Leaders of Europe’s Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Industry Honoured at Glittering Frost & Sullivan Awards Banquet

LONDON, U.K. –October 27, 2006 – Outstanding performances in Europe’s information and communication technologies industry were recognised at Frost & Sullivan’s Excellence in Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Awards Banquet held last Tuesday evening at the Le Meridien hotel in London.

Twenty-seven Awards were conferred on twenty-six companies over the course of the evening’s proceedings. Companies were honoured for market leadership and technology innovation, exceptional growth strategies and entrepreneurship, product excellence as well as focussed customer value enhancement.

Coveted Company of the Year Awards were given out to organisations that have demonstrated consistent and outstanding performances in their specific markets. Among the recipients were Microsoft, Telcordia, MessageLabs, Symantec, Mastercard and OTI.

The Awards were bestowed across a range of ICT sectors from unified communications, mobile and wireless technologies, fixed telecommunications, conferencing and collaboration, convergence solutions, network security as well as smart cards.

In her keynote speech titled ‘The Industry through Frost & Sullivan’s Looking Glass’, Ms. Sharifah Amirah, Research Manager, Frost & Sullivan ICT (Europe), examined current and emerging trends in the ICT industry while reflecting on the way communications has become a lifestyle.

Ms. Amirah noted, “The highly dynamic and complex ICT market is currently in a phase of transition and will increasingly be defined by greater mobility, collaboration and convergence. In the move towards this paradigm, market participants will need to revise present strategies. Innovation, acquisitions and partnerships to attain customer ownership, understanding the sociological drivers unique to each community and sensitivity to regulatory and security issues will be critical to achieving competitive success.”

This year’s event attracted over 130 industry leaders, a large majority of whom were C-level executives. Amidst the rich traditional setting, the atmosphere of the event was a vibrant one, with many looking forward to the next banquet.

The following is a complete list of the award recipients:


* 2006 Product Differentiation Innovation Award in the European Audio Conferencing Service Provider Market - Aduno
* 2006 Customer Service Innovation Award in the European Audio Conferencing Service Provider Market - MeetingZone Ltd
* 2006 Entrepreneurial Company Award in the European Audio Conferencing Service Provider Market - Ring2 Communications Ltd
* 2006 Product Innovation of the Year Award in the Conferencing and Collaboration Market - Polycom
* 2006 Growth Strategy Leadership Award in the European Enterprise Communications Market - Aastra Technologies Ltd
* 2006 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award in the European Hosted IP Telephony and VOIP Access Services Market - BT Global Services
* 2006 Product Line Strategy Leadership Award in the European Enterprise
Communication Market - Ericsson
* 2006 Company of the Year Award in the European Enterprise Communications Market - Microsoft
* 2006 Market Leadership of the Year Award in the European Enterprise Telephony Market - Siemens
* 2006 Market Leadership of the Year Award in the European Fixed Telecoms Market - Alcatel
* 2006 Product of the Year Award in the European Fixed Telecoms Market - Siemens
* 2006 Business Development Strategy Leadership Award in the European Messaging Solutions Market - Followap
* 2006 Industry Innovation and Advancement of the Year Award in the European WLAN Market - Bluesocket
* 2006 Technology Innovation of the Year Award in the European Mobile and Wireless Market - Icuiti
* 2006 Customer Value Enhancement of the Year Award in the European Mobile and Wireless Market - InfoGin
* 2006 Product Line Strategy of the Year Award in the European Messaging Solutions Market - Openwave Services Inc
* 2006 Company of the Year Award in European FMC and IMS Solutions Market - Telcordia
* 2006 Market Penetration Leadership Award in the Anti Virus Market - F-Secure Corporation
* 2006 European Company of the Year Award in the EMEA Security Market -MessageLabs
* 2006 Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in the EMEA Security Market - SkyRecon
* 2006 Global Company of the Year Award in the EMEA Security Market - Symantec
* 2006 Growth Strategy Leadership Award in the Smart Card IC Market - Atmel
* 2006 Technology Leadership Award in the South African Smart Card Market - Fundamo
* 2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in the Smart Card Reader and Chipset Market - Omnikey GmbH
* 2006 Competitive Strategy Leadership Award in the Smart Card IC Market - Renesas Technology Corporation
* 2006 Company of the Year Award in the Contactless Payment Smart Card Market - Mastercard
* 2006 Company of the Year Award in the Contactless Smart Card Market - OTI

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company’s industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.

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Srividhya Parthasarathy

Corporate Communications

Frost & Sullivan

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