Page 4 - DECT Today - Issue 3 - May 2015

Manek Dubash talks to the Jurors
With the very first awards ceremony looming, it seemed like a great time to pick the brains of my fellow awards jurors, to get their views on the awards, the products and the process. So I spoke to Matthias Hinkl, Key Account Manager Telecoms at GfK Retail and Technology, and Luis Romero, Director General of ETSI.
MD: First, what was your impression of the products overall?
MH: I saw a mix of things I've seen before and second generation versions. There were lots of products, and many were very close to winning but we had to make a choice so congratulations to the winners. In future though, we need to perfect design concepts, and move people towards better connectivity and ease of use.
LR: Overall it was very positive. In the design category, we see manufacturers making big design efforts to reach markets that we know exist. On innovation, we can see DECT being used for more than voice communications, which says a lot about the health of the technology. I'd agree that, when we were going through the products to decide the awards, it was all very close.
MD: How well did the products meet your expectations?
MH: On the PSTN side they exceeded my expectations, but we need to be thinking
about new concepts for the future of DECT. So I would have loved to see a bit more smart home, ULE-based products and concepts.
LR: They were beyond my expectations, particularly when thinking about uses beyond voice – we saw video, security at home, products that help with the care for the elderly and so on.
MD: Without giving them away - what did you think of the winners?
MH: On the design side, the winners were convincing in design and usage, and would be an asset to any home, showing DECT technology at its best. There's a lot of innovation these products but we need to communicate just how much innovation is going on in the DECT market, we need to educate consumers, and make the technology more visible.
LR: On the design side, the products were very stylish - clean, smooth, and an asset to any home. You'd want to put them on show at home, not hide them away. On the innovation side, we're seeing new applications beyond the usual telephony category. Since this is the first set of awards by the DECT Forum, I hope this will spur manufacturers on to make more exciting products in future. I think the DECT industry is a bit hidden - overshadowed - so we need to make the technology more visible and develop it further.
4
DECT Awards 2015: Short-list Announced!
It’s Awards time and we can report that a prestigious jury has selected a short-list of candidates for the DECT Awards 2015.
This year the DECT Forum has launched the DECT Awards programme. The DECT Awards are open to products in two categories of design and innovation. In each category the following will be awarded: Winner, Runner Up and Highly Commended.
The Awards jury comprised Luis Jorge Romero (ETSI, France), Matthias Hickel (GfK, Germany) and Manek Dubash (Journalist, UK). The three experts selected the following short-listed candidates from an impressive number of applicants:
DECT Award Innovation
• Binatone: Smart 63
• Deutsche Telekom: Speedport NEO
• EUROtronic: Comet DECT
• Panasonic: KX-PRW130, KX-TGF370, KX-
HN6000, VL-SWD501 & VL-WD812
• Plantronics: Savi 700 Series
• SGW: BT8500 Advanced Call Blocker
DECT Award Design
• Binatone: Eclipse
• ECT: CarePhone
• Panasonic: KX-TGK320
• Sagemcom: SIXTY 2
• SGW: Motorola IT.6
• Woox: M8
See the following page for more details of the short-listed products
Commenting on the
selection, Andreas Zipp,
Chairman of the DECT Forum
remarked, “We are very pleased
about the very large number of participants from the industry, giving a real challenge for the jury to conclude on a short-list of candidates. We encourage representatives from all short-listed companies to attend the exciting event of the Awards ceremony, where the 3 winners in each category will be presented.”
The DECT Awards for end products will be presented in a ceremony at the DECT World Conference on May 19, 2015 in Barcelona.
DECT AWARDS 2015
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