ISPA Awards 2012: Entry Form

Registration is now closed for the 2012 ISPA Awards.

Registration for the 2013 Awards will open later this year. Subscribe to the ISPA Newsletter for regular updates. Please contact awards@ispa.org.uk for information.

Welcome to the ISPA Awards 2012 registration system. thinkbroadband and Malden Electronics are assisting ISPA in the evaluation of technical performance of various awards.

You must also ensure you return your registration form directly to ISPA for the awards you are entering. Please note that a Javascript enabled web browser is necessary to complete this form. If you have any queries about the awards, please e-mail awards@ispa.org.uk.

We will confirm receipt of your application form within two working days. If you are entering one of the categories which include technical testing, you will be contacted by the end of January 2012 with further details.

All fields marked with an * are mandatory.

Step 1: General Information

Please provide the following information about your company:

ISP Details
Company Name*

Marketing Contact
Name*
E-mail*
Telephone*
Mobile
Postal Address

Technical Contact
Name*
E-mail*
Telephone*
Mobile

Step 2: Categories

Select the award categories you are entering?*

	Best Consumer Fixed Broadband			Best Consumer Customer Service
	Best Business Fixed Broadband			Best Business Customer Service
	Best Mobile Broadband			Best SME Business Hosting
	Best Internet Telephony			Best Large Business Hosting
	Internet Safety & Security			Managed Service Innovation
	Customer Choice Award			Best New ISP
	Digital Inclusion Award

Step 3: Category Details

Please select the categories you are entering for above.

Best Consumer Fixed Broadband

For the ISP which provides the best fixed broadband service for consumers.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Price and value for money
Time from order to delivery
Contract options
Geographical availability
Packages information
Value added services
Email offering
The level of cap on the entrants' broadband service

Please provide us with the name of the broadband package you are entering into this category: (e.g. "MyISP Home Max")

Package Name*

More information, including the written entry form (which must also be completed) is available here.

Best Business Fixed Broadband

For the ISP which provides the best fixed broadband service for businesses.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Price and value for money
Time from order to delivery
Contract options
Geographical availability
Packages information
Value added services
Employee email offering
The level of cap on the entrants' broadband service
IPv6 capability
Broadband speeds
Investment and innovation in networks

We will contact you by the end of January with details of the testing requirements.

Please provide us with the name of the broadband package you are entering into this category: (e.g. "MyISP Business Max")

Package Name*

More information, including the written entry form (which must also be completed) is available here.

Best Mobile Broadband

For the ISP which provides the best mobile broadband service.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Price and value for money
Time from order to delivery Contract options
Accessibility in the UK
International accessibility
Packages information
Value added services
The level of cap on the entrants' broadband service
Requirement allowing users to turn off the compression
Speeds
Network coverage

We will contact you by the end of January with details of the testing requirements.

Please provide us with the name of the broadband package you are entering into this category: (e.g. "MyISP Mobile USB Traveller")

Package Name*

More information, including the written entry form (which must also be completed) is available here.

Best SME Business Hosting

For the ISP that provides the best small business hosting services

Entrants are judged on the following:

Hours of support
Hardware redundancy of each level
Firewall protection
Security measures at data centre(s)
Patch management process
Guarantees for connecting servers to the Internet
Number of IP addresses offered
Flexibility: Can the site grow and contract without financial penalty or being tied into a contract
Payment options
Price and value for money
Domain/DNS management available
Data centre availability/SLAs
Provides IPv6 Address
Availability and speed of service

Please download both of the files linked below and arrange for them to be hosted on one of your servers and provide us with the URL to each of them:

Test File A - http://ispa.thinkbroadband.com/ispatest.txt (please ensure the file is called "ispatest.txt")
Test File B - http://ispa.thinkbroadband.com/ispatest50.zip (please ensure the file is called "ispatest50.zip")

URL to Test File A	(If this is not yet set up, please enter "pending")
URL to Test File B	(If this is not yet set up, please enter "pending")

More information, including the written entry form (which must also be completed) is available here. You will be contacted in January with more details about testing.

Best Large Business Hosting

For the ISP which provides the best large business hosting services.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Hours of support
Hardware redundancy of each level
Provision of protected private network
Firewall protection
Security measures at data centre(s).
Patch management process
Guarantees for connecting servers to Internet
Peering arrangements with other ISPs
Number of IP addresses offered
Guaranteed service level agreements
Ease for customers to change to different bandwidth level and any costs involved
Data back-up services
Mirrored hosting services
Power supply, reboot and administration options
Flexibility: Can the site grow and contract without financial penalty or being tied into a contract.
Payment options
Price and value for money
Server redundancy - Availability of 'hot' replacement
Patch management process
Virtualisation and cloud computing capabilities
Provides IPv6 Address
Availability and speed of service

Please download both of the files linked below and arrange for them to be hosted on one of your servers and provide us with the URL to each of them:

URL to Test File A	(If this is not yet set up, please enter "pending")
URL to Test File B	(If this is not yet set up, please enter "pending")

More information, including the written entry form (which must also be completed) is available here. You will be contacted in January with more details about testing.

Best Internet Telephony

For the ISP which provides the best network for carrying voice traffic.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Variety and scope of packages
Time from order to delivery
Number options
Contract options
Free access to other VoIP networks
Value added services
Support and customer care
Modem connection capability

Please provide the following details for technical testing. The supplied accounts must have enough credit on them to cover the anticipated test call costs. It is recommended that each account has enough credit to cover 750 minutes of calls to a UK PSTN number."

User Name*
Password*
Realm*
SIP Identity*
Outbound Proxy*
Default audio codec*
Supported audio codecs*

More information, including the written entry form (which must also be completed) is available here. You will be contacted in January with more details about testing.

Managed Service Innovation

The Managed Service Innovation Award is open to communications service providers that are engaged in managing networks or services on behalf of operators or service providers.

Entrants are judged on a case study describing the innovation of the managed service and may include examples of the following:

Price and value for money
Differentiation from competitors
Support offering and customer care
Value Added Services
Scope of service
Security capabilities
Network and technology strengths
Service reach and capacity
Flexibility and scalability
Reliability and levels of service
Innovation in terms of step change improvement for the customer

There are no additional details required on this form. More information, including the written entry form is available here.

Best New ISP

The Best New ISP is open to any ISP offering internet access services to businesses or consumers that has entered the market in or after July 2010

Entrants are judged on the following:

Market impact
Innovative service offering
Differentiation from competitors
Price and value for money
Scope for growth
Reliability and levels of service
Promotion and marketing

There are no additional details required on this form. More information, including the written entry form is available here.

Customer Choice Award

The Customer Choice Award is open to all ISPs offering consumer access services and the finalists/winner will be based on direct customer feedback, including on reliability, customer service and value for money

More information, is available here.

Best Consumer Customer Service

For the ISP which provides the most outstanding service for consumers.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Time from order to delivery
Contract options
Handling of complaints
Anti-abuse services
Value added services
Corporate social responsibility credentials
The level of cap on the entrants' broadband service and fair usage policy on your services
Safety and security features and accessibility
How your customer service differs from that of competitors

There are no additional details required on this form. More information, including the written entry form is available here.

Best Business Customer Service

For the ISP which provides the most outstanding service to businesses.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Time from order to delivery
Contract options
Handling of complaints
Anti-abuse services
Value added services
Corporate social responsibility credentials
The level of cap on the entrants' broadband service and fair usage policy on your services

There are no additional details required on this form. More information, including the written entry form is available here.

Internet Safety & Security Award

For the company or individual that provides the best contribution to online safety & security.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Media literacy
Protection of vulnerable people
Security service
Anti-abuse
Customer service
Child safety
Anti-virus/malware protection
Education and protection of vulnerable people

There are no additional details required on this form. More information, including the written entry form is available here.

Digital Inclusion Award in association with Race Online 2012

For the individual, organisation or service provider engaged in getting communities and individuals online.

Entrants are judged on the following:

Impact on digital inclusion
Market leadership
Awareness raising
Skills & learning
Innovation and creativity - such as use of resources and funding
Local Community partnership
Cost effectiveness
Innovative use of technology

There are no additional details required on this form. More information, including the written entry form is available here.

Step 4: Submit entry

Terms and Conditions

The ISPAs Rules and General Information

15 awards will be presented on 3 July 2012, as outlined on www.ispaawards.org.uk.
The awards will be judged according to the criteria for each category published at www.ispaawards.org.uk.
Companies and organisations may be short-listed for more than one award
Companies cannot be short-listed for an award they have sponsored
Following confirmation by the judges and the ISPA Council, the shortlists for each award will be published prior to the Awards ceremony. The ISPA Secretariat will contact companies that have been short-listed
Once the shortlist is published by ISPA, companies that have made the shortlist may publicise this fact (including using the official ISPA logos) but can only do so under licence from ISPA
Copies of the licence are available on request and will be provided to each nominee. On nomination, nominees must decide whether they wish to pay the licence fee and use the ISPA trade marks (including official ISPA logo) to publicise their nomination
The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony on 3 July 2012 and not before
Winners may publicise that they are a winner of an ISPA Award (including using the official ISPA logos) but can only do so under licence from ISPA
Copies of the licence are available on request before the Awards ceremony, and will be provided to each winner after the Awards Ceremony. At this point, winners must decide whether they wish to pay the licence fee and use the ISPA trade marks (including official ISPA logo) to publicise their award
The assessment criteria for each category can be found on www.ispaawards.org.uk.
Value-added forms must be submitted to awards@ispa.org.uk by 30 March 2012
No entrant shall engage in any activity that may damage the integrity of The ISPAs scheme or ceremony. Any such actions shall be raised with the ISPA Council who will take any decision on disqualification. The ISPA Council's decision with respect to disqualification is final

ISP Awards Testing

The awards tester will conduct an analysis of the services offered by the entrants in the access and hosting categories
ISPs must register their intent to enter the awards with ISPA and register their services and other requested information with the awards tester via the online form linked to from www.ispaawards.org.uk. Registration intent and technical registration with the awards tester opens on 1st December and will close on the 13th February 2012
ISPs must register their technical details with the awards tester via the online form linked to from www.ispaawards.org.uk. Entrants must have the stated required number of users registered for each award and technical details where required reported to the awards tester by 10th February 2012, when monitoring is due to begin
Entrants will be required to submit supporting information demonstrating how they meet the criteria. All supporting information must be submitted via the value-added forms that are available at www.ispaawards.org.uk by the 30th March 2012
An independent judging panel composed of knowledgeable observers of the ISP sector will assess the nominees and choose the winners in each category

Best SME and Large Hosting ISP

Entrants for both categories will be given a file that they will place on a server for testing purposes

Best Internet Telephony

Entrants must be an ISP or a company offering VoIP services to customers.
Entrants are required to supply a SIP account and related details to Malden Electronics
Malden Electronics will periodically perform a VoIP call over a broadband service, using the supplied SIP account, to a PSTN terminated callee. The same broadband service and PSTN terminated callee will be employed to test all VoIP services. An audio reference will be injected into the VoIP call and the performance of the audio delivery and network behaviour during the call will be measured. Specific measurements taken are as follows:
Speech Quality Score (using ITU P.862.1 PESQ)
Round trip
Speech level loss
Background noise
Network jitter
Network packet loss

Best Consumer & Best Business Fixed Broadband

As part of the registration process the entrant will agree to have installed and registered testing agents and remain installed for the duration of the monitoring period, 13th February 2012 to 30th April 2012.

Best Consumer and Best Business Customer Service

Entrants must register their service and other requested information for the appropriate award(s) via the registration form linked to from http://www.ispaawards.org.uk.

Best New ISP, Mobile Broadband, Managed Service Innovation, Digital Inclusion, Safety & Security, Consumer Choice & Hero & Villain Awards

The 2012 ISPAs Best New ISP Award shortlist and eventual winner will be selected by the ISPA judges. This category is open to any ISP that has entered the market in or after July 2010. Entrants are required to download and submit the written entry form by 30th March 2012.
The 2012 ISPAs Best Mobile Broadband Award shortlist and eventual winner will be selected by the ISPA judges. This category is open to any company or individual that feels they have made a significant contribution in this area. Entrants are required to download and submit the written entry form by 30th March 2012.
The 2012 ISPAs Best Managed Service Innovation Award shortlist and eventual winner will be selected by the ISPA judges. This category is open to any company or individual that feels they have made a significant contribution in this area. Entrants are required to download and submit the written entry form by 30th March 2012.
The Digital Inclusion Award, in association with Race Online 2012, shortlist and eventual winner will be selected by the Race Online 2012 judges. This category is open to any company or individual that feels they have made a significant contribution in this area. Entrants are required to download and submit the written entry form by 30th March 2012.
The Customer Choice Award will be selected by the customer. This category is open to any company or individual that feels they have made a significant contribution in this area. Entrants are required to register for this award by 27th January 2012.
The Internet Safety & Security Award will be judged by the ISPA Awards judges. Entrants are required to download and submit the written entry form by 30th March 2012.
The Internet Hero and Internet Villain Awards shortlists and eventual winners will be selected by the ISPA Council.

I understand I am required to submit additional documentation to ISPA directly in order to qualify for entry.

Please tick this box to confirm you understand and agree to the above terms and conditions.*

General enquiries may be addressed to awards@ispa.org.uk and questions about technical testing should be sent to ispa@thinkbroadband.com