Light Reading's Leading Lights 2024: The Winners

Light Reading is delighted to announce the winners from hundreds of entries and dozens of finalists in the 20 categories comprising the 20th annual Leading Lights Awards.

The Leading Lights is Light Reading's flagship awards program, returning for its 20th year to recognize the top companies and their executives for outstanding achievements in the global communications industry. The Leading Lights finalists and winners present an exceptional snapshot of the technology, applications, services and innovation that help telecom, cable and cloud providers stand out.

Our judging panel contributed their opinions and subject-area expertise to help us arrive at our finalists and winners. The judges included Dell'Oro Group's Jeff Heynen, Stefan Pongratz, Siân Morgan and Jimmy Yu; Ookla's Mark Giles, Katherine Macdonald and Chip Strange; our Omdia colleagues James Crawshaw, Inderpreet Kaur, Roz Roseboro, Ian Redpath and Jaimie Lenderman; Core Analysis' Patrick Lopez; Canalys' Cynthia Chen; Opensignal's Sylwia Kechiche; Rosenblatt Securities' Mike Genovese; Vertical Systems Group's Erin Dunne; and our Heavy Reading colleagues Sterling Perrin, Ruth Brown and Gabriel Brown.

Light Reading's staff and contributing editors also helped with judging, presenting, writing, editing and keeping the whole program organized and moving along. Thanks goes to Jeff Baumgartner, Iain Morris, Mike Dano, Kelsey Ziser, Emily Warren, Nicole Ferraro, Tereza Krásová, Dawn Bushaus and Gigi Onag. Our staff and contributing copy editors for the project (and everything else) are Paul Rainford, Gin Martin, Grace Beck and Erin Barker. Pierre Landriau produced and edited our announcement video and AI technologies were only used to order lunch.

Related:Light Reading's Leading Lights Awards 2024: The Finalists

What you'll find below are the descriptions, finalists and winners of each category in this year's awards. The scoring margin between winners and finalists was razor thin in most categories, with sometimes only a half point deciding the winner. This is to say that finalists are listed again for a reason – every entrant making it this far should be very proud.

And now, here are the winners of the 2024 Leading Lights:

Products and services

Most Innovative Optical Networking Product

Awarded to the optical systems vendor or optical components vendor that has provided the most innovative optical networking solution for service providers or webscale customers.

Finalists

  • Acacia – Delphi DSP ASIC 

  • Adtran Networks SE – Coherent 100ZR Pluggable Series

  • Credo Technology Group – Dove 850 Linear Receive Optics (LRO) DSP

  • Infinera – ICE-X 800G multi-haul intelligent coherent pluggables

  • Lumentum – 800G ZR+ Transceivers

  • Marvell – Orion 800G Coherent Digital Signal Processor (DSP)

  • Precision OT – Genesee Dispersion Compensation ASIC

  • Qualcomm – 10G Fiber Gateway Platform

Winner

Infinera – ICE-X 800G multi-haul intelligent coherent pluggables

Most Innovative Routing and Switching Solution

Awarded to the vendor that has launched the most innovative hardware- or software-based routing and switching solution for network operators, enterprises, cloud networks or data center applications.

Finalists

  • DZS – Saber 2200 Coherent xHaul Ethernet transport switch

  • Juniper Networks – AI-Native Networking Platform 

  • Marvell – Teralynx 10

  • Nokia – 7730 Service Interconnect Router (SXR)

  • RtBrick – FullStack

Winner

Nokia – 7730 Service Interconnect Router (SXR)

Most Innovative Service Provider Transport Product or Solution 

Awarded to the vendor providing the most innovative transport solution for service provider customers. The range of applications could include satellite backhaul, microwave, mobile network fronthaul and backhaul, as well as traditional telecom WDM.

Finalists

  • BroadbandOne – Telco-as-a-Service (TaaS)

  • Infinera – ICE-X 400G Single Fiber 

  • IP Infusion – OcNOS 6.4

  • Marvell – COLORZ 800 ZR/ZR+ Pluggable Module

  • Nokia – Coherent Routing Solution for IP-Optical Network Convergence

  • ZTE – Pluggable 800G OTN Solution

Winner

BroadbandOne – Telco-as-a-Service (TaaS)

Most Innovative Telecom Software Product or Solution 

Awarded to the vendor providing the most innovative solution that helps CSPs evolve and improve their IT back office (OSS/BSS/CX), making their networks more efficient and allowing them to deliver a better customer experience.

Finalists

  • Amdocs – amAIz

  • Infinera – Open Wave Manager

  • Jio Platforms Ltd. – JioBrain

  • Mavenir – Digital Enablement Platform

  • Optiva – Optiva BSS Platform (OBP) on Google Marketplace

  • Rakuten Symphony – Rakuten Site Manager

  • Tata Elxsi – Sky DNE (Digital Network Enabler)

  • Totogi – Charging-as-a-Service

  • Vonage – Network Registry

  • ZTE – uSmartNet

Winner

Totogi – Charging-as-a-Service

Most Innovative Test & Measurement Product or Solution 

Awarded to the systems vendor with the most innovative new solution that aids communications service providers in network testing, measurement, monitoring or assurance.

Finalists

  • Keysight – AresONE 800GE Dual Interface Model-M

  • Ookla – Downdetector Explorer with AI-Powered Situation Reports

  • RADCOM – Virtual Test Drive

  • RouteThis – Certify

  • VIAVI – INX 760 Probe Microscope

  • Witbe – Quality of Experience and Data Usage Benchmarking Technology

Winner

VIAVI – INX 760 Probe Microscope

Most Innovative RAN Product or Solution 

Awarded to the vendor with the most innovative radio access network (RAN) product or solution that was either launched or significantly improved during the past year.

Finalists

  • Cohere Technologies and Vodafone – Universal Spectrum Multiplier Software

  • Corning – Everon 5G Enterprise Radio Access Network (ERAN) 620

  • EdgeQ – Base Station on a Chip

  • Globalstar – XCOM Radio Access Network (RAN)

  • Radisys, Lockheed Martin and Intel – 5G Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB)

  • Tejas Networks – TJ1400 Ultra-Converged Baseband Product

  • ZTE – UBR Pioneer

Winner

ZTE – UBR Pioneer

Most Innovative Broadband Product or Solution

Awarded to the company that has launched the most innovative new product or solution to enable the delivery or enhance the user experience of high-speed broadband access.

Finalists

  • Amazon – eero Max 7

  • ATX Networks – GigaXtend Orchestrator

  • Calix – Calix Broadband Platform Intelligent Access Solution

  • Gfiber – 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7

  • Harmonic – Beacon Intelligent Speed Maximizer

  • Nokia – Next generation multi-PON toolkit

  • Tarana Wireless – Gigabit 1 (G1) in 6GHz

  • Vecima Networks – Entra EN9000 GAP Node

Winner

Calix – Calix Broadband Platform Intelligent Access Solution

Most Innovative Cloud Product or Service 

Awarded to the service provider, cloud provider or vendor that has launched the most innovative cloud-native, communications-focused product or service during the past year.

Finalists

  • Arrcus – FlexMCN Egress Cost Control (ECC)

  • Console Connect – Edge SIM

  • Extreme Networks – ExtremeCloud IQ

  • IBM – Hybrid Cloud Mesh

  • Juniper Networks – AI-Native Networking Platform

  • Nokia – Corteca Home Controller

  • Rakuten Symphony – Rakuten Cloud

  • Titan.ium Platform and Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier

  • Wind River – Wind River Studio

Winner

Wind River – Wind River Studio

Companies and executives

Company of the Year

Awarded to the company (public or private) that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, has a track record of earnings stability and has the potential to outperform the market.

Finalists

  • Amdocs

  • KT

  • Singtel

  • SK Telecom

  • Vecima Networks

  • Zayo Group

Winner

KT

Executive of the Year 

Awarded to the senior executive who has demonstrated decisive leadership, good judgement and has stood out in the past year as someone who made an unmistakable difference in their company or business unit.

Finalists

  • Arpit Joshipura, GM, SVP, Linux Foundation

  • Dinni Jain, CEO, GFiber

  • Elif Yenihan Kaya, Director, Network Capabilities, Turkcell

  • Bruce Kelley, SVP and CTO, Netscout

  • Woojune Kim, President and Head of Networks Business, Samsung

  • Igor Leprince, Group CEO, Boldyn Networks

  • Bill Major, CEO, FiberLight, LLC

  • Rajesh Vashist, Chairman and CEO, SiTime Corp.

Winner

Woojune Kim, President and Head of Networks Business, Samsung

For Story Only Winners Graphic Post-1280x720.png

Outstanding Use Cases

AI/Machine Learning 

Finalists

  • 6D Technologies – AI-driven Customer Value Management Platform

  • Ciena – Blue Planet Network Health Predictor

  • Huawei and China Mobile – ADN Net Master

  • Jio Platforms Ltd. – Forecasting Network Capacity with JioBrain

  • Mavenir – Network Intelligence as a Service (NIaaS)

  • SK Telecom, Nokia, NTT and NTT Docomo – AI-native Air Interface (AI-AI)

  • SK Telecom – On-Device AI for Smartphone Power Saving

  • ZTE and DITO – 3D Radio Composer Solution

Winner

SK Telecom – On-Device AI for Smartphone Power Saving

Bridging the Digital Divide 

Finalists

  • Baicells – Connecting the Tohono O'odham Tribe in Arizona

  • Calix – Broadband Academy & The Broadband Success Playbook for Tribes

  • Conexon, Washington EMC, Tri-County Electric Cooperative – Conexon Connect Fiber Broadband Impact

  • DZS, Connect2First, Irby Utilities – City of Cabot Fiber Network

  • Fibertime Networks, Nokia and VulaCoin – South African Internet Access

  • HFCL – Baidabettu and Baslambi Villages

  • Hughes and Mexico's SICT – Isla Santa Margarita Smart Village Project

  • Hughes, Microsoft and Colombia's MICT – Juntas de Internet: Connectivity Communities

  • Tarana Wireless and Choice Broadband – Navajo Nation project

  • Veea – Veea Digital Divide Solution for Argamukti, Indonesia

Winner

Conexon, Washington EMC, Tri-County Electric Cooperative – Conexon Connect Fiber Broadband Impact

Customer Experience 

Finalists

  • Arelion – OSTTRA's Ethernet Services

  • Comba Telecom and Highline – Viracopos International Airport's 5G Indoor Network

  • DZS and UScellular – Self-Install 5G CPE

  • Frontier Communications – Marcus Communications' Business Fiber

  • HFCL – Customer Loyalty

  • PearlComm and Conexon – Pearl River Valley EPA Fiber Network

  • Spectrum Enterprise – Texas State Aquarium

Winner

Spectrum Enterprise – Texas State Aquarium

Network Energy Efficiency 

Finalists

  • Amdocs and Claro Argentina – Mobile Network Energy Efficiency

  • Mavenir – Energy-Efficient 5G UPF

  • Nokia Mobile Networks – Virtual Power Plant Solution

  • SK Telecom, Intel and Nokia – AI-Assisted Network Energy Efficiency Solutions

Winner

Mavenir – Energy-Efficient 5G UPF

Networked Edge 

Finalists

  • Graphiant and Rampart CIO – New Network Edge

  • Qwilt, Cirion – Media Delivery for Content Publishers in Latin America

  • Rakuten Symphony – Stateful Edge with Rakuten Cloud

  • Singtel – Paragon for Telcos

Winner

Qwilt, Cirion – Media Delivery for Content Publishers in Latin America

Private Networks 

Finalists

  • Anterix – 900 MHz Private Wireless Ecosystem for Utilities

  • Nokia, Solis Tower de Brasil – Vera Cruz do Xingu Farm

  • Trilogy NextGen, Microsoft and Ericsson – TBN Studio

Winner

Nokia, Solis Tower de Brasil – Vera Cruz do Xingu Farm

RAN Deployment 

Finalists

  • Freshwave – Princess Alexandra Hospital 

  • Mavenir – Paradise Mobile

  • P.I. Works – Telus

  • Skylo – DDS Satellite Service

Winner

Skylo – DDS Satellite Service

Network and Service Automation 

Finalists

  • Airties – Airties Orbit

  • Ciena – Spectrum Defragmentation App

  • Huawei and China Mobile Zhejiang – ICN Master Solution

  • Nokia – Multi-Access Network Slicing

  • Radisys, Dense Air and EdgeQ, Inc. – Millennium Lakeside Garage Network Pilot

  • ZTE and China Mobile Fujian – Network Optimization

Winner

Radisys, Dense Air and EdgeQ, Inc. – Millennium Lakeside Garage Network Pilot

IoT 

Finalists

  • Cradlepoint – City of Las Vegas Smart Park

  • Infovista and Italgas – Automated Smart Meter Monitoring and Assurance

  • Skylo, Murata and Sony – 5G-Ready Narrowband IoT Over Satellite

  • ZTE, China Mobile and Guangdong Limited – China Southern Power Grid (Shenzhen)

Winner

Cradlepoint – City of Las Vegas Smart Park

Driving Digital Transformation 

Finalists

  • Boingo Wireless – MTA, LIRR Cellular Expansion

  • Comba Telecom – Smart Transport Service

  • LotusFlare and Globe Telecom – GFiber Prepaid

  • Matrixx Software – One New Zealand LaunchPad MVNE

  • Spectrum Enterprise – Paul Miller Ford

Winner

Boingo Wireless – MTA, LIRR Cellular Expansion

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists and thanks to everyone who entered the Leading Lights. 

About the Authors

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

Pierre Landriau

Video Producer and BBQ Expert, Light Reading

Pierre Landriau, a.k.a. "Le French Producer Extraordinaire," knows his way around B2B video marketing after working at three major UK publishing companies: Haymarket, UBM and now Informa. Pierre edits and produces all of Light Reading's podcasts, maintains that he's listed on IMBD, and claims he once wormed his way into MTV for a day or two.

Pierre is based in London and can be reached at [email protected].

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