IBM Premier Partner, Element Blue, was named a winner of a 2014 IBM Beacon Award for its Outstanding Smarter Cities Solution. Each year, this honor is awarded to a select number of IBM Business Partners who have delivered exceptional solutions to drive business value and transform the way their clients and industries do business.

“We have invested significantly in developing our Smarter Cities solutions and assets, and are pleased to have received the Beacon, which recognizes these efforts,” said Steven Gerhardt, Element Blue CEO. “Smarter Cities, and projects involving the Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) platform, are key growth areas for our practice. We are dedicated to finding new and innovative ways to deliver value to organizations that require IOC solutions.”

“The Waterfront Toronto solution is first of its kind, and transforms the user experience with personalized, integrated content, social interactions and a responsive interface,” said Joey Bernal, Element Blue CTO. “Citizens living in the Waterfront Toronto community have secure access to the public facing portal with real time visibility and access to both structured and unstructured content, as well as the ability to participate in creating content through community involvement and social interactions.”

The Beacon Awards are IBM’s premier Business Partner recognition program. Announced at the IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and selected by leading industry influencers and IBM executives from among hundreds of nominations, IBM’s Beacon Awards recognize IBM Business Partners who have demonstrated business excellence in delivering IBM-based solutions resulting in client transformation and business growth. This year’s awards recognized Business Partner achievements across 27 award categories.

“Throughout the world, our Business Partners deliver innovative IBM-based solutions across a variety of industries,” said Marc Dupaquier, general manager, IBM Global Business Partners.” As a Beacon Award winner, Element Blue consistently helps its clients achieve business objectives with these winning solutions, and we’re pleased to recognize them for their expertise and commitment to excellence.”

Head here for more information about the IBM Beacon Awards, including information about this year’s winners and finalists.