Simwood Announces SimCon 2020 Award Winners

BRISTOL, England, March 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- UK and US carrier Simwood are energised to announce the SimCon Award Winners for 2020.

"The SimCon Awards are uniquely designed to recognise the unsung heroes of the open source community and telecommunications industry. There are no prescribed categories and a fundamental rule and difference to other awards is that self-nominations are prohibited. Winners don't need to buy dinner packages 'just in case' either!" explained Simwood's CEO Simon Woodhead.

This is the second year that Simwood has promoted and hosted the awards. Simon Woodhead commented: "We are delighted to have started this initiative which has been exceptionally well received. However, we don't claim ownership of them and hope that industry partners will participate in future to promote the aspiration to recognise the outstanding contributions of individuals and companies across the world. Awards can be open source too!"

The winners were:

• Matthew Fredrickson - The Nicest Guy in VoIP, ever!;
• Allison Smith - The Voice of the Uprising;
• Tim Panton - The Geek Inspirer;
• Olle Johansson - Pre-posthumous Legend;
• Alan Quayle - Empowering the Next Generation;
• Telavox - Ahead of their Time;
• Elisja Van Niekerk - Leading by Example.

Matthew Fredrickson was recognised for being The Nicest Guy in VoIP. Ever. Matthew is the project lead for the Asterisk and FreePBX projects and is always willing to help and talk. And he's a really, really nice guy. Smart, humble, down to earth and incredibly bright.

Allison Smith achieved an award for being The Voice of the Uprising. She has the most prolific IVR (Interactive voice response) voice as she is the default voice of Asterisk and FreeSwitch. Everybody has probably heard her voice many times and are clamouring to have her voice for their corporate IVRs.

Tim Panton was acclaimed as The Geek Inspirer.  An IoE (Internet of Everything) security practitioner, he brings technologies together to address needs not yet considered. He is interested in how humanity relates to smart objects and is now working to build socially useful communication tools.

Olle Johansson received the coveted Pre-posthumous Legend award. Olle has been instrumental in writing and updating the standards for the VoIP industry and has been a tireless ambassador and promoter of the implementation and use of security standards as well as a major contributor to the Asterisk project.

Alan Quayle was appropriately awarded for Empowering the Next Generation. As organiser of TADHack Global he has catalysed aspiring developers around the world with a particular focus on youth outreach encouraging youngsters to get involved in technology.

Telavox was deservedly selected as being Ahead of their Time. They are leading the way with their ambition to wipe out desk phones and handsets. This is backed by a fantastic platform and a company with great core ethics.

Elisja Van Niekerk was rightly recognised with the award for Leading by Example. She is an IT project manager at MTN, the mobile conglomerate working across the entire content of Africa. Whilst working with her Company's activities of supporting communities at the grass root, in her spare time coordinates tech conferences and teaches mothers digital skills and coding through 'Coding Mammas'. She also finds time to support tech women achieving career progression in what remains a male dominated arena.

SimCon is an annual event at Simwood's HQ in Bristol, bringing the best speakers from around the community as well as covering in depth topics of relevance to Simwood's customers.

About Simwood (https://simwood.com/)

Founded by Simon Woodhead in 1996, Simwood is a wholesale carrier specialising in uncompromisingly honest, dynamic, and innovation-driven wholesale VoIP telephony. With its own infrastructure and presence in multiple data centres across the UK, and ongoing expansion into the USA, Simwood has over 23 years' experience in delivering cutting-edge, innovative, and secure solutions for VoIP providers around the world.

Simwood has recently acquired Sipcentric which strengthened its product set, offering a fresh yet experienced platform for truly white-labelled hosted VoIP. The Sipcentric platform (now branded Simwood Partner) is offered to resellers looking to expand on their service portfolios. All of the traditional Simwood values filter through to this platform such as encrypted voice, fraud prevention, as well as all the fantastic platform features like call centre wallboards, white labelling, and full customer control.

Contact:   Grahame Davies, [email protected]
Simwood Group Plc 
Simwood, Simwood House, Cube M4 Business Park, Old Gloucester Road, Bristol BS16 1FX, UK
+44 330 122 3000   
https://simwood.com

SOURCE Simwood eSMS Ltd