New Paradigm Resources Group, Inc. and Pipeline Magazine
Announce Recipients of the Fall, 2008
COMMUNICATIONS INNOVATORS AWARDS®
Innovation is what continues to propel the communications industry forward, keeping it a bulwark of the American economy. While trendy consumer-oriented "revolutions" are frequently heralded in the popular press—at times instigated by Steve Jobs—it's often the subtle yet technically complex innovations that bring about paradigm shifts, such as the move from TDM to Packet. True innovators are those who transparently and unambiguously improve the way companies do business—and they deserve recognition. It remains the goal of NPRG's Communications Innovators Awards® to honor these paradigm-shifting organizations.
For 15 years, New Paradigm Resources Group, Inc. (NPRG) has, in one way or another, closely followed the achievements of industry innovators. On a daily basis we research, converse with and analyze service providers and their operations, allowing us to decipher ongoing changes within the industry. We filter real, sustainable innovation from the growing mountain of marketing bombast and transitory fads. Our belief is that one can only make that distinction by examining and understanding micro-components of the industry—as painstaking as that may be. The 30,000 foot view, for us, has never been close to sufficient.
To ensure the evaluation process included an expert with an outside perspective, we invited Pipeline Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Tim Young, to serve as one of the judges evaluating submissions. Tim's invaluable insights and perspectives added additional depth to an already rigorous process. Together we reviewed and evaluated the numerous nominations received in order to identify the "best of the best."
NPRG and Pipeline Magazine are pleased to announce the recipients of the Fall 2008 Communications Innovators Awards®; each winner has distinguished itself by moving our industry forward in specific ways. Service providers were considered for "Most Innovative" awards in these categories: Competitive Carrier; Access Solutions Provider; and Emerging Wireless Provider.
Most Innovative - Competitive Carrier
Competition is the catalyst that accelerates innovation. In the past, an industry void of competitive pressures slowed technological progress to a crawl. In the communications arena, competitive providers give all players a reason to push forward, or else risk irrelevance. Even among such impressive company, New Edge Networks has distinguished itself.
New Edge Networks receives the award for Most Innovative Competitive Carrier. In a mere ten years, New Edge has emerged as one of the largest DSL providers in the country, reaching 90% of businesses through more than 10,000 central office locations. The company's strategy of owning switches, but leasing transport from a stable of strategic partners, enables it to offer one-stop nationwide connectivity to carriers and distributed enterprises—all while maintaining a consistent architecture.
Maintaining that level of order on such a scale is already no mean feat. However the singular achievement that distinguishes New Edge in the past year is recognizing businesses' growing desire to make the corporate WAN ubiquitous, extending access to small offices, road warriors and telecommuters. More impressive still, the company addresses this need by introducing the industry's first MPLS over DSL offering, with up to five classes of service.
That innovation—melding MPLS and an extensive DSL footprint—is a boon to enterprise IT planners because existing bandwidth is optimized and capacity upgrades can be deferred. Such a breakthrough comes none too soon for those managing growing portfolios of IP-based applications, such as VoIP and real-time databases. Moreover, MPLS over DSL gives New Edge and its wholesale customers a service bridging clients between low-cost naked DSL and higher-bandwidth MPLS via T-1.
Most Innovative - Access Solutions Provider
Advances in content, interactivity and other communications services remain dependent on enhanced connectivity. Innovation in access technology remains vital to moving the industry forward. Virtela Communications, Inc. has demonstrated its leadership position in this arena and NPRG is pleased to name the company the recipient of our Most Innovative Access Solutions Provider award.
Virtela Communications, Inc. operates as the industry's first hybrid Virtual Network Operator (VNO), evolving the traditional infrastructure-independent model by establishing Regional Policy Centers (RPCs). These facilities give Virtela a global physical presence, interconnecting multiple carrier partners' networks while maintaining MPLS class of service (CoS). This key innovation allows Virtela to leverage a range of seamless partnerships which allow the company to provide customers with the robust redundancies and enhanced access options they require.
Most Innovative - Emerging Wireless Provider
In the past, wireless has been a land of unfulfilled broadband promises. While cellular stands out as a triumph, now serving more customers than landline carriers, cellular service providers' current data services cannot be considered "broadband" by any reasonable measure. Given the continued growth in demand for even larger pipes, scalable cost-effective wireless service is required for content delivery to evolve. Emerging technologies, such as fixed wireless, offer a way forward.
The recipient of our Most Innovative Emerging Wireless Provider award is MST-NuVisions for its use of fixed wireless technology to support delivery of a true broadband solution within its network. Their point-to-point technology over licensed spectrum amounts to having "fiber in the sky," which the company uses to extend as well as enhance leased fiber and local loops to MDU buildings. Based on a native Ethernet platform, the company uses BridgeWave gear for carrier-class transport across Gig-E links up to two miles long—all while maintaining five nines reliability (99.999% uptime).
Especially in the dense New York metropolitan market where the company operates, these hops increase exponentially the number of serviceable addresses; all while keeping operating costs under control and allowing installation intervals to be dramatically shortened. Because the technology itself is not the end-product, marketing remains focused on services—voice, video and data—delivered as reliably as over wireline. This innovative integration of fixed wireless into a hybrid delivery platform will be a key enabler of future growth, especially in the residential arena, allowing MST-NuVisions to control its own destiny moving forward.
About New Paradigm Resources Group, Inc.
NPRG is the nation’s leading strategic consulting and research firm for innovators within the communications industry. Founded in 1993, NPRG provides ongoing business strategy and technology advice to their clients by identifying, analyzing and forecasting emerging technologies and trends, and supporting mission critical decision-making processes. Its clients include service providers, technology developers, financial institutions, and academics. NPRG's business strategies, product plans, and market forecasts enable its clients to succeed within evolving market conditions. For more information about NPRG, visit www.nprg.com or call 312.980.7848
About Pipeline Magazine
Pipeline is a monthly publication dedicated to the OSS/BSS segment of the telecommunications industry. Now in its fifth year of publication, Pipeline was designed to present communications service providers with critical industry information relevant to driving profitability and delivering the latest generation of services. The world's leading communications providers and industry suppliers turn to Pipeline to keep abreast of market demands, government mandates, technical advances, and industry trends. Pipeline subscribers understand that the knowledge contained in our pages empowers them to address, understand, and more quickly adapt to the dynamic environment of the communications industry. For more information about Pipeline, or to sign up for a free subscription, visit www.pipelinepub.com, or call 312.962.0120.