Light Reading received 16 strong entries for the best company (private) awards category, and whittling these down to a shortlist was no easy task. But we ultimately thought seven of the players made a strong case for getting through to the final round. Here are the shortlisted companies:

Affirmed Networks
A startup targeting virtualization, Affirmed Networks Inc. claims to have developed the industry's only virtual Evolved Packet Core product that has already been commercially deployed. The company has raised about $163 million in financing from investors including Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) (through its T-Venture arm) and Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) (through Vodafone Ventures). Its client list currently extends to more than 20 operators and it is working on about 40 trials with Tier 1 and 2 service providers around the world.

Interested in attending this year's Leading Lights Awards dinner/party? Join us as we recognize the top companies and their executives for their outstanding achievements and have a generally fantastic time with hundreds of industry colleaugues. Reserve your ticket today. Don't miss out on the party of the year!

Affirmed Networks' overriding message is that virtualization of the mobile network will allow operators to realize savings of 30% to 60% compared to using legacy technologies. Service providers are clearly taking note: Affirmed Networks doubled its customer numbers and bookings in 2014 and expects to repeat that feat in 2015.

BTI Systems
The Intelligent Cloud Connect platform developed by BTI Systems Inc. combines MPLS core routing functions with optical transport technology and is aimed at helping operators reduce costs, bolster efficiency and generally become more agile.

The product holds several specific attractions. For one thing, it is interoperable with equipment from leading vendors including Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) and ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763). What's more, by using a single platform instead of separate MPLS core routing and optical transport systems, customers can expect to reduce total cost of ownership by more than 70%, according to BTI, and reduce their capital expenditure by a similar amount.

BTI serves as many as 380 customers, including the likes of Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), Rackspace , Interxion , CyrusOne , Pacnet , IPC and VKontakte, and appears to be going from strength to strength. Last year, its revenues were 18% higher than in 2013 and it has tripled its number of metro cloud customers in the past two years.

BTI has raised about $65 million in growth funding since 2011 from investors, including Bain Capital Ventures, BDC, Covington Capital and GrowthWorks.

Next page: Casa Systems and MBC

Casa Systems
In May 2013, Casa Systems Inc. became the first company to commercialize an integrated CCAP device -- its C100G -- and was subsequently recognized by Light Reading for its achievement, winning the Leading Lights Cable Product of the Year award that year. The C100G has now been deployed by most of the world's big cable operators, including Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), telent plc (London: TLNT), Kabel Deutschland GmbH and StarHub .

According to Casa, the C100G has allowed customers to more easily prepare for the rollout of all-IP video and to consolidate equipment stored in head-ends, helping them to reduce costs and generate revenues from new services. Operators using the product are said to have saved tens of millions of dollars over a three-year period.

Casa expects to increase its revenues by 30% this year. Due to planned growth in R&D expenditure, operating profits and margins are expected to remain the same as in 2014.

Mid-Atlantic Broadband
An open-access fiber network operator in southern Virginia, Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative (MBC) provides a range of transport, colocation and tower-leasing services to some 45 operators in the region.

The wholesale player claims to have had a major impact on the local economy, directly attracting 1,123 new jobs and $1.7 billion of new private-sector investments from eight different companies. It has also invested more than half a million dollars in local community groups, supporting scholarships and high-school robotics programs, for instance.

MBC expects revenues to grow by 15% this year and says it will re-invest "excess earnings" into the business as well to support its "non-profit mission areas." Revenue growth has been driven partly by the expansion of 100G capabilities on its core network, and MBC has also flagged "solid growth" from wireless backhaul partners, adding 50 cell sites to its network this year alone.

Next page: NetNumber, SpiderCloud and VeEX

NetNumber
NetNumber Inc. has developed a signaling and routing control platform branded TITAN, which is now being used in more than 150 operator networks and supporting as many as 200 billion "transactions" every month. With TITAN, operators can run all signaling control services on a common platform, enabling them to reduce operational costs and make improvements to customer services. NetNumber lists its top three customers as BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA), Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom.

Like other privately owned players, NetNumber does not disclose specific details of sales and profits, but it claims to have experienced record growth in these metrics last year and expects to break records again this year.

SpiderCloud
Small cells startup SpiderCloud Wireless insists it is the only company in this market that is winning business from Huawei and Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) for "large-scale in-building coverage and capacity solutions." The company was a Leading Lights runner-up last year and has since then won plaudits from the analyst community.

"SpiderCloud leads the enterprise small cell market as a result of an early focus on the medium-to-large enterprise segment, followed by Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, ip.access and Airvana," said Infonetics Research in a March statement. "SpiderCloud has an 11% point lead over Alcatel-Lucent in this early stage in what will become a significant market."

SpiderCloud says its systems are now being used by operators including Verizon, Vodafone, EE , América Móvil S.A. de C.V. , T-Mobile US Inc. and Warid Telecom International Ltd. Partnering with vendors such as Cisco, NEC Corp. (Tokyo: 6701) and (Light Reading believes) Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), the company says a unique selling proposition is the scalability of its system, allowing it to cover a number of "sectors" using just one controller in the operator closet.

VeEX
VeEX Inc. 's Vesion product is intended to allow network devices to communicate with one another via public or private cloud services. Besides facilitating the exchange of information about the network's health, it can also identify faults and provide reports about network problems.

The company claims that Vesion reduces the need for site visits by network technicians and repairmen and can improve efficiency by alerting facilities managers to the source of problems as and when they occur. VeEX identifies its biggest customers as Charter Communications Inc. , AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) and Time Warner.

Having recently grown revenues at an annual rate of 20% or more, VeEX is aiming to generate overall sales of between $55 million and $70 million this year. It also says that 2015 will be "another profitable year."

— Iain Morris, , News Editor, Light Reading