Leading Lights 2016: The FinalistsLeading Lights 2016: The Finalists

I'm pleased and proud to announce that this year's Leading Lights Awards attracted a record number of entries -- more than 300 in total.

It's also worth noting that the standard of entries is improving dramatically, the passion shown by the entrants has at times reached fever pitch (especially when it came to the final hours before the deadline) and the range of companies entering is getting ever broader.

All of this has made the judging process not only incredibly tough but also very insightful. Finally, though, we have our shortlists and, believe me, each and every one of them deserves to be there.

The winners, and the identities of this year's Light Reading Hall of Fame inductees, will be announced at the Leading Lights awards dinner, which will be held during the evening of Monday, May 23, at the Hotel Ella in Austin, Texas, the evening before the doors open to the Big Communications Event.

Space at the awards dinner is limited, so don't delay in booking your seat or table: All the details and contacts you need can be found right here.

Figure 1:

So, who's in the running to pick up an award this year? Below are the categories for this year's awards. Click on the name of the category to see the list of finalists. In the coming weeks the Light Reading team will write about the finalists and provide some insight into the shortlisted submissions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Most Innovative Wireless Service (3G, 4G, Carrier WiFi)
Awarded to the communications service provider that has launched the most innovative wireless/mobile service (2G, 3G, 4G, carrier WiFi) for its customers during the past year.

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.

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.

Most Innovative Video Service
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has launched the most innovative video/TV service for its customers during the past year.

Most Innovative NFV Deployment Strategy (Network/Data Center Operator)
Awarded to the network or data center operator that has devised the most innovative network functions virtualization (NFV) strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative NFV Product Strategy (Vendor)
Awarded to the technology vendor that has devised the most innovative network functions virtualization (NFV) product strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative SDN Deployment Strategy (Network/Data Center Operator)
Awarded to the network or data center operator that has devised the most innovative software defined networking (SDN) strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative SDN Product Strategy (Vendor)
Awarded to the technology vendor that has devised the most innovative software defined networking (SDN) product strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative Security Strategy (Service Provider)
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile) that has unveiled the most innovative security strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative Security Strategy (Vendor)
Awarded to the vendor that has unveiled the most innovative security product/platform strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative Gigabit Broadband Service
Awarded to the communications service provider (fixed, cable, utility, municipality) that has launched the most innovative Gigabit broadband service offering during the past year.

Most Innovative IoT/M2M Strategy (Service Provider)
Awarded to the communications service provider (cable, fixed, mobile, IoT/M2M specialist) that has unveiled the most innovative Internet of Things/Machine to Machine (IoT/M2M) strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative IoT/M2M Strategy (Vendor)
Awarded to the vendor that has unveiled the most innovative Internet of Things/Machine to Machine (IoT/M2M) strategy during the past year.

Most Innovative 5G Strategy *NEW*
Awarded to the company that has outlined and clearly communicated an innovative, market-leading 5G strategy.

Outstanding Transformation Strategy (Service Provider) *NEW*
Awarded to the communications service provider that has devised and implemented a transformation strategy of any kind (business, technical, cultural) that will improve its business potential and competitiveness in the coming years.

Outstanding Components Vendor
Awarded to the components 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 telecom test and measurement vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud, and makes employees happy.

Outstanding OSS/BSS Vendor
Awarded to the OSS and/or BSS vendor that stands out from its competitors, innovates constantly, helps set the industry trends, makes investors proud, and makes employees happy.

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.

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.

Women in Comms awards
We also, for the first time, had three Women in Comms (WiC) categories this year:

Most Inspiring Woman in Comms Hedy Lamarr Award for Female Tech Pioneer of the Year Female-Led Startup to Watch For full details and to see who made the shortlist cut for those awards, see Women in Comms Leading Lights: The Finalists. Light Reading Hall of Fame
The shortlist for this year's Light Reading Hall of Fame, which seeks to recognize several individuals -- the famous and infamous -- for their remarkable contributions to the sector, has already been published. (See Hall of Fame 2016: Who's in the Running?) You can vote in our Hall of Fame poll to add your voice to the process -- check out Light Reading Hall of Fame 2016. The Hall of Fame inductees will be named at the Leading Lights Awards dinner. — Ray Le Maistre, , Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading Here are the finalists in the Best New Product (Cable) category. AirTies -- Air 4920 wireless Smart Mesh Access Points Amdocs -- Amdocs Service Design and Create Aptilo Networks -- SMP Venue Wi-Fi Manager Calix -- E3-8G Node-based GPON OLT Comcast Business -- Comcast Business WiFi Pro Technicolor -- HDR Distribution Solution Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Best New Product (Mobile) category. Accedian Networks -- FlowBROKER AT&T -- NumberSync for Wearables Ericsson -- Gigabit LTE Kathrein -- Street Connect SpiderCloud Wireless -- SpiderCloud LTE-U E-RAN: LTE Unlicensed Small Cell System for Venues Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Best New Product (Telecom) category. ADVA Optical Networking -- Ensemble Connector Affirmed Networks -- Affirmed Service Automation Platform (ASAP) Amdocs -- Amdocs CES 10 Ciena -- Waveserver Cisco -- Network Convergence System 5508 (NCS 5508) ECI Telecom -- Apollo OPT 9900 Series Inphi -- ColorZ Lumentum Holdings -- Optical whiteboxes for SDN Netronome Systems -- Agilio Server Networking Platform Nokia -- 500G Muxponder card for the Nokia 1830 PSS product portfolio RIFT.io Inc. -- RIFT.ware Wind River -- Titanium Server CPE Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative SMB Service category. AT&T -- Managed Internet Service on Demand Global Capacity -- Asymmetric Ethernet (AsyE) Service Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Enterprise Service category. AT&T and Nokia -- Private 4G LTE Wireless Network Solution for Utilities Telstra International -- Cloud Collaboration Zayo -- FlexConnect Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Wireless Service (3G, 4G, Carrier WiFi) category. Hutchison Global Communications -- Mobile Fronthaul Network M1 & Parallel Wireless -- WiFi On-The-Go HetNet Boingo Wireless -- Sprint's Carrier Wi-Fi Roaming, Powered by Boingo Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Carrier Cloud Service category. AT&T -- NetBond with Cloud Storage and Colocation China Mobile Henan Communications -- Henan Anyang e-Government cloud service TELUS -- Hybrid Cloud Verizon -- Secure Cloud Interconnect Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Ethernet/Optical Service category. Colt Technology Services Group -- Colt On Demand services platform Hibernia Networks -- Low Latency Services enabled by Hibernia Express Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Video Service category. AT&T -- DirecTV 4K Ultra HD Service Cablevision Systems -- Hulu on Optimum TV Channel 605 Time Warner Cable -- TWC TV Roku Trial Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative NFV Deployment Strategy (Network/Data Center Operator) category. AT&T -- AT&T Managed Internet Service on Demand Boingo Wireless -- Offices and Networks Go Virtual Masergy Communications -- Masergy Managed Network Functions f(n) SmartSky Networks -- SmartSky 4G Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative NFV Product Strategy (Vendor) category. ADVA Amdocs Casa Systems Cisco Systems CENX CommScope Juniper Networks Nokia OneAccess Networks Versa Networks Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative SDN Deployment Strategy (Network/Data Center Operator) category. Cato Networks Equinix Facebook Level 3 Communications SK Telecom Telstra Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative SDN Product Strategy (Vendor) category. Big Switch Networks Calix Ciena Huawei Technologies Midokura Nokia Packet Design Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Security Strategy (Service Provider) category. AT&T BT Level 3 Communications Masergy Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Security Strategy (Vendor) category. AdaptiveMobile Security Cisco Systems Corero Network Security ECI Telecom Microsemi Seceon Verimatrix Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative Gigabit Broadband Service category. Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) -- 10Gig City Chattanooga LinkNYC -- LinkNYC City of Salisbury, N.C. - Fibrant -- Fibrant's 10Gig Internet Service Twin Valley -- Gigabit Pulse Comcast -- Gigabit Internet Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative IoT/M2M Strategy (Service Provider) category. AT&T -- Smart Cities Framework Ingenu -- Ingenu's Machine Network KORE -- Wyless Group acquisition ZenFi -- The ZenFi Access Network/The ZenFi Neighborhood Network Strategy Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative IoT/M2M Strategy (Vendor) category. Brocade Communications Systems -- Virtual Core for Mobile Sensity Systems -- NetSense IoT Platform for Smart Cities Sequans Communications -- LTE for IoT partnership strategy Sierra Wireless -- mangOH Open Hardware for IoT Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Most Innovative 5G Strategy category. AT&T -- AT&T's 5G Strategy Cisco Systems -- Cisco 5G Strategy Nokia -- Accelerating 5G commercialization with AirScale Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Outstanding Transformation Strategy (Service Provider) category. AT&T Inc. China Unicom Tianjin Colt Technology Services Group Deutsche Telekom Telstra International Time Warner Cable WOW: Wide Open West Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Outstanding Components Vendor category. Lumentum Holdings Mellanox Technologies NeoPhotonics Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Outstanding Test & Measurement Vendor category. Accedian Networks EXFO Netrounds NetScout Systems VeEX Viavi Solutions Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Outstanding OSS/BSS Vendor category. Amdocs Comptel Huawei Technologies ItsOn NetCracker Technology Ontology-Partners Openet Telecom Redknee Solutions Sigma Systems Canada UXP Systems Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Company of the Year (Private) category. Affirmed Networks Masergy Communications VeEX Versa Networks Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Company of the Year (Public) category. ADVA Optical Networking Amdocs AT&T BroadSoft Cisco Systems Infinera Net Insight NetScout Systems Back to introduction/page 1 Here are the finalists in the Best Deal Maker category. Amdocs -- Comverse acquisition ADVA Optical Networking -- Overture acquisition Cisco Systems/Ericsson -- Partnership and other acquisitions CommScope -- Acquisition of TE Connectivity's Broadband Network Solutions Infinera -- Acquisition of Transmode NetScout Systems -- Acquisition of Danaher's Communication business Nokia -- Acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent Back to introduction/page 1