The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee was added last week to InfoWorld's 2006 list of organizations that best contributed to expanding businesses through the use of technology.

UWM is being recognized for the use of PantherFile, a computer system that serves as a storage unit for professors, students and staff.

InfoWorld is a technology information publication that provides expert analyses and reviews of technological advances and annually ranks such organizations.

Being recognized in the InfoWorld's top 100 list is a prestigious honor, according to Bruce Maas, UWM's interim chief information officer. Maas added UWM was one of only six universities to be recognized.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Information Technology spokesperson Brian Rust said PantherFile is similar to the My WebSpace program.

"We use the same underlying software," Rust said. "We do pretty much the same thing … but they did good work and we congratulated them."

PantherFile allows UWM students to share and store documents that are easily accessible and easily shared among users. According to a UWM press release, PantherFile has more than 8,000 users and is becoming an important tool for content and document storage on campus.

Maas said PantherFile is important for UWM students and staff because it eliminates the need for a USB drive to share documents.

In addition, PantherFile has provided the ability to transfer texts to those who are visually impaired by converting information in textbooks to an electronic format.

PantherFile has also saved money for the university, according to the UWM release. Due to a limited amount of funding and resources, UWM partnered with an outside company for PantherFile.

Though UWM was the recognized campus, Maas said the staff at UW-Madison helped immensely.

"It would not have been possible to be honored without all the help from the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison," he said.

UWM has been working hard to advance the technological database and storage system that UWM and UW-Madison use, and being named in InfoWorld's top-100 list proved their hard work paid off, Maas added.