(3 September 2005 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Discovery US received the 2005 CIO 100 award. This was presented by CIO magazine a few days ago.

The annual award programme recognises organizations around the world that exemplify the highest level of operational and strategic excellence in information technology (IT). This year's award theme was "the Bold 100," which recognises those executives and organisations that embrace great risk for the sake of great reward and that are bold in playing not only to survive but also to win.

In September 2004, Discovery Communications had announced the merger of its Information Technology and Media Services groups into the new Technology and Media Services department. This bold, leading-edge move stood out to the CIO editors and writers. Discovery now has a more agile and integrated organization that can readily adapt to client and end-consumer needs in a rapidly changing media and technology environment.

Reaching beyond traditional information technology, Technology and Media Services is enabling a company-wide, digital evolution. Major initiatives at the company include an all-digital origination facility, the Discovery Television and Technology Center, which began on-air operations on 1 August 2005, and the Digital Media Center that allows internal and external parties to upload and view video content on the Internet, facilitating a more seamless production process globally.