PTC Announces Innovation Awards Winners at Inaugural Gala

HONOLULU, Jan. 24, 2018 -- The Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) announced the winners of its PTC’18 Innovation Awards during its inaugural gala held during PTC’18, the fortieth anniversary of its annual conference.  

Launched as a fundraising platform to enable PTC to further pursue its mission to improve the quality of life in the Pacific Rim through the development of ICT, the Innovation Awards are designed to recognize the individuals and companies that have transformed and continue to transform the ICT industry and the markets PTC serves.

The awards covered six categories related to innovation within the ICT industry and were judged by a panel of seven jurors representing a broad cross-section of industry executives and thought leaders from a variety of network-centric industry segments. The jurors were RingByName CMO Matt Bramson, Salesforce Vice President for Strategic Research Peter Coffee, APTelecom CEO Eric Handa, DE-CIX International CEO Ivo Ivanov, Garnet Consulting Pty. Ltd. CEO Hugh McGarry, North American Hawaiki Cable President of Business Development Randy Neals, and HOT TELECOM President and Founder Isabelle Paradis. 

Each candidate entry was evaluated quantitatively against multiple criteria, with a strict mathematical protocol used to combine the perspectives of each of the independent judges. There was no fee or sponsorship required to enter to safeguard the neutrality and objectivity of the awards.

PacketFabric took the award for Best Application/Service Innovation, as well as Best Networking Innovation Award together with Aqua Comms. The award for Best Regulatory Innovation was presented to Geeks Without Frontiers, while Telstra took home the Lifetime Innovation Award. Télécoms Sans Frontières was recognized for Best Quality of Life Improvement, and Cloudflare won Best Overall Innovation Award.

Runners up included Telstra, Sky and Space Global, Zayo Group, Epsilon, Saltyster, Olympusat Telecom, Heather Hudson, CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, Bharti Airtel, and Global Marine.

"I'm so pleased with the level and breadth of submissions we had for the different categories, particularly for our first year, and am so grateful for all the judges, who worked hard and objectively to recognize our innovators," said Tricia Paoletta, Chair of the PTC’18 Innovation Awards Committee and Partner at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP.

In addition to the six Innovation Awards, the Richard J. Barber Distinguished Service Award was presented to Klaus Gueldenpfennig, Founder and Chairman of the Board for REDCOM by Tony Rossabi, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer for TierPoint. 

Two scholars were also awarded the Meheroo Jussawalla and Yale M. Braunstein Research Prize Awards for their excellence in research, while six PhD candidates from six different countries were recognized by PTC’s Young Scholar Program for their research in the ICT field.

About the Pacific Telecommunications Council 
Recognized as PTC, the Pacific Telecommunications Council is the global non-profit membership organization promoting the advancement of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the Pacific Rim, the most dynamic geography of the world, spanning over 40 nations. PTC enables its members to conduct trade in facilities, technologies, and services and to use the power of information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve the quality of life in the Asia-Pacific region. PTC is recognized for many of its initiatives, including its Annual Conference, the Pacific Rim’s premier ICT event where 7,000+ members and industry attendees gather annually in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Media Contact

Anamarcia Lacayo
Communications Officer
Pacific Telecommunications Council
+1.808.941.3789 | e-mail: [email protected]