And it was a point of high achievement for both the international Inmarsat group and the Indian Space Research Organisation's Insat series.London-based Inmarsat has completed its billion-dollar programme to put four Inmarsat-3 satellites into geostationary orbit and cover the globe Only the polar ice caps are out of range. For the business traveller, it meant more convenient phone calls at $3 a minute. For India, it meant that thousands of villages could have their first phone box and maybe a TV. The launch of the Ariane 4 rocket was the latest in a series that has made the Kourou station in French Guyana the world's most important commercial space operation, with two-thirds of Western telecommunications satellites to its credit. Peter Gabriel's Eve CD-Rom, produced byReal World Multimedia/Starwave Corp, won for packaging.A craft award for sound and music went to the Sophie's World CD-Rom, by Multimedia Corporation for Macmillan Interactive Publishing.An award for User Interface went to James Bond - The Ultimate Dossier, by Micro Interactive for MGM/UA for Eidos Interactive. When Ariane V97 opened its nose cone high above the Equator and thrust two satellites out into orbit earlier this month, the powerful European rocket emphasised two differing approaches to space technology. Success by Design by Edward Briscoe Design won a craft award for Digital Video. The Neverhood, by Dreamworks Interactive for Microsoft, won for Graphics and Animation.

The Commissioned Training award went to Mass Markets, produced by TATA Interactive Systems for Unilever.Best Corporate Web Site went to Orange ( www.orange.co.uk) by Wolff Olins for Orange.The Education Award was won by Maths Workshop Teachers' Guide from Broderbund.The Entertainment Award went to MindGym, a CD-Rom produced by Melrose/NoHo Digital. The Games prize went to Theme Hospital, by Bullfrog for Electronic Arts.The Home Learning award went to Broderbund for its Green Eggs and Ham CD-Rom.Microsoft's Encarta 97 World Atlas - World English Edition won the Home Reference prize.The Interactive Displays award went to the University of Nottingham/ Nottingham Hospital NHS Trust for The King's Fund's Promoting Patient Choice Programme.Online Magic's General Election site ( www.ge97.co.uk) won the Net Magazine award.The Retail award was shared by Safeway's Today's Electronic Point of Sale, by Sampson Tyrrell Enterprise/Safeway for Safeway Stores plc, and Waterstone's ( www.waterstones.co.uk) by Information Hyperlink Ltd/ Waterstone's for Waterstone's Booksellers Ltd.Business in Sight - Business Strategy, by Xebec/Price Waterhouse for Xebec Multimedia Solutions, won the Published Training prize.Craft awards were presented in several categories. The awards celebrate commercial success, technical achievement and creative innovation in both business and consumer markets. The award for Advertising & Promotion was shared by the British Army Web site ( www.army.mod.uk), produced by COI/Saatchi & Saatchi for the Ministry of Defence, and Neneh Cherry's Interactive Promo CD-Rom, produced by Abbey Road Interactive for Virgin Records Ltd. The Business Award went to Hasbro Electronic Sales Presenter, by Billco Multimedia for Hasbro Toys.The Children's Award went to Orly's Draw-A-Story, produced by Broderbund.

If the fire has reignited or casualties remain trapped, the student will get a graphic, unwelcome reminder Or, in fire- service speak, "their ears will burn". The British Interactive Multimedia Association presented its 1997 Bima Awards at a ceremony in London last night. No two scenarios are the same, but the system will always make sure the incident develops realistically in real time and will respond to the commander's instructions as in real life.Among a host of online analysis tools available after the exercise is a device that allows the trainer to tap into any moment during the exercise and see an X-ray view inside the building This shows the consequences of the student's actions. They have to decide who and what to deal with first as the water supply runs low, a casualty is reported in the basement or a paramedic, distraught mother or aggressive news reporter appear (in video clips), all demanding attention. To crank up the stress levels even higher, the whole thing can be personalised so that the names of the crew, their ethnic origin and sex, the type of vehicles and even the radio call signs all match those in the student's own brigade.Vector stretches students' decision-making ability to the limit by bombarding them with a stream of crackly radio messages firing off urgent information or requests. But far from being a souped-up video game, the system's artificial intelligence takes desktop simulations into another realm.The trainer can set up each simulation to test a student's ability to think on his feet by setting up a personalised scenario in advance - heavy fog, or ice and snow, the number of fire engines and how long they will take to arrive, the amount of water or foam available, the number of firefighters and so on.A further mortifying twist is that the system itself will throw in random factors - such as a vehicle break-down or heavy traffic.

With 65 countries showing interest in the system, Nigel Finlayson, the college's chief executive, says Vector is "the most significant development in operational command training for over 30 years".Vector immerses the operational commander in a simulation which uses video, virtual reality and sound to re-create anything from a chemical plant blaze to a road accident or air disaster. And, by definition, only one operational commander can be trained per session.The solution, it seems, lies in computer simulations and the cunning use of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and multimedia to create scenarios which mirror real life with heart-stopping accuracy. The Fire Service College, working with Colt Virtual Reality, has developed Vector, the world's first command and control training package to use virtual reality on a desktop PC. For the commanders who have to control operations and make 101 crucial decisions in as many seconds, simulated exercises are vital But large-scale exercises are costly. After all, how do you set up a mock incident on the scale of the Windsor Castle fire, which used 35 fire engines (plus 21 on standby) three aerial platforms, four ambulances, two police forces, a fleet of coaches, 750 breathing apparatus sets, 200 men and 25 officers?Even a small-scale local exercise using three engines plus crews and a derelict building can set a brigade back pounds 12,000 or more for a day's training.