REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 21 -- Questra Corporation, the leader in Intelligent Device Management (IDM), has announced that the company, along with its customer Agfa Graphics, a world leader in prepress solutions for the printing and publishing industries, have been awarded the START-IT magazine Technology & Business (T&B) Award and M2M magazine Value Chain Award for their contributions to providing efficient remote services for customers worldwide. The awards were given out at the M2M United/Manufacturing Days Conference, held June 18-21, 2007 at the Westin Chicago in North Shore, Wheeling, IL.

"Winners of the START-IT Technology & Business (T&B) Awards and the M2M Value Chain Awards such as Agfa Graphics and Questra exemplify technology's diversity and illuminate the extraordinary level of innovation in this industry," said Peggy Smedley, editorial director of START-IT magazine and M2M magazine.

The START-IT Technology & Business (T&B) Awards honor manufacturers that have solved critical business issues and found success through the use of leading-edge technology. The awards panel of industry experts and analysts chose Agfa Graphics as the winner in the T&B Imaging category, with Questra winning as the technology enabler.

The critical issue that faced Agfa Graphics' global service team was how to provide faster and better quality service to their prepress customers while holding down costs. To develop and deploy its :IntellSyst Remote Diagnostic System(TM), the company used the Questra IDM Application Suite(TM), which proactively monitors and manages remote intelligent devices and best fit Agfa Graphics' needs for scalable connectivity, rapid implementation, full functionality, centralized management, seamless integration, and strict security.

Recent metrics show that :IntellSyst helps Agfa Graphics solve more than 95 percent of software problems remotely and over 40 percent of equipment problems remotely, as well as decreased service response times. The result is a competitive advantage that delivers incremental business and increased customer satisfaction.

"The value we deliver to our customers goes far beyond the technical excellence of our products," said Bill Quinn, manager of support at Agfa Graphics. "We provide complete business solutions to ensure optimal performance and productivity. Questra's IDM solution and our :IntellSyst Remote Diagnostics System play an important role. We are honored to be recognized for our support efforts by both START-IT and M2M magazines."

Agfa Graphics and Questra also won M2M magazine's GOLD Value Chain Award, which honors the most successful corporate adopters of M2M technology, along with the solution providers that made their success possible. The first publication to cover machine-to-machine communications, M2M provides tens of thousands of operational and senior managers with the information they need to automate processes and reduce costs by connecting people, devices, and systems. The M2M Value Chain Awards recognize the process of integrating multiple technologies in creating successful solutions for end customers.

Using the Questra-based :IntellSyst Remote Diagnostic System, Agfa Graphics' service engineers can proactively and immediately assess and diagnose their customers' hardware, software, and applications issues. The company's service engineers and its customers' equipment operators can talk while viewing real-time performance data on screen simultaneously. As a result, Agfa Graphics imaging customers are experiencing faster service response times, quicker returns to equipment uptime, and hassle-free maintenance.

"Our company and customers continue to achieve tremendous success with remote management," said Walt Rossi, vice president of marketing at Questra. "It's very satisfying to have the business value of our IDM solution affirmed by industry-recognized publications such as START-IT and M2M magazines."

In addition, START-IT editors again put Questra on their list of Companies To Keep An Eye On, a category of the magazine's Hottest Companies Awards. Nominees are judged on revenue growth, new clients, and significant accomplishments during the year that help them rise above the competition. The To Keep An Eye On designation honors those companies, like Questra, that have made exceptional progress during the year and merit further attention from manufacturers.