Category 1: Residential femtocell access point design and technology innovation
Shortlists:
* Huawei - Huawei Home Media Centre
* Technicolor - TG872 Integrated Femtocell
* Ubiquisys - The G3-mini Femtocell from Ubiquisys/SerComm
Winner:
Huawei - Home Media Centre
“The residential market for femtocells is clearly the driver for attaining mass-market volumes, enabling improved coverage, data offload and new service opportunities. In order to gain traction and consumer acceptance, there need to be persuasive reasons for purchase - and also value-added features to protect against future churn. Huawei's Home Media Center includes a broad set of audiovisual capabilities such as video storage, on top of the femto module, which can help it attain a permanent role in a subscriber's home," agreed the judges.
Category 2: Greater femtocell design and technology innovation
Shortlists:
* SpiderCloud - SpiderCloud wireless enterprise radio access network (E-RAN): solving network operators’ network capacity and in-building coverage problems
* Ubiquisys - Ubiquisys Enterprise Femto Net Solution
* Ubiquisys - Colo-Node HSPA Metro Femtocell
Winner:
Ubiquisys - Colo-Node HSPA Metro Femtocell
“One of the areas of femtocell technology in which there is intense carrier interest is the metrozone, and the potential to make small outdoor cells part of an urban build-out. Ubiquisys has come up with a very early product for this much discussed market, an innovation that brings real world metro femtocells a big step closer to reality,” agreed the judges.
Category 3: Femtocell network element design and technology innovation
Shortlists:
* NEC - Femto-Share
* Nokia Siemens Networks - The most compact and integrated Femto Gateway commercially available
* Tatara - The Tatara Convergence Server Platform
Winner:
NEC - Femto-Share
“No different than in their macro-cell networks, operators are looking for ways to keep the cost of deploying a femtocell in check. While there was no shortage of impressive network innovations submitted for this year’s awards, NEC’s focus on costs combined with standards and scalability – particularly as operators look to launch services across markets – helped its FemtoShare and FemtoCloud offers to stand apart,” agreed the judges.
Category 4: Femtocell application concept
Shortlists:
* Airvana - Airvana’s ‘Femto Family Tablet’
* Argela - Argela's Femtocell Advertising Application
* Tatara - FemtoCloud services enabled by the Tatara Convergence Server Platform
Winner:
Airvana - ‘Femto Family Tablet’
“As the femtocell industry matures and commercial launches multiply, it is increasingly important to develop unique applications to help drive demand for femtocells. The Airvana Femto Family Tablet stands out as a compelling application that could deliver real value to both operators and end-users based on unique femtocell features such as presence," agreed the judges.
Category 5: Progress in commercial deployment
Shortlists:
* NEC - Commercial progress
* picoChip - picoXcell femtocell SoC family
* Ubiquisys - Commercially deployed by SoftBank Mobile and SFR
Winner:
picoChip - picoXcell femtocell SoC family
“picoChip's involvement in such a large portion of the commercial femtocell services today is a clear indication of progress in commercial deployment. The sheer volume of femtocell chips that the vendor has shipped is further evidence of commercial momentum in the market,” agreed the judges.
Category 6: Commercial launch
Shortlists:
* AT&T - AT&T 3G MicroCell National Deployment
* Sprint - Sprint Airave
* Vodafone - Vodafone Sure Signal
Winner:
AT&T - 3G MicroCell National Deployment
“AT&T’s 3G MicroCell deployment with Cisco caught the judges’ eyes for two crucial reasons. First and foremost, it emphasised the importance of the customer at the heart of the femtocell experience, positioning technology very much as an enabler, rather than an end in itself. Secondly, the deployment is on a national scale, which given the US market’s size adds an additional layer of complexity,” agreed the judges.
Category 7: Contribution to femtocell standards
Shortlists:
* Airvana - Airvana Standards Team led by Doug Knisely, VP of technology
* Alcatel Lucent - Martin Warner- A catalyst in driving 3GPP femtocell specifications
* Nokia Siemens Networks - Driver for open standards, in standard setting bodies and realization
Winner:
Airvana - Standards Team led by Doug Knisely, VP of technology
“There have been many outstanding contributions to femtocell standards and selecting one above another proved very difficult for the judges – indeed this was one of the closest categories of all. After much discussion the judges decided that they would prefer the spirit of this award to tend more towards clear individual contributions and on that basis the work of Doug Knisely stood out as being particularly important and demonstrating great dedication over extended periods. The femtocell industry is indeed in his debt,” agreed the judges.
Category 8: Enabling technology
Shortlists:
* Airvana - UMTS Femtocell Beacon
* Continuous Computing & picoChip - The world’s first LTE femtocell reference design
* picoChip - picoXcell™ PC323 - The complete next generation femtocell solution
Winner:
Continuous Computing & picoChip - The world’s first LTE femtocell reference design
“The Continuous Computing and picoChip LTE reference design is a great example of an enabling technology that is necessary to kick start development of LTE femtocells. The timing of this reference design is critical for the introduction of LTE femtocells as operators begin to rollout the first LTE networks. At the same time there is a growing understanding of the importance of multi-tier cellular architectures as we move from 3G to 4G and as networks begin to cope with user demand for capacity. The judges wanted to recognize the role of this crucial component in what is likely to become a necessary part of future 4G networks,” agreed the judges.
Category 9: Judges’ Choice
Shortlists:
* Alcatel Lucent - Wilson Street: Alcatel-Lucent’s wireless technology showcasing smallcells living and working with macrocells for the community of Wilson Street
* Ubiquisys - The World’s First Sub-$100 Femtocell - the G3-mini
* Vodafone - Vodafone Sure Signal
Winner:
Vodafone - Sure Signal
“While we in the industry have known about femtocells for many years, the wider public have been unaware of their existence and benefits. The Vodafone marketing campaign changed all that. In a well-crafted and multi-faceted campaign they showed consumers how they could achieve coverage in their home and changed the role and perception of cellular communications. They have done a great deal to advance the success of femtocells and fully deserve to be recognised for this,” agreed the judges.
Category 10: Individual contribution to Femto Forum activities
Shortlists:
* Joshua Adelson, Airvana
* Gibson Ang, GENBAND
* Gordon Mansfield, AT&T
* Mona Mustapha, Vodafone
* Clare Somerville, picoChip
* Fabio Chiussi, Airvana & Mark Walker, Ubiquisys
Winner:
Gordon Mansfield, AT&T
“The Femto Forum’s work is driven mainly by the efforts of individuals from within our member organisations. From an impressive shortlist, the judging panel selected Gordon Mansfield, Executive Director at AT&T, as the individual who has made the single biggest difference to the progress of the Forum. Gordon has been a major force in developing consensus positions among operators and other stakeholders on a range of femtocell related issues. He has been a regular contributor at Femto Forum plenaries and sponsored conferences, as well as being a tireless promoter of femtocells to the wireless industry as a whole by speaking in support of femtocells at numerous industry events. Besides his own time commitments he has worked to assign the right AT&T individuals to contribute in the working groups and SIGs of the Femto Forum. We are very pleased to be able to recognise his dedication to the worldwide acceptance of femtocell technology through this award,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum.
Category 11: Chairman’s award
Winner:
Karim Sharf, TraC
"Most of the Femto Forum’s work is driven by the efforts of individuals from within our member organisations and a huge number have contributed their time and skills to the Forum in the past year and all deserve my considerable thanks. However, one of our key goals we had in the last year was to make tangible progress towards our vision of an open, interoperable ecosystem for femtocells. To that end, in March we ran the first plugfest for UMTS femtocells, which was widely supported by over 20 vendors. Karim Sharf was instrumental in supporting and coordinating that process and his level of contribution to the Forum's aims has been outstanding,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Femto Forum.
