Irish Web host Novara.ie (novara.ie) announced on Monday that it had been awarded the .ie domain registry’s (domainregistry.ie) inaugural Annual Achievement Award. The award, which includes a trophy and a check for 5,000 euro, is presented to the customer who makes the most significant contribution to the growth and development of .ie in the past year.

Novara.ie was chosen for 2004 because the company showed significant growth in .ie domain registrations, while improving service to its .ie customers with the development of an automated customer interface, .ieXpress.

As the Registry continues to automate its processes and significantly reduce the paperwork required for new .ie registrations, Novara has leveraged these improvements by developing .ieXpress. The presentation of this award follows IEDR's announcement last week of a 32 percent increase in .ie registrations during 2004 to over 43,000.

"Novara has made a significant contribution to the development of .ie," says David Curtin, IEDR's CEO. "They are also to be commended for the development of .ieXpress, the first commercially available completely automated .ie domain processing and tracking application in the Irish market."