MORRISTOWN, NJ – April 9, 2009 – TM Forum, the world’s premier industry group focused on business effectiveness for the communications and media sectors, today confirmed 23 official nominees for the prestigious TM Forum Excellence Awards. Recognizing global leaders in operational excellence and their innovative contributions to industry, the 2009 awards include two best practice categories: Best Practices: Communications Service Provider and Best Practices: Supplier/System Integrator. This year, for the first time, the winner of the industry supplier award will be decided through an open customer vote.
Competition for the highly respected awards has increased for 2009, with more than 40 companies successfully reaching the judging slate. Following detailed review by independent panel of experts, 13 communications service providers have now been confirmed as official nominees for the Best Practices – Communications Service Provider award. The 13 companies represent a broad spectrum of service providers using TM Forum best practices and standards to reduce operating costs, automate processes and improve business effectiveness, with the telecom, cable, mobile and enterprise sectors represented in the nominee line-up.
Official Nominees for the Best Practices – Supplier or System Integrator category were also confirmed today, recognizing ten industry-leading suppliers for their innovation. For the first time, the winner of the 2009 award will be decided through an open vote by the nominee’s potential customers across the Forum’s 200-strong service provider member companies.
“This year’s nominations illustrate a real change of tactics in the industry,” said Nik Willetts, VP Communications, TM Forum. “The current economic climate is forcing companies of all sizes to think outside the box when it comes to transformation. We’re seeing more innovation: solutions that deliver real and significant OpEx savings through a model of continuous improvement, rather than major re-engineering effort. TM Forum Frameworks are providing the roadmap that ensures the success of the programs, both now and longer term. In short, it’s clear that TM Forum standards have never been more relevant.”
The Official Nominees for the TM Forum Excellence Awards 2009 are:
Best Practices – Service Provider:
AAPT
AT & T
Chunghwa Telecom Co.
COSMOTE
Cox Communications
KT Corporation
Magyar Telekom Plc.
Microsoft Corporation
Slovak Telekom a.s.
Telecom Argentina S.A.
Telecom Italia S.p.A.
Telstra
Verizon
Best Practices – Supplier/System Integrator:
Clarity
ConceptWave®
cVidya Networks
HCL Technologies
Nakina Systems
NetCracker Technology Corp.
Progress Software
Redknee
Sigma Systems
ZTESOFT TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD.
Six finalists in each category will be announced later this month, with the winner being announced to an audience of more than 2,500 executives from the communications industry at the Forum’s flagship Management World 2009 conference on the morning of Wednesday, May 6, 2009.
Members of the press interested in covering the Excellence Awards, and the Management World conference, are invited to contact Geoff Devlin at
[email protected] to secure a press pass to the event.
