Femto Forum Femtocell Awards 2009


The Femto Forum Femtocell Industry Award Winners for 2009 were announced on Wednesday evening at a gala dinner at the Femtocells World Summit in London.

The winners are:

1.    Femtocell or femtocell network element design and technology innovation.
       Winner: ip.access Ltd - nano3G Enterprise Solution.

The nano3G represents an evolution of the femtocell into the enterprise environment. Not only does it support the 3GPP's new femtocell standard, it also represents a step up in coverage and capacity.


2.    Femtocell service (commercial, prototype or demo)
      Winner: ip.access Ltd - Facebook virtual fridge notes.

The service implements a "classic" application use case  - where the subscriber receives a reminder message when arriving at home - but with an innovative extension that enables the message to be composed and sent using Facebook.


3.     Progress in commercial deployment (vendor or ecosystem)
       Winner: NEC Corporation

This recognizes NEC's strong traction in the market with several commercial contracts in place and several live trials underway with operators around the world.


4.    Significant progress or commercial launch by a large carrier
      Winner: Sprint Nextel Corp.

This recognizes this commercial launch, which was the world's first commercial deployment of femtocells.


5.    Significant progress or commercial launch by a small carrier
      Winner: Cellcom.

For Cellcom’s deployment of the world's first IMS-based CDMA femtocell network for consumers and enterprises.


6.    Contribution to femtocell standards (individual or company)
      Winner: Taka Yoshizawa, Thomson

For his pivotal role in defining the femtocell management specifications by working through the Femto Forum, the Broadband Forum and the 3GPP.


7.    Enabling technology (components, subsystems, modules etc.)
      Winner: picoChip Designs Ltd -picoXcell™ PC302 SoC.

This optimized system-on-chip, which supports the 3GPP's new femtocell standard, embodies five years of femtocell experience, comprehensive interoperability testing and numerous real-world deployments.


8.    Social vision - use of femtocells for social / economic / environmental development 
      Winner: Softbank Mobile Corp - Niimi project.

The project illustrates how femtocells can be cost-effectively deployed to deliver services in rural environments where existing coverage is limited.


9.    Award for individual contributions to Femto Forum activities
      Winner: Chris Fenton of Telefónica-O2

For achieving architectural consensus as chair of the Femto Forum Network & Interoperability Working Group.



“The judges were extremely impressed by the high quality and number of award submissions which reflect the health and innovation of the femtocell industry,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum. “The femtocell industry is rapidly evolving as major advances are made in the technology, standards, services and applications - these awards recognise and reward this progress. Our congratulations to the winners and to all those who participated.”

The awards were open to the whole industry and were judged independently of the Femto Forum by a panel of distinguished analysts, journalists and industry experts, chaired by Professor William Webb, Head of R&D at Ofcom.

The judging panel comprised:
•    Chairman of the judging panel: Prof. William Webb - Head of R&D - Ofcom
•    Dean Bubley - Director - Disruptive Analysis
•    Michelle Donegan - European Editor - Unstrung
•    Caroline Gabriel - Head of Research - Rethink Wireless
•    Peter Jarich - Research Director - Current Analysis
•    Aditya Kaul - Senior Analyst, Mobile Networks - ABI Research
•    Phil Marshall - Senior Research Fellow, Technology Research  - Yankee Group
•    Mike Roberts – Principal Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media
•    Sam Samra - Senior Director, Technical Programs - CDMA Development Group
•    Adrian Scrase - Vice-President - 3GPP

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