London, UK – 28th June 2012 – The Small Cell Forum, the independent industry and operator association that supports small cell deployment worldwide, today announced the winners of the Small Cell Forum Industry Awards 2012. The awards recognise outstanding achievement within, and contributions to, the small cell industry. The awards were presented at a gala dinner at the Small Cell World Summit in London last night.

The awards were open to the whole industry and are judged independently of the Small Cell Forum by a panel of distinguished analysts, journalists and industry experts, chaired by David Chambers, Editor of ThinkSmallCell. The awards attracted entries from vendors and operators from across the world and the full spectrum of the mobile value chain.

The winners are:

1. Residential femtocell access point design and technology innovation

Vodafone & Sagemcom - 3G Station Femtoplug 

“With 13 commercial rollouts, Vodafone continues to lead the femtocell deployment charge. Central to its success has been the creation of a crystal clear consumer proposition with cutting edge equipment. Its new 3G Station Femtoplug continues this tradition by supporting more users and higher data speeds,” said Caroline Gabriel, the lead judge for the category and Research Director, Rethink Research.

2. Non-residential design and technology innovation

Ubiquisys & Intel - Smart Cell Devices 

“It is clear that small cells are a critical tool for building future mobile broadband networks supporting ever increasing traffic loads. However, small cells continue to suffer from the traditional cellular burdens of constrained radio spectrum capacity and challenging mobile backhaul access. Ubiquisys’ smart cell devices overcome these challenges by putting storage and Intel processing power at the edge, enabling local services that no longer require constant backhaul, while also supporting Wi-Fi, thereby adding vital extra capacity,” said Ken Rehbehn, the lead judge for the category and Principal Analyst, Mobile RAN at Yankee Group.

3. Small cell network element design and technology innovation

Nokia Siemens Networks - LTE and Flexi Zone 

“NSN’s Flexi Zone is undeniably ambitious, going beyond small cell deployments to adaptive clustering small cell access points.  More importantly, the solution was architected to deal with real-world operator het net challenges including interference mitigation, handover engineering and backhaul,” said Peter Jarich, the lead judge for the category and Service Director, Current Analysis.

4. Small cell service or application 

Quortus - EdgeCentrix: Turning Small Cells into Complete Mobile Networks

“Small cells are fundamentally changing cellular networks by delivering better capacity and coverage using a vastly increased number of access points. Quortus represents the next step in this evolution by transforming the network core as well. By allowing small cells to handle many core network functions, users receive a far better mobile experience while operators can operate a far more efficient and lower cost network that can also economically extend into the most rural areas,” said Dimitris Mavrakis, the lead judge for the category and Principal Analyst for Networks at Informa Telecoms & Media.

5. Innovation in commercial deployment 

Alcatel-Lucent - First Live, Small Cell LTE HetNet on a Commercial Network

“Mobile World Congress 2012 saw Alcatel Lucent deliver an insight into the future of mobile broadband with a small cell LTE hetnet operating on a live network across various hotspots in Barcelona. Not only did the deployment show that interference and network management challenges can be overcome, it showed off the viability of advanced new services such as cloud-based gaming, augmented reality and live video streaming,” said David Chambers, the lead judge for the category and Editor of ThinkSmallCell.

6. Commercial deployment – innovation in commercial deployment 

SK Telecom & Contela & Mindspeed - The World’s First Data-Only Femto Service

“Although femtocells have traditionally been used to improve residential indoor voice coverage, the greater opportunity for small cells is providing additional capacity in urban hotspots. SK Telecom’s data-only public access femtocell service is the first deployment to explicitly recognise this fact. Together with Contela and Mindspeed, SK Telecom have provided an insight into a key future role of small cells,” said Dean Bubley, the lead judge for the category and Founder, Disruptive Analysis.

7. Commercial deployment – progress in deployment 

Vodafone - Worldwide Deployment Centered Around Customer Needs and Benefits

“With 13 live commercial deployments, no other mobile operator comes close to Vodafone in the femtocell arena. Such commitment is paying dividends with the organisation combining tried and tested technology, that also delivers the latest features, as well as a consumer proposition and service that simply and effectively meets the needs of subscribers around the world,” said Caroline Gabriel, the lead judge for the category and Research Director, Rethink Research.

8. Enabling technology (components, subsystems, modules, software, etc)

Radisys - Trillium TOTALeNodeB

“Radisys Trillium TOTALeNodeB allows vendors and operators to dramatically reduce the required investment and development time for LTE small cells. Given the pent up operator demand for LTE small cells, the ability to help vendors quickly and cost effectively deliver suitable products is essential. The technology is now also field proven in the world’s first LTE small cell deployment,” said David Chambers, the lead judge for the category and Editor of ThinkSmallCell. 

9. Social vision - promoting small cells for social/economic/environmental development (open to all)

Vodafone - Femtocell solutions to enhance sustainable service access for rural and remote customers

“Vodafone hasn’t just rolled out more small cell deployments than any other operator, it’s also pushing ahead with trials that could transform rural mobile connectivity forever using public access small cells. By working closely with UK communities including local politicians, Vodafone is finding the formula for ending the era of the mobile blackspot while also ensuring deployments meet the needs of local residents,” said Adrian Scrase, the lead judge for the category and ETSI Vice President - International Partnership Projects.

10. Judges Choice

ip.access - Network Orchestration System Combined with the Nanoconverge Solution

“Operators embarking on small cell deployments face many challenges – not least ensuring that they can control their new hetnet while also ensuring their investment is future proof. ip.access is doing much to ease these concerns with the combination of its Network Orchestration System and Nanoconverge Solution. These allow operators to simply manage their small cell network and how it interacts with the macro while also ensuring their gateway can support a new generation of small cells,” said David Chambers, Chairman of the Judges and Editor of ThinkSmallCell.

11. Individual contribution to Small Cell Forum activities

Jim Worsham – AT&T

“Jim has made a truly outstanding contribution to the Small Cell Forum as the Vice Chair of the Radio & Physical Layer working group, as a member of the Executive Board, and as an all-round advocate for femtocells, the greater small cell movement and the Forum itself,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Small Cell Forum.

12. Chairman’s Award

Andy Tiller – For his work while at ip.access

“It is difficult to overstate Andy’s importance to the Femto Forum and latterly the Small Cell Forum as well as the industry at large. As a founding board member of the Femto Forum, vice chair of our marketing working group and through his work for ip.access, he helped shape the small cell industry and has been a driving force in many aspects of the Forum’s work,” said Simon Saunders, Chairman of the Small Cell Forum.

“The judging panel was extremely impressed with both the number and the quality of the award entries. The industry has moved beyond small cells that merely deliver the basics, the award winners demonstrate genuinely well thought out elegant solutions that meet the multifarious practical challenges facing mobile operators today. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners,” said David Chambers, Chairman of the Judges and Editor of ThinkSmallCell.

For more information on the Small Cell Forum Industry Awards 2012, please visit: http://www.smallcellforum.org/awards/