WISPA Announces This Year’s “Best of” Award Winners
Las Vegas, NV, October 10, 2023 – Today’s award recipients represent some of the best in the business, and have gone the distance to differentiate their offerings in the marketplace. They all share a common mission – to bring evolutionary service at scale to their customers, be it through the hardware, software or services they sell to operators; or through the provision of reliable broadband to rural, under-resourced and Tribal parts of America. In all, their extraordinary work has enabled WISPs of all sizes to quickly, cost-effectively and reliably serve millions of Americans who were once left behind in the digital divide. WISPAPALOOZA, and indeed the awards presented here today, tell the story of this incredible partnership, which has made America better, safer and more equitable for all.
WISPA’s members nominated then voted for today’s award recipients – which were broken up into Operator of the Year; Manufacturer of the Year; Product of the Year; Service of the Year; Distributor of the Year; and Triumph Award.
Operator of the Year Award is given to a WISPA operator who embodies the spirit and dedicated work ethic of a company bringing reliable broadband, 24/7/365 to their community – oftentimes in the hardest to reach and serve areas of the country. They are the “face” of the WISP industry, exemplified by their service in bridging the digital divide. The nominees for the award were: UnWired Broadband; Webformix; AtLink Services and MCS Net.
Operator of the Year award goes to unWired Broadband. unWired was founded in 2003 with a single tower site near Clovis, California, to meet the need for fast, reliable Internet in rural and underserved areas. Since its inception, unWired has experienced exponential growth and expanded its connectivity offerings to include redundancy solutions and a data center. Regarded as a trusted technology partner to businesses and homes across Central and Northern California, unWired currently covers 17,000 square miles with 180 towers, and growing!
“We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to WISPA for naming unWired Operator of the Year,” said Peter Sorenson, CEO unwired Broadband. “It is a true honor to be recognized by the wireless internet community and we look forward to living up to our title as Operator of the Year every single day.”
Manufacturer of the Year Award recognizes the outstanding work and continual development by a hardware provider, one who pushes innovation to a new level in the service of ISPs and, ultimately, the communities they serve. Nominees for the award were: Cambium Networks, RF Elements, Tarana Wireless and Vilo.
Manufacturer of the Year goes to Tarana Wireless. Tarana’s mission is, “simply,” to accelerate the world’s progress on closing its persistent digital divide through faster, more affordable broadband for literally billions of individuals. Tarana’s exec team applies an outstanding combination of experiences, driving hyper-scaled commercial success in tech, as well as fundamental advances in radio network technology. Over 200 internet service providers in 19 countries, coming from all categories use Tarana to reach the un- and underserved.
“We can’t thank the WISP community enough for our continued success in 2023,” noted Basil Alwan, CEO, Tarana Wireless. “We are honored to play a role in helping so many of you serve your customers with reliable, quality internet. We don’t take this recognition lightly, and we look forward to another year of learning and building together!”
Product of the Year Award recognizes a single product which has risen above all others in the deployment and/or delivery of reliable broadband. Winners of this award break the rules, create new standards, and lift the bar for others in the industry. Importantly, these tremendous advances enable WISP operators to continually meet the evolutionary needs of their customers and communities. Nominees for the award were: Ubiquiti Wave 60, Tarana Gigabit 1 (G1), RF Elements Asymmetrical Horns, and Cambium Networks ePMP 4000 Series.
Product of the Year Award goes Tarana Wireless’ G1 product. With their talented and quickly-growing crew of over 300, Tarana developed G1, the world’s first next-generation fixed wireless access platform, which introduces a complete revolution in delivering real broadband service at mass scale in a fraction of the time. G1 delivers fiber-class broadband over non-line-of-sight links, in unlicensed spectrum, at a fraction of the cost and time to deploy other wired technologies.
“It is an honor to win WISPA’s Product of the Year award again this year,” stated Alwan. “After more than a decade re-imagining fixed wireless broadband from the ground up, this continued recognition is meaningful. From our founders and growing engineering and support teams behind G1, we thank you for investing in us and deploying our technology in our collective quest to bridge the digital divide in the US and around the world.”
Service of the Year Award recognizes a software or other service offering which allows operators to get more juice out of their networks, better manage their business operations, or provide a better experience for WISP customers. At the end of the day, WISP customers want the best service at the best value, and service providers who win this award excel at meeting this tough perennial challenge for WISPs. Nominees for the award were: Aterlo Preseem, Cambium Networks cnHeat, and Cambium Networks QoE.
Service of the Year Award goes to Aterlo Preseem. Preseem’s cloud-based platform gives regional ISPs the tools to understand and proactively improve the experience of their subscribers. Preseem is a trusted, long-term network solutions partner to regional ISPs fighting to take market share from the big telcos, empowering its customers to compete with the big guys by helping them maintain a clean network which provides a superior, low-latency experience for their subscribers.
“We are extremely honored and humbled to receive the WISPA Service of the Year Award for the fourth time,” said Gerrit Nagelhout, CEO, Aterlo Networks, the company that makes Preseem. “We are proud to continue serving the thriving WISP community with data-based tools that help proactively improve the quality of experience for their subscribers. We look forward to solving real network problems for fixed wireless and fiber operators for many years to come.”
Distributor of the Year Award recognizes a company which is this year’s best ISP “supermarket,” and then some. They allow WISPs to find the right tool for the job at great prices, ensure their delivery, and in many cases help them design and make sure those products are put together properly in their networks. Wireless, fiber, you name it – the company winning this award can do it all. Nominees for the award were: CTIconnect, DoubleRadius, WAV, ISP Supplies, and Winncom Technologies.
Distributor of the Year Award goes to ISP Supplies. ISP Supplies is a leading provider of high quality wired and wireless networking equipment and services, including all aspects of network design and deployment. Though wireless remains a major part of their business, with ever-increasing demand for higher bandwidth, fiber has taken on a prominent role for the company. To this end, they have been diligently putting the right tools in their customers’ hands with equipment, support, design assistance, fiber certification training classes, and many other resources to serve this growing and important marketplace.
“Winning distributor of the year for the 4th year in a row means a lot more to us than just another win,” stated Jonathan Nicholson, Marketing Director, ISP Supplies. “We are honored to have your trust and will commit to continuing being the distributor/solution provider that you need by your side every step of the way. From Head End all the way to End User. Thank you all for honoring us with this award. We are looking forward to continuing to work together towards the future, and all that it brings our way.”
The Triumph Award recognizes a company or individual who has met daunting technical or personal challenges; has gone above and beyond what’s demanded in a given situation; or who is a true community leader in the WISP ecosystem and the communities served by WISPs. In short, they are heroes, helping the Americans they serve get and stay online through thick or thin. Nominees for the award were: Neptuno, Cobalt Ridge, Ethx, and Invisalink Wireless.
This year’s Triumph Award winner is Cobalt Ridge. Cobalt Ridge is a small ISP and phone provider in the small rural area of Wichita Falls, Texas.
“We are honored to be recognized with the WISPA Triumph Award,” said Brandon Hardy. “We started our WISP to get reliable internet service to a small rural area, but never dreamed there would be so many people in need of a quality connection. Through the years we have faced many trials and hardships ranging from tower vandalism to hospitalization, but we continue to press on with our mission of providing the best internet connection possible to as many underserved communities as we can.”
Finally, The President’s Award recognizes the meritorious and outstanding achievements of WISPA members in the advancement of the association, the industry at large, and/or universal connectivity, especially for those who remain unserved. This year’s President’s Award winners are: David Giles (Vistabeam), Brian Young (IPpay), Carl Guardino (Tarana Wireless), Ryan Grewell (SmartWay Communications), Sakid Ahmed (Cambium Networks), and J.J. McGrath (TekWav).
About WISPA – Broadband Without Boundaries
WISPA’s approximately 1000 members provide fixed broadband connectivity, and include equipment suppliers, support services, and other industry partners and stakeholders. Our members provide broadband access to millions of residential and business customers in rural, urban, and Tribal areas across America.
Contact
Mike Wendy
WISPA
202-763-5257
mwendy@wispa.org