Once again, it's time to explain our picks for this year's Light Reading Hall of Fame. We started this trend last year -- see Light Reading's Hall of Fame: The First Five -- and this year's group is even more polarizing.

These inductees were announced last week when we revealed the winners of the 2011 Leading Lights Awards. (See LR Names 2011 Leading Lights Winners and LR Live!: 2011 Leading Lights Awards Photos.)

The main thing to remember is that this list celebrates the famous and the infamous in roughly equal doses. The list made up of individuals whose contributions have shaped the modern telecom industry, or whose impact simply cannot be ignored.

Some on this list are giants of innovation. Some are savvy managers. Some are total freakin' scoundrels. And then there's one of "the crazy ones."

These are the names that shape the way we communicate: To celebrate one type of individual, or one type of catalyst, while ignoring all others, wouldn't be right and would be just be too boring for words.

• Ed Whitacre
• Joseph P. Nacchio
• Hatem Dowidar
• Martin Cooper
• Gary Smith
• Steve Jobs

— The Staff, Light Reading