The 2013 Leading Lights awards winners have been announced at a gala dinner attended by hundreds of communications industry executives at The OUT Hotel in New York City.

Following a swift but rigorous assessment of hundreds of submissions in 12 categories, including a number of new services categories, Light Reading announced its finalists in early September. (See Light Reading's 2013 Leading Lights Finalists.)

Now the winners have been revealed and they are:

Most Innovative SMB Service
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has launched the most innovative business service for small or medium-sized corporate users during the past year.

Winner: Comcast Business - Upware

With its cloud-based app store that enables small businesses to quickly and easily access a range of IT services, Comcast Business showed that innovation is not reserved for the larger enterprise market.

Most Innovative Enterprise Service
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has launched the most innovative business service for enterprise corporate users during the past year.

Winner: Reliance Communications - Connect Prime

Using its existing 3G and CDMA services, Indian operator Reliance Communications developed a package of mobile data connectivity services that offered a better quality service than fixed broadband and which pre-empted the impending threat that will be offered by the introduction of 4G services in India.

Most Innovative 4G Service
Awarded to the mobile operator that has launched the most innovative 4G LTE service for its customers during the past year.

Winner: FreedomPop - FreedomPop

The US 4G startup has disrupted the market with its contract-free service packages that include free data that can be shared by multiple end users.

Most Innovative Carrier WiFi Deployment
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has launched the most innovative carrier-class WiFi service for its customers during the past year.

Winner: Time Warner Cable Inc. - TWC WiFi in New York City

The cable operator has integrated WiFi into its services strategy with an offering that improves customer loyalty by encouraging customers to upgrade their service packages to include broadband. The WiFi service is also on offer for free for a limited time to non-TWC customers, giving them a taste of the service they could have if they signed up.

Most Innovative Carrier Cloud Service
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has launched the most innovative Carrier Cloud service (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS) for its customers during the past year.

Winner: IBM Corp. and AT&T Inc. - IBM and AT&T Global Cloud Service

The IT and telecom giants teamed up to combine the best of IBM's cloud offer with the secure network connectivity that AT&T can deliver, resulting in the Global Cloud Service, an attractive package for companies looking for an all-in-one offer from trusted names.

Most Innovative Ethernet/Optical Service
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has launched the most innovative Carrier Ethernet or optical transport service for its customers during the past year.

Winner: tw telecom inc. - E-Access

The first service to launch based on the Metro Ethernet Forum 33 Ethernet Access Services specification, E-Access offers tw telecom's wholesale customers the same level of interconnect service that the operator's enterprise customers are used to.

Company of the Year (Private)
Awarded to the privately held firm that stands out among its competitors, innovates constantly, makes investors proud, and makes employees happy.

Winner: Guavus Inc.

The analytics platform specialist has had an outstanding year, raising cash, making a strategic acquisition, and adding to its roster of Tier 1 operator customers. A big year for the big-data player.

Company of the Year (Public)
Awarded to the publicly listed firm that stands out among its competitors, innovates constantly, makes investors proud, and makes employees happy.

Winner: Amdocs Inc.

A year of product innovation, targeted M&A, and enviable profitability made Amdocs the standout public company during the past year.

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 arrangements.

Winner: Oracle Corp.

The acquisitions of Acme Packet and Tekelec expanded Oracle's communications portfolio into uncharted territory (namely, telecom network hardware) and gave it a strong foothold in some key sectors, notably session border control, Diameter signaling for 4G and NFV.

Best New Product (Cable)
Awarded to the company that has developed a potentially market-leading product that, through engineering and technical excellence, enables the deployment of profitable next-generation cable services.

Winner: Casa Systems - C100G I-CCAP Platform

In the face of fierce competition, Casa has developed a converged cable access platform (CCAP) that, through its platform density and cost effectiveness, has made a mark in this emerging sector.

Best New Product (Mobile)
Awarded to the company that has developed a potentially market-leading product that, through engineering and technical excellence, enables the deployment of profitable next-generation mobile services.

Winner: Cisco Systems Inc. - Quantum SON Suite

Cisco's self-optimizing network (SON) product has become the mobile network intelligence platform to watch following its network-wide deployment at AT&T, one of the biggest proofs of viability for SON to date.

Best New Product (Telecom)
Awarded to the company that has developed a potentially market-leading product that, through engineering and technical excellence, enables the deployment of profitable next-generation telecom services.

Winner: Cyan Inc. - Blue Planet SDN Platform

Cyan has become one of the pioneers of the Carrier SDN sector with the development and commercial deployment of its orchestration system that enables network operators to issue commands to multi-vendor network elements.

So those are our 12 category winners. Look out for pictures and videos from the Leading Lights party and separate coverage of our 2013 Hall of Fame inductees.

— The staff, Light Reading