Mplify names finalists for 2026 NaaS Excellence Awards
Companies mentioned
Mplify said it named finalists for its 2026 Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Excellence Awards, with winners scheduled to be revealed at the Mplify Member Summit – Americas in Boston on September 22-24. The awards were tied to work related to NaaS and AI-ready digital infrastructure.
The selection process used criteria reviewed by a panel of senior analysts from ACG Research, Analysys Mason, Appledore Research, Atlantic ACM, AvidThink, CCSquared, Dell’Oro Group, Frost & Sullivan, IDC, Mplify, Omdia, STL Partners, TeleGeography, and Vertical Systems Group. In addition to organizational achievements, the 2026 awards were set to recognize individuals for leadership, innovation, and contributions related to NaaS and AI-ready digital infrastructure. Professional honors included Industry Executive of the Year, Michael Howard Industry Impact, and the Nan Chen Vanguard Award.
Mplify described the finalists as organizations and individuals focused on automated, interoperable, and AI-ready digital infrastructure. It cited progress across high-performance interconnection, multi-party service coordination, secure connectivity, and standards-based automation. It also said the finalists’ work covered on-demand connectivity, application assurance, security, and multi-cloud networking.
Finalists listed by Mplify included Amdocs, Amartus, Arelion, AT&T Business, Blue Planet (a division of Ciena), CMC Networks, Colt Technology Services, Comcast Business, DE-CIX, Equinix, Expereo, Graphiant, Lumen Technologies, Netcracker, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO BUSINESS, Inc., Orange Business, Orchest Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, PCCW Global/Console Connect, RAD, Sage Management, Singtel, Sparkle, Tata Communications Limited, Ufinet, Verizson Business, and Vodafone Business. Stan Hubbard, Principal Analyst at Mplify, said, “The 2026 NaaS Excellence Awards finalists demonstrate the industry’s growing momentum toward AI-ready digital infrastructure,” and added, “A key development this year is the convergence of AI for NaaS and NaaS for AI: AI is helping operate the same programmable infrastructure that AI workloads consume.” Mplify said awards were to be presented during the NaaS Excellence Awards Gala on September 23 in Boston.
Press release, originally published by Melissa Power at mplify.net.