The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce has just awarded SMC Group's principal American site with the prestigious International Business of the Year award. The award was presented to the company by The Chamber President, Richard Burpee, marking the company's achievement in contributing to regional employment and its overall economic impact.

SMC Electronics USA Ltd, set up in Oklahoma City in 1997, has expanded considerably and now has commercial offices in California and Florida. The company, founded in Great Britain in 1988, chose Oklahoma for its central location, accessibility and networking infrastructure.

Presenting an "Exporter of the Year" award to another company on the same occasion, in the current post-terrorist attack climate, the chamber's Director of International Business, Lance Johnson, states: With any kind of catastrophe, opportunities arise to take a step forward or to get left behind". Oklahoma-based businesses "are looking to step out and to secure a stronger hold in the global marketplace… These two companies we are honouring have carved out their place in the world's economy."

Mehran Koranki, Chief Executive to SMC Electronics USA, says that since September 11th, the biggest challenge has been travel plan changes. "We have most definitely been affected since September 11th. When you're involved in international business, you have a strong element of travel. That impacts business in a sense that you have more anxiety travelling from location to location". "The threat of terrorism hasn't diminished international business in Oklahoma", said the two award winners, "it's just complicated the process".

In spite of these added complications SMC Electronics USA Ltd is set to continue its progression in the world of datacom equipment services and network design and development. Among the group's current and future projects are multinational contracts linking its existing British, French, German and USA sites as well as a new entity in the Middle East. The group thus maintains its "no boundaries" philosophy to its global solutions services.