Light Reading Launches Top Picks, A New Industry Recognition & Awards Program

Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/), the leading integrated media company serving the worldwide communications industry, today calls for nominees for its first annual Light Reading Top Picks awards program, in which top communications products and services from all over the world are recognized for their potential to shake up the industry.

Light Reading's editors will announce the Top Picks on October 19, 2009, and they'll celebrate with the winners at the Top Picks After Party, an invitation-only gathering to be held in New York City on November 4, following Ethernet Expo Americas 2009.

For full details, and to nominate your company's products or services, visit the Top Picks page on Light Reading at: http://www.lightreading.com/top-picks.

The awards categories and judging criteria have been developed with an eye toward recognizing those products and services that best indicate where the communications industry is headed in the next 12 months.

To determine the Top Picks, Light Reading's editors will be in constant contact with analysts from Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, the prestigious market divisions of Light Reading, and their sources throughout the industry in the coming weeks. More importantly, the Top Picks vetting process will unfold daily on several dedicated online message boards, where each editor will preside over an open discussion about several key technologies and service areas including:

  --  Business Services (fixed or wireless)
  --  Consumer Services (fixed or wireless)
  --  Carrier Transport (optical networking, Ethernet, packet optical)
  --  Fixed Access (DSL, GPON, WDM-PON, and beyond)
  --  IP Applications (VoIP, IMS)
  --  Switching and Routing (IP/MPLS, Deep Packet Inspection)
  --  Telecom Software (OSS, BSS, SDPs, policy control)
  --  Video Infrastructure (cable tech, IPTV)

  --  Wireless Infrastructure (access, backhaul, towers, radios, etc.)

For all the areas except Services, Light Reading's editors will choose one Top Pick per category from each of three regions: the Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia/Pacific. For the Business Services and Consumer Services areas, there will be up to three Top Picks in each category, and geography won't be a consideration.

The Light Reading Top Picks awards program is completely free to enter, and active participation from nominated companies is encouraged.

To enter the contest, and read our program FAQ, please visit: http://www.lightreading.com/top-picks.

About Light Reading

Founded in 2000, Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) is the leading online media, research, and focused event company serving the $3 trillion worldwide communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Expo London, The Tower Summit @ CTIA, and Optical Expo, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About TechWeb

TechWeb (http://techweb.com/aboutus), the global leader in business technology media, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million* business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events, Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat, and VoiceCon; online resources such as the TechWeb Network, Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and The Financial Technology Network; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine, and Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services including next-generation performance marketing, integrated media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

*13.3 million business decision-makers: based on number of monthly connections

About United Business Media

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetisation of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities -- from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists -- with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/.

  Contact:
  Amy Averbook
  Director of Corporate Marketing
  Light Reading Communications Group
  O: 212 600-3373
  averbook@lightreading.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: averbook@lightreading.com

SOURCE: Light Reading

CONTACT: Amy Averbook, Director of Corporate Marketing, Light Reading
Communications Group, +1-212 600-3373, averbook@lightreading.com

Web Site: http://www.lightreading.com/