BOSTON, Mass. – August 5, 2009 – Optaros and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) today were named winners of the 2009 Red Hat and JBoss Innovation Awards, in the JBoss Extensive Ecosystem Category. The award, is in recognition of the MCCA’s open source event management system, which was designed and implemented by Optaros and the MCCA and went live in December 2008.

“Optaros is very pleased to be recognized for our work with the MCCA,” says Marc Osofsky, vice president of marketing, Optaros. “This award reflects the ERP [enterprise resource planning] scale and open business architecture of the system we assembled from numerous open source components for the MCCA.”

“When we started this project with Optaros, we set out to build a solution that would benefit not only our employees, but also our customers, service providers and eventually the greater Boston community,” said James E. Rooney, executive director of the MCCA. “Together we have created an innovative event management system, made specifically for our needs, that can grow with us well into the future. The MCCA is honored to receive this award and thanks Optaros for their partnership.”

As winners of the JBoss Extensive Ecosystem Innovation Award, Optaros and the MCCA are now eligible to win the JBoss Innovator of the Year Award, decided by the open source community.

The MCCA’s new event management system, ShowBiz, has streamlined operations by transforming business process flows, and eliminating the need for inter-office mail and the consumption of huge amounts of paper. ShowBiz now allows employees to spend more time focusing on customer service and event support. The open source event management system has created efficiencies across the board, from the executive team, to accounts receivables, to service delivery personnel. For more details, see the MCCA Event Management System Case Study.

About Optaros
Optaros (www.Optaros.com) delivers each client a tailored roadmap of Assembled Web solutions to achieve business objectives. Clients are able to engage and transact with target customers anywhere online, increase business agility through assembled software, and save money through the pervasive use of open source software. Optaros serves more than 100 clients including Neiman Marcus, Smart Bargains, Rue La La, Nestle, Travelocity, The New York Times, Sony Pictures and Swisscom.

About the MCCA
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) owns and oversees the operation of four facilities – the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., and the Boston Common Garage. Over the past five years, the MCCA has generated $2.3 billion in economic impact from the events it has brought to Boston, and is quickly becoming a major economic engine in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

About the Red Hat and JBoss Innovation Awards
The Red Hat and JBoss Innovation Awards, now in their third year, are designed to recognize the outstanding use, innovation and extension of Red Hat and JBoss solutions by Red Hat customers, partners and the open source community. From the 11 finalists, one Red Hat Innovator of the Year and one JBoss Innovator of the Year will each be selected and announced during the Red Hat Summit and JBoss World, co-located this year in Chicago, Sept. 1-4, 2009.