Metaswitch Networks and Manx Telecom won the Fixed Infrastructure Innovation Award for Leadership in Network Virtualization at the Global Telecoms Business (GTB) Innovation Awards. It recognises the collaboration between the two companies to migrate Manx Telecom’s 50,000 fixed line voice customers onto Metaswitch’s virtualized IMS (vIMS) core and session border controllers (SBCs). The project means that Manx Telecom has upgraded the Island’s fixed line phone network to a software based, cloud computing platform, which in the longer-term will make it possible to introduce new services faster for consumers and businesses. In addition, the company’s latest investment in communications infrastructure also means that Manx Telecom is one of the leaders in the evolution of fixed line network technology in a telco 2.0 architecture.

Kevin Paige, Manx Telecom’s Chief Technology Officer, thanked Metaswitch for their collaboration and said the GTB award was a deserved recognition of the project’s success. He said: “The fact that this project has been recognised with a prestigious global industry award illustrates the scale of what Manx Telecom and Metaswitch have achieved. I’m very proud to accept this award on behalf of all of our hard working colleagues who worked on this technically challenging project. The completion of this project means that we are one of the first network operators in Europe to run live telco voice services on a network functions virtualized (NFV)-based environment. That’s a huge achievement, and yet another example of how Manx Telecom’s continued investment and innovation is enabling the Isle of Man to keep up to speed with the ever increasing advancements in communications technology.”

The GTB Telecoms Innovation Awards were presented at a black-tie dinner in London on May 25.

Photo -  With the Fixed Infrastructure Innovation Award for Leadership in Network Virtualization at the Global Telecoms Business (GTB) Innovation Awards are (left) Nick Critchell, Metaswitch Networks Vice President Sales (EMEA), and Kevin Paige, Chief Technology Officer at Manx Telecom.