Femtocell Industry Award Winners 2010

Category 1: Residential femtocell access point design and technology innovation

Shortlists:

* Huawei - Huawei Home Media Centre

* Technicolor - TG872 Integrated Femtocell

* Ubiquisys - The G3-mini Femtocell from Ubiquisys/SerComm

Winner:

Huawei - Home Media Centre

“The residential market for femtocells is clearly the driver for attaining mass-market volumes, enabling improved coverage, data offload and new service opportunities. In order to gain traction and consumer acceptance, there need to be persuasive reasons for purchase - and also value-added features to protect against future churn. Huawei's Home Media Center includes a broad set of audiovisual capabilities such as video storage, on top of the femto module, which can help it attain a permanent role in a subscriber's home," agreed the judges.

Category 2: Greater femtocell design and technology innovation

Shortlists:

* SpiderCloud - SpiderCloud wireless enterprise radio access network (E-RAN): solving network operators’ network capacity and in-building coverage problems

* Ubiquisys - Ubiquisys Enterprise Femto Net Solution

* Ubiquisys - Colo-Node HSPA Metro Femtocell

Winner:

Ubiquisys - Colo-Node HSPA Metro Femtocell

“One of the areas of femtocell technology in which there is intense carrier interest is the metrozone, and the potential to make small outdoor cells part of an urban build-out. Ubiquisys has come up with a very early product for this much discussed market, an innovation that brings real world metro femtocells a big step closer to reality,” agreed the judges.

Category 3: Femtocell network element design and technology innovation

Shortlists:

* NEC - Femto-Share

* Nokia Siemens Networks - The most compact and integrated Femto Gateway commercially available

* Tatara - The Tatara Convergence Server Platform

Winner:

NEC - Femto-Share

“No different than in their macro-cell networks, operators are looking for ways to keep the cost of deploying a femtocell in check. While there was no shortage of impressive network innovations submitted for this year’s awards, NEC’s focus on costs combined with standards and scalability – particularly as operators look to launch services across markets – helped its FemtoShare and FemtoCloud offers to stand apart,” agreed the judges.

Category 4: Femtocell application concept

Shortlists:

* Airvana - Airvana’s ‘Femto Family Tablet’

* Argela - Argela's Femtocell Advertising Application

* Tatara - FemtoCloud services enabled by the Tatara Convergence Server Platform

Winner:

Airvana - ‘Femto Family Tablet’

“As the femtocell industry matures and commercial launches multiply, it is increasingly important to develop unique applications to help drive demand for femtocells. The Airvana Femto Family Tablet stands out as a compelling application that could deliver real value to both operators and end-users based on unique femtocell features such as presence," agreed the judges.

Category 5: Progress in commercial deployment

Shortlists:

* NEC - Commercial progress

* picoChip - picoXcell femtocell SoC family

* Ubiquisys - Commercially deployed by SoftBank Mobile and SFR

Winner:

picoChip - picoXcell femtocell SoC family

“picoChip's involvement in such a large portion of the commercial femtocell services today is a clear indication of progress in commercial deployment. The sheer volume of femtocell chips that the vendor has shipped is further evidence of commercial momentum in the market,” agreed the judges.

Category 6: Commercial launch

Shortlists:

* AT&T - AT&T 3G MicroCell National Deployment

* Sprint - Sprint Airave

* Vodafone - Vodafone Sure Signal

Winner:

AT&T - 3G MicroCell National Deployment

“AT&T’s 3G MicroCell deployment with Cisco caught the judges’ eyes for two crucial reasons. First and foremost, it emphasised the importance of the customer at the heart of the femtocell experience, positioning technology very much as an enabler, rather than an end in itself. Secondly, the deployment is on a national scale, which given the US market’s size adds an additional layer of complexity,” agreed the judges.

Category 7: Contribution to femtocell standards

Shortlists:

* Airvana - Airvana Standards Team led by Doug Knisely, VP of technology

* Alcatel Lucent - Martin Warner- A catalyst in driving 3GPP femtocell specifications

* Nokia Siemens Networks - Driver for open standards, in standard setting bodies and realization

Winner:

Airvana - Standards Team led by Doug Knisely, VP of technology

“There have been many outstanding contributions to femtocell standards and selecting one above another proved very difficult for the judges – indeed this was one of the closest categories of all. After much discussion the judges decided that they would prefer the spirit of this award to tend more towards clear individual contributions and on that basis the work of Doug Knisely stood out as being particularly important and demonstrating great dedication over extended periods. The femtocell industry is indeed in his debt,” agreed the judges.

Category 8: Enabling technology

Shortlists:

* Airvana - UMTS Femtocell Beacon

* Continuous Computing & picoChip - The world’s first LTE femtocell reference design

* picoChip - picoXcell™ PC323 - The complete next generation femtocell solution

Winner:

Continuous Computing & picoChip - The world’s first LTE femtocell reference design

“The Continuous Computing and picoChip LTE reference design is a great example of an enabling technology that is necessary to kick start development of LTE femtocells. The timing of this reference design is critical for the introduction of LTE femtocells as operators begin to rollout the first LTE networks. At the same time there is a growing understanding of the importance of multi-tier cellular architectures as we move from 3G to 4G and as networks begin to cope with user demand for capacity. The judges wanted to recognize the role of this crucial component in what is likely to become a necessary part of future 4G networks,” agreed the judges.

Category 9: Judges’ Choice

Shortlists:

* Alcatel Lucent - Wilson Street: Alcatel-Lucent’s wireless technology showcasing smallcells living and working with macrocells for the community of Wilson Street

* Ubiquisys - The World’s First Sub-$100 Femtocell - the G3-mini

* Vodafone - Vodafone Sure Signal

Winner:

Vodafone - Sure Signal

“While we in the industry have known about femtocells for many years, the wider public have been unaware of their existence and benefits. The Vodafone marketing campaign changed all that. In a well-crafted and multi-faceted campaign they showed consumers how they could achieve coverage in their home and changed the role and perception of cellular communications. They have done a great deal to advance the success of femtocells and fully deserve to be recognised for this,” agreed the judges.

Category 10: Individual contribution to Femto Forum activities

Shortlists:

* Joshua Adelson, Airvana

* Gibson Ang, GENBAND

* Gordon Mansfield, AT&T

* Mona Mustapha, Vodafone

* Clare Somerville, picoChip

* Fabio Chiussi, Airvana & Mark Walker, Ubiquisys

Winner:

Gordon Mansfield, AT&T

“The Femto Forum’s work is driven mainly by the efforts of individuals from within our member organisations. From an impressive shortlist, the judging panel selected Gordon Mansfield, Executive Director at AT&T, as the individual who has made the single biggest difference to the progress of the Forum. Gordon has been a major force in developing consensus positions among operators and other stakeholders on a range of femtocell related issues. He has been a regular contributor at Femto Forum plenaries and sponsored conferences, as well as being a tireless promoter of femtocells to the wireless industry as a whole by speaking in support of femtocells at numerous industry events. Besides his own time commitments he has worked to assign the right AT&T individuals to contribute in the working groups and SIGs of the Femto Forum. We are very pleased to be able to recognise his dedication to the worldwide acceptance of femtocell technology through this award,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum.

Category 11: Chairman’s award

Winner:

Karim Sharf, TraC

"Most of the Femto Forum’s work is driven by the efforts of individuals from within our member organisations and a huge number have contributed their time and skills to the Forum in the past year and all deserve my considerable thanks. However, one of our key goals we had in the last year was to make tangible progress towards our vision of an open, interoperable ecosystem for femtocells. To that end, in March we ran the first plugfest for UMTS femtocells, which was widely supported by over 20 vendors. Karim Sharf was instrumental in supporting and coordinating that process and his level of contribution to the Forum's aims has been outstanding,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum.

World Vendor Awards 2010

Winners of the first World Vendor Awards were revealed during a dinner at the UnderGlobe in London on the 5 May 2010.

Outstanding Vendor of the Year

Open to

All hardware and software vendors and OEMs who are able to demonstrate organisational scale, strategy and procedures of a truly global standard.

About this category

The winner in this category will demonstrate outstanding innovation backed by quality of service, reliability, and sales support. It is most likely that the winner will offer a strong portfolio of products and solutions, and will be able to demonstrate evidence of strong and disciplined management providing a sound business footing, and strategic direction and future scope for development of the company.

Criteria

Entrants for Outstanding Vendor will be judged on the degree to which they fulfil the following conditions:

Address customer needs in terms of quality, reliability and customer service

Provide strong and innovative product and/or solution offerings

Show sound management, clear strategic direction and strong performance

Demonstrate revenue generation/growth.

What features make your operation stand out from the competition? How have you responded to customer and/or market changes?

Winner: Huawei Technologies

Other Nominees:

BroadSoft

Intec Telecoms Systems

Highly Commended: Juniper Networks

Oracle Communications

Best Specialist Vendor

Open to

All hardware and software vendors and OEMs specialising in provision of a particular product, solution or group of solutions. The Best Specialist Vendor may be a division of a larger company, but must be able to demonstrate their autonomy as a specialist in their own right.

About this category

The winner in this category will demonstrate how their products and solutions address the needs of a specific part of the telecom market and how their foresight and innovation is improving business for their customers.

Criteria

The winning company must have been offering commercially available products prior to the closing date for the award entries. The judges will be looking for evidence of:

Innovation

How easy it is to implement and customer ?

What are the benefits to the users

Value for money

Features that stand out from competitors

Evidence of customer satisfaction e.g. testimonials

Winner: ip.access

Highly Commended: Ipanema Technologies

Other Nominees:

Mformation

RAD

Telmap

Best Mobile Device

Open to

Manufacturers and vendors of all mobile devices, including but not limited to handsets, PDA’s, and netbooks.

About this category

The judges will be looking for the device that has in their opinion best combined innovation and usability to create a mobile device that provides the greatest benefit to the intended users, whether business or consumer.

Criteria

The device must have been commercially available prior to the closing date for the award entries

The judges will be looking for evidence of:

How easy is it to use and implement?

What are the benefits to the users

Value for money

Evidence of customer satisfaction e.g. testimonials

Winner: Apple iPhone/ iPhone 3G

Other Nominees:

BlackBerry BOLD

HTC Hero

Motorola DROID

Nokia E71

Best Brand Campaign

Open to

All hardware and software vendors, OEM’s, device manufacturers, outsourcing companies, systems integrators.

About this category

This category will recognise the organisation that has created the most effective and compelling brand campaign for its products or services in one or more branches of the media. This may be through a single campaign or series of campaigns. Only in this category can supporting material be accepted, in the form of printed or audio/visual material from the campaign, for review by the judging panel. Please email supporting material to vendorawards@totaltele.com.

Criteria

The campaign must have run or be running during the calendar year 2009.

Entrants should provide details of:

Reason for the campaign(s)

The rationale behind choice of media, company or service name/ slogan, etc

Scope and target audience

Stated business objectives behind the campaign

Raised brand awareness and positive impact on market share, valuation or bottom line.

Winner: Juniper Networks

Best Outsourcing Initiative

Open to

This category is open both to dedicated outsourcing companies and to vendors, consultants and integrators running outsourcing initiatives.

About this category

It covers all forms of outsourcing initiative, including BPO, IT outsourcing and network outsourcing, and the winner will be the organisation that can demonstrate an initiative best delivering its planned benefits, whether these be cost saving, skill improvement, or resource release. The judges will be particularly looking for evidence of innovation that has delivered tangible benefits.

Criteria

The campaign must have been initiated or have delivered its first measurable results during calendar year 2009. In addition to evidence of innovation, judges will seek to understand what the key project objectives were, how successfully the project was implemented and how success is being measured. Credit will be given for being able to supply independent testimonials supporting project success or process improvement.

Winner: Comviva Technologies

Other Nominees:

Firstsource Solutions

Huawei Technologies

Infosys BPO

ITS

Clean Technology Initiative

Open to

All Vendors, OEMs, integrators and consultants

About this category

This category seeks to reward the company that has best reduced the environmental impact of telecommunication services through its products and solutions or utilisation of products and solutions. The judges will be seeking evidence of eco-friendly products, innovations, and specific programmes or initiatives.

Criteria

Entrants should be able to demonstrate:

Evidence improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, recycling, conservation, manufacturing and logistics cost reduction and eco-friendly consumption.

A measurable programme, delivering against and reaching set targets for improvement.

Future plans to continue to address corporate, social & environmental issues

How your clean technology programme has benefited stakeholders including customers/end users, employees, and the wider public.

Winner: Eltek Valere

Other Nominees:

ADTRAN

Huawei Technologies

Technology Foresight

Open to

All equipment vendors, OEM’s and developers of software solutions, as well as outsourcing companies and integrators that have deployed or trialled a new technology by an operator, service provider, or enterprise telecom customer.

About this category

This award will go to the individual or organisation that has shown the greatest foresight in developing or fostering the development of a technology used or able to be used in delivering or receiving communications services via carrier networks.

Criteria

Entrants should be able to demonstrate:

The development of a technology with potential for far reaching effect on business or consumer markets

That the technology and/or its application are the original work of the entrant, and that they are not simply implementing another company’s technology.

That it represents an innovative approach to an existing aspect of communications networks or services, or opens up an entirely new area

That the technology works and has potential in a commercial environment.

What revenues do you expect your technology to produce? How do you intend to grow revenues and/or business from your technology or product over the next three years?

Winner: SpiderCloud Wireless

Highly Commended: Huawei Technologies

Other Nominees:

Juniper Networks

Evolving Systems

ECI Telecom

Best Software Solution

Open to

Software vendors and developers, as well as integrators providing software solutions.

About this category

The judges will be looking for an organisation that is providing or utilising a predominantly software driven solution. This could be in any part of the telecom sphere, including using software in place of hardware upgrades, or a traditionally software driven solution such as billing, network management etc.

Criteria

Entrants should be able to demonstrate why their solution is the most appropriate for the problem addressed, the commercial performance/cost savings brought by the solution, and highlight innovations brought to the sector. Customer testimonials should illustrate the degree of satisfaction delivered by the solution.

Winner: Comviva Technologies

Other nominees:

cVidya Networks

Juniper Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks

Novarra

Sybase

Technologist of the Year

This will be a public vote looking for the CTO, IT Director or senior technology leader of a telecom software or hardware vendor who has demonstrated outstanding vision in driving forward the organisations product and solution offerings, innovations and realising the potential to turn research into commercially successful products.

The Total Telecom team will seek nominations from the industry of senior technology leaders who are perceived as driving change, innovation and success in the industry, as a shortlist of which will be put to the public vote.

Winner: Thierry Klein, Founder and CTO, Alzette Venture Alcatel Lucent

Other Nominees:

Rupert Baines, VP Marketing, picoChip

Ajay Bhatt, Architect, Intel

Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEO, RIM

Antonio Nucci, CTO Narus, Inc.

Best Support System

Open to

All vendors of support systems, including, but not limited to Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS)

About this category

The judges will be looking for the support system that has created the greatest service improvement, cost saving, or enabled the greatest increase in business income. They will be seeking product innovation, ease of use and application, and delivery of customer satisfaction.

Criteria

The support system should have been in operation during 2009 and the entrant should be able to demonstrate

How has your product or application improved customer satisfaction levels?

Provide evidence of improved customer acquisition or retention levels?

That the solution is simple to operate and easy to understand with good customer training and support

That the solution is scalable and flexible, that it can cater for new service delivery platforms, service combinations and business models.

Winner: Comptel Corporation

Highly Commended: Aito Technologies

Other Nominees:

Martin Dawes Systems

Sigma Systems

More about the World Vendor Awards here.

Informa LTE Awards 2010 at the LTE World Summit

Last year I covered the Femto Forum Awards at the Femtocells World Summit and have in past also covered the LTE World Summit in quite details. This year I will again be attending the LTE World summit and will hopefully be able to cover the LTE Awards in detail.

The awards will be for following categories:

• Best Network/Device Testing Product for LTE
• Best Contribution to LTE Standards (Individual or Company)
• Significant Progress for a Commercial Launch of LTE by an Operator
• Significant Progress for a Commercial Launch of LTE by a Vendor
• Best Enabling Product/Technology for LTE (components, subsystems etc)
• Best Contribution to Research & Development for LTE
• Best Green LTE Product or Initiative
• Award for Individual Contribution to LTE Development

To enter, visit www.lteawards.com Choose the category/ies you would like to enter and put together the supporting materials – full details available on the website. Submit your entry/ies by 26th February 2010.

Brochure available here.

Femto Forum Awards 2009: Winners and Losers

The Femto Forum, Femtocells award for 2009 were announced at a dinner on Wednesday,24th of June. Here are the names of the finalists and the winners:


1. Femtocell or femtocell network element design and technology innovation
• Bewan Systems - Femtocell residential gateway
• ip.access Ltd - nano3G
• Motorola Inc - Digital picture frame
Winner: ip.access Ltd - nano3G Enterprise Solution.

The nano3G represents an evolution of the femtocell into the enterprise environment. Not only does it support the 3GPP's new femtocell standard, it also represents a step up in coverage and capacity.

2. Femtocell service (commercial, prototype or demo)
• ip.access Ltd - Facebook virtual fridge notes
• Softbank Mobile Corp - IMS-based Femto trial
• Ubiquisys Ltd - Podcast sync
Winner: ip.access Ltd - Facebook virtual fridge notes.

The service implements a "classic" application use case - where the subscriber receives a reminder message when arriving at home - but with an innovative extension that enables the message to be composed and sent using Facebook.

3. Progress in commercial deployment (vendor or ecosystem)
• NEC Corporation - Commercial contracts and live trials
• Softbank Mobile Corp - Metro area trial
• Starent Networks/Airwalk Communications/Cellcom/Mavenir Systems - Multi-vendor femtocell solution
Winner: NEC Corporation

This recognizes NEC's strong traction in the market with several commercial contracts in place and several live trials underway with operators around the world.

4. Significant progress or commercial launch by a large carrier
• Softbank Mobile Corp - Launch
• Sprint Nextel Corp - Launch
• Vodafone Group Services Ltd - Trial
Winner: Sprint Nextel Corp.

This recognizes this commercial launch, which was the world's first commercial deployment of femtocells.

5. Significant progress or commercial launch by a small carrier
• Cellcom - Launch
• Chungwa Telecom Co Ltd - Launch
Winner: Cellcom.

For Cellcom’s deployment of the world's first IMS-based CDMA femtocell network for consumers and enterprises.

6. Contribution to femtocell standards (individual or company)
• Alcatel Lucent - General contribution to femtocell standards
• Nokia Siemens Networks - General contribution to 3GPP femtocell standard
• Taka Yoshizawa - Contribution to femtocell management standardisation
Winner: Taka Yoshizawa, Thomson

For his pivotal role in defining the femtocell management specifications by working through the Femto Forum, the Broadband Forum and the 3GPP.

7. Enabling technology (components, subsystems, modules etc.)
• Epitiro - Femtocell test suite
• Kineto Wireless Inc - Femtocell gateway controller
• picoChip Designs Ltd - Optimized system-on-chip solution
Winner: picoChip Designs Ltd -picoXcell™ PC302 SoC.

This optimized system-on-chip, which supports the 3GPP's new femtocell standard, embodies five years of femtocell experience, comprehensive interoperability testing and numerous real-world deployments.

8. Social vision - use of femtocells for social / economic / environmental development
• Alcatel Lucent - Consumer research into femtocell usage patterns
• Sagem Communications - Ecodesign
• Softbank Mobile Corp - Niimi project
Winner: Softbank Mobile Corp - Niimi project.

The project illustrates how femtocells can be cost-effectively deployed to deliver services in rural environments where existing coverage is limited.

9. Award for individual contributions to Femto Forum activities
• Chris Cox of ip.access - For coordinating the FemtoZone at Mobile World Congress
• Chris Fenton of Telefonica-O2 - For achieving architectural consensus in the Network & Interoperability working group
• Taka Yoshizawa of Thomson - For leading the Management subgroup to completion of TR-196
• Aya Mukaikubo of Softbank Mobile - For wide-ranging contributions to the Marketing & Promotion and Regulatory Working Groups as well as the Services Special Interest Group
• Dave Nowicki of Airvana - For leading the business case modeling work to an outstanding conclusion
• Alan Law of Vodafone & Chris Smart of picoChip – For coordinating the interference management white paper.
Winner: Chris Fenton of Telefónica-O2

For achieving architectural consensus as chair of the Femto Forum Network & Interoperability Working Group.

“The judges were extremely impressed by the high quality and number of award submissions which reflect the health and innovation of the femtocell industry,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum. “The femtocell industry is rapidly evolving as major advances are made in the technology, standards, services and applications - these awards recognise and reward this progress. Our congratulations to the winners and to all those who participated.”

The awards were open to the whole industry and were judged independently of the Femto Forum by a panel of distinguished analysts, journalists and industry experts, chaired by Professor William Webb, Head of R&D at Ofcom.

The judging panel comprised:
• Chairman of the judging panel: Prof. William Webb - Head of R&D - Ofcom
• Dean Bubley - Director - Disruptive Analysis
• Michelle Donegan - European Editor - Unstrung
• Caroline Gabriel - Head of Research - Rethink Wireless
• Peter Jarich - Research Director - Current Analysis
• Aditya Kaul - Senior Analyst, Mobile Networks - ABI Research
• Phil Marshall - Senior Research Fellow, Technology Research - Yankee Group
• Mike Roberts – Principal Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media
• Sam Samra - Senior Director, Technical Programs - CDMA Development Group
• Adrian Scrase - Vice-President - 3GPP

Anritsu's LTE Tester MD8430A is a winner

Anritsu Company announces its MD8430A Signalling Tester was the only test instrument to win a prestigious CTIA Emerging Technology (E-Tech) Award, announced during the International CTIA WIRELESSS® 2009 show in Las Vegas. The MD8430A, the industry’s first LTE base station simulator, earned a second prize in the 4G - Service Creation & Development category of the E-Tech Awards, which recognize the finest wireless products and services.

“We are thrilled and honored to have won a CTIA E-Tech award because it signifies the best and brightest technologies in the wireless market. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the voting and supported the MD8430A,” said Wade Hulon, Vice President and General Manager of Anritsu Company, Americas Sales Region. “The MD8430A is being used by LTE chipset manufacturers to ensure the quality of their products, speed time to market, and reduce design and production test costs.”

Approximately 300 entries were received for this year’s E-Tech Awards. They were reviewed by a panel of 30 recognized members of the media, industry analysts and executives who selected finalists based on innovation, functionality, technological importance, implementation and overall “wow” factor. More than 40,000 wireless professionals voted on the finalists to determine the winners in 18 categories.

The MD8430A is a highly accurate cost-effective solution for manufacturers of LTE chipsets and mobile devices to evaluate their products and improve time to market. Developed in conjunction with leading chipset manufacturers, the MD8430A augments Anritsu’s broad 3GPP test suite, providing developers of wireless devices and systems with a single-source test solution company.

The MD8430A is designed with 4 RF units that enable 2x2 MIMO system handover tests in a simulated network environment. The base station simulator can conduct end-to-end testing at downlink speeds up to 150 Mbps and uplink speeds up to 50 Mbps. All critical 3GPP air-interface LTE protocol tests, including baseband coding/decoding processing tests; protocol sequence tests, such as position registration, origination, termination, handover, terminal and network disconnect tests; and application tests, are supported. Powerful L1/L2 cache analysis functions are provided as well.