The hot favourite was originally ineligible for the award because BT was a sponsor. The company sportingly withdrew its sponsorship of the award and was therefore allowed to be nominated. The accolade was collected by David Hughes, the president of BT Ignite’s internet division. Hughes said that he was delighted to receive the award on BT’s behalf and expressed mock surprise at the company having won considering “we [BT] connect a new small business online every five minutes and give consumers unlimited access”.
Andrew Pinder, the recently appointed Government e-Envoy attended the London award ceremony, saying that he hoped this time next year to win the internet hero award, won this year by Tim Berners-Lee.
The winners of the various categories were:
- Consumer Awards
Best Consumer ISP - ICScotland
(sponsored by Europay International)
Best Consumer Customer Service - F9
(sponsored by IP Support)
Best Consumer Product or Service - Doo Yoo
(sponsored by Energis Squared) - Industry Awards
Best Hardware Supplier - Cisco Systems
(sponsored by PSI Net)
Best Software Supplier - The Apache Software
(sponsored by neosnetworks)
Internet Hero - Tim Berners-Lee
(sponsored by Ciscom)
Internet Villain - Sir Peter Bonfield, chief executive BT
(sponsored by idesk)
Positive Contribution to the Internet Industry - The Campaign for Unmetered Telecoms (CUT)
(sponsored by UUNET) - Business Awards
Best Business ISP - UUNET
(sponsored by Trend Micro)
Best Business Customer Service - Netscalibur UK Ltd
(sponsored by CityReach)
Best European ISP - Easynet
(sponsored by NSIRatings)
Best ASP - TS.com - Ticketing Solutions
(sponsored by XO Communications)
Best E-Commerce Service offered by an ISP - Business Serve plc "E-Business Builder"
(sponsored by BT Ignite Internet Services)
Best M-Commerce Service offered by an ISP - BT Genie
(sponsored by IBM)
Most Innovative New ISP Product or Service - IWEB technologies "i-notes"
(sponsored by Cable & Wireless)