CALUM SMEATON, the chief executive of Sumerian Networks, has been named Player of the Year at the annual Scottish Software Awards.

The Glasgow-based JP Morgan (Scotland) was named Company of the Year at a ceremony in Glasgow’s Lighthouse.

The awards, hosted by Targeting Innovation in association with The Sunday Times Scotland, attracted more than 80 entries from Scottish software companies.

Smeaton who joined Sumerian in 2002 in a business development and marketing role, has helped grow the company to a turnover of more than £5m while achieving significant profits. He said he was delighted to receive the award, which reflected on the Sumerian team as a whole.

JP Morgan set up its Scottish base in 1999 and now employs 900 people. The judges said that it had put Scotland on the map for innovation in sophisticated financial instruments and trading systems.

Two-time former Scottish Software Company of the Year Axios Systems Limited won the award for International Excellence, and Edinburgh- based Rapid Mobile received the Emerging Business of the Year award. Rapid provides a mobile advertising platform and is already spinning out a new company.

Best Product was won by VisionWare plc, which, with its customer data integration hubs product called MultiVue, already has 150 public-sector customers in the UK alone.

George Boag, CEO of Targeting Innovation, said entries this year had been the highest in the four-year history of the awards.

“The software sector is experiencing growth of 20% per annum, but there is scope for significant growth,” he said.

“A recent study showed that exporting only accounts for 8% of turnover for the Glasgow software sector. Companies with significant potential are not realising their ambitions on the international stage.”