On behalf of Light Reading's editors, it is once again my pleasure to announce this year's shortlist for the annual Leading Lights Awards.

Now in its 17th year, the Leading Lights is Light Reading's way of recognizing the innovation in and continued evolution of the global communications industry.

Before we get to the finalists, let me first thank everyone who took the time to submit entries and tell us about the companies they work for and the products and strategies that are making a difference in the industry. The competition is tough and the companies making it this far should be proud.

The judging process

The judging process is always a challenge wherein we apply some objective methodology to what is essentially a subjective process. Of course, we simply can't put everyone through to the final round and, no, we have nothing against your company personally. The awards judging process does evolve a little each year and this year we've made sure that each category had more than one judge and that our editors were constantly collaborating with industry analysts and subject-area experts.

The judges for the finalist round included Light Reading editors Fiona Graham, Jeff Baumgartner, Iain Morris, Alan Breznick, Kelsey Kusterer Ziser and Mike Dano, as well as our all-star contributors Nicole Ferraro and Roz Roseboro. We also had the help of an excellent panel of guest judges. These included Dell'Oro VP Jeff Heynen, Patterson Advisory Group CEO Jim Patterson, Omdia Principal Analyst James Crawshaw, Heavy Reading Principal Analyst Jennifer Clark, Heavy Reading Senior Analyst Sterling Perrin, Mobile Ecosystem Managing Director Mark Lowenstein and Tantra Analyst Principal Prakash Sangam.

One last programming note: We started the 2021 Leading Lights with 26 categories but dropped two – Outstanding Optical/IP Networking Components Vendor and Outstanding Use Case: Cable Business Services – because they lacked the volume of entries required to make it a good contest.

What's next

Coming up: The Leading Lights winners will be announced via an online video on October 1, 2021. A Leading Lights "after-party," to celebrate the contest's finalists and winners, will be held during the week of October 26, 2021, to coincide with our editorial staff's tradition of attending and covering Mobile World Congress Los Angeles. We've booked a venue for the after-party and will reveal those details in the coming weeks.

Figure 1:

The shortlist

But before that happens, we need to get on with the business of revealing the finalists our editors and guest judges have picked for the Light Reading Leading Lights Awards. The shortlist is below, so start scrolling:

Best Deal Maker

Awarded to the company that has consistently demonstrated good timing, judgment and execution in high-profile acquisitions, partnerships, joint ventures and other multi-company financial or strategic arrangements.

Best New 5G Core Product

Awarded to the vendor that has launched the most innovative 5G core product during the past year.

Best New Cable Tech Product or Service

Awarded to the vendor or network operator that has launched the most innovative cable technology product or cable-powered service during the past year.

Best New Cloud Product or Service (Network Operator)

Awarded to the network operator (telco, cloud, cable, etc.) that has launched the most innovative cloud-native product or service during the past year.

Best New Open RAN Product

Awarded to the vendor that has launched the most innovative open RAN product during the past year.

Best New Optical Networking/IP Product

Awarded to the company that has launched the most innovative optical networking or IP product during the past year.

Best New Video/Media Product or Service

Awarded to the company that has launched the most innovative streaming video or other media product or service during the past year.

Company of the Year (Private)

Awarded to the privately held firm that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Company of the Year (Public)

Awarded to the publicly listed firm that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Most Innovative 4G/5G Business Service

Awarded to the company that has launched a leading, innovative service delivered on 4G or 5G networks for business customers during the past year.

Most Innovative 4G/5G Consumer Service

Awarded to the company that has launched a leading, innovative service delivered on 4G or 5G networks for consumers during the past year.

Most Innovative Hybrid Networking Strategy

Awarded to the company that has outlined and clearly communicated an innovative, market-leading hybrid networking technology strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative SD-WAN Product/Service Evolution

Awarded to the company that has outlined and clearly communicated how its SD-WAN product or service has improved and kept changing in the past year to help deliver a superior SD-WAN experience to its customers.

Most Innovative Service Provider Cloud Strategy

Awarded to the network operator or service provider that has outlined and clearly communicated an innovative, market-leading cloud strategy during the past year.

Outstanding Digital Enablement Vendor

Awarded to the next-generation OSS/BSS/CX, analytics or digital commerce systems vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Outstanding Test & Measurement Vendor

Awarded to the communications networking test and measurement, monitoring or assurance systems vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud and makes employees happy.

Outstanding Use Case: Customer Experience

Awarded to the company that used its communications technology or network to deliver a superior customer experience, bringing value to individuals or communities in the past year.

Outstanding Use Case: Edge Computing

Awarded to the company that can articulate a compelling example of how it delivered edge computing solutions – either network or customer-facing – that helped make a difference in a customer's business during the past year.

Outstanding Use Case: Private Wireless Networks

Awarded to the company that can share the most compelling example of building and/or operating a private wireless network on behalf of a corporate or municipal customer during the past year.

Outstanding Use Case: Service Provider AI/Automation

Awarded to the company that is using automation and/or artificial intelligence in an innovative way to improve network performance, customer service or business operations.

Outstanding Use Case: Service Provider IoT

Awarded to the service provider or other company helping customers change the way they do business with innovative Internet of Things devices and services.

Outstanding Use Case: Service Provider Security (can include SD-WAN)

Awarded to the network operator, cloud provider or other service provider that can articulate a compelling example where they helped provide exceptional security products or services to a customer during the past year.

Person of the Year

Awarded to the communications industry individual, at any corporate level, who made an unmistakably big difference in your company's performance, character, community or culture in the last 12 months.

Congratulations to everyone who has made the shortlist and thank you to everyone who entered the Leading Lights. In the coming weeks, the Light Reading team will write about the finalists and provide some insight into the shortlisted submissions.

Light Reading Hall of Fame

We need a bit more time to vet the Hall of Fame suggestions. The inductees to the Light Reading Hall of Fame, which seeks to recognize several individuals – the famous and infamous – for their remarkable contributions to the sector, will be announced in December.

— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading