselves against the brightest students, and the chance to win cash prizes as well as internships at Microsoft.

In addition to the main categories of competition, there are several Achievement Awards this year: the Interoperability Award, Unlimited Potential Design for Development Award, Unlimited Potential MultiPoint Education Award, Accessibility Award, Design Accessible Award, Parallel Computing Award, Tablet Accessibility Award, Live Services Award, Windows Mobile Award, and the H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak Special Award, sponsored by the first lady of Egypt through the Cyber Peace Initiative (CPI).