The donation, which was made during a presentation last Thursday, consisted of four laptops, docking stations and flash drives for each of the four members of the team.

The donation of the equipment, the NCU said, came at a critical time as the team was putting finishing touches on the software design they were scheduled to take to the second round of the competition, scheduled for the Dominican Republic yesterday.

The Northern Caribbean University team was the only software design team representing Jamaica in the competition.

Cable and Wireless' regional vice-president and chief information officer Arthur Phidd said that given the achievement of last year's Imagine Cup team from the NCU, which did Jamaica and the region proud, his company felt the donation was well deserved.

"After watching the NCU team do so well last year, I made a promise then that I would assist this year's team.  When this year's team qualified for the competition again, the company made good on that promise," Phidd said.

Last year, the NCU Imagine Cup team became the first Jamaican team ever to qualify for the prestigious global Imagine Cup Software Design Competition.  The team outclassed more than 20 others to become regional champions and later went on to represent the region at the world finals in Japan.

The NCU team members, all from the university's Information Science Department, are Imran Allie, Damien Mitchell, Romaine Carter and Clive Allen.  Their project, code named: NUEGEN, seeks to address this year's theme - magine a world where technology helps us to live healthier lives".

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