Maravedis Announces MDU Connectivity Awards Winners

The Maravedis Research has announced the winners of the inaugural Maravedis MDU Connectivity Awards 2026, a program that drew 40 entries from the multifamily housing sector. Nine winners were named from these entries, chosen by an independent panel of property owners, operators, and real estate investment trusts (REITs). The winners were revealed during a live online ceremony attended by industry leaders and stakeholders.

Nine companies and deployments were recognized for their advancements in managed Wi-Fi, PropTech, and resident connectivity in multifamily housing. The awards program highlighted the future of multifamily connectivity, with networks that are measured by how well they serve residents, built to work in existing buildings, and directly linked to owner economics.

Every entry, including those from program sponsors, was evaluated by the same independent panel under the same criteria, with sponsorship having no bearing on the outcome.

The winners were as follows:

1. BEST MANAGED WI-FI DEPLOYMENT: CBX Connect | Hub Knoxville, a high-density deployment that supported nearly 2,000 residents, more than 10,000 devices, and 60 TB of traffic during move-in, with only nine support tickets and no system-wide outages.

2. MSP INNOVATION AWARD: GFiber and Quext, a partnership combining multi-gig fiber, Wi-Fi 7, automated onboarding, personal networks, and smart-building technology on a single platform, validated through a relationship with Irvine Company.

3. BEST RETROFIT DEPLOYMENT: Xfinity Communities | Connected Building, a purpose-built gateway that delivers community-wide Wi-Fi over existing coax without a full overbuild, adding PMS integration, smart-building capabilities, and significant first-year deployment scale, including senior housing communities.

4. EMERGING COMPANY TO WATCH: Elauwit Connection, a Network-as-a-Service model in which Elauwit builds and funds the network, removing the capital barrier for owners. The company has grown to more than 37,000 units across 25-plus states in just over two years.

5. BEST PROPTECH TECHNOLOGY: SmartRent, an operating platform combining smart hardware, cloud software, AI-enabled workflows, automation, and portfolio intelligence across 1.2 million connected apartments, with an estimated $6.7 million in damage prevented.

6. BEST PROPTECH DEPLOYMENT: Quext | The Collective at Norman, a Wallet Access deployment where residents enrolled within hours of launch and now make more than 3,300 digital unlocks a day with zero reported lockouts, delivered with Preiss, IRIS Technologies, Allegion, Schlage, Apple, and Google.

7. RESIDENT EXPERIENCE AWARD: Calix | SmartMDU and CommandIQ, a personalized experience that gives residents control over their network, security, device priority, and guest access, with private networks that roam property-wide.

8. TECHNOLOGY EXCELLENCE AWARD: Positron Access Solutions | GAM, Gigabit services over existing coax and telephone wiring where overbuild economics would otherwise prevent deployment, integrated with XGS-PON environments and supporting multiple services and providers.

9. BEST WLAN VENDOR IN MULTIFAMILY: RUCKUS Networks, a WLAN platform with MDU-specific features including adaptive antenna technology, DPSK-based resident security, Wi-Fi 7, cloud management, and AI-driven operations, backed by a broad global partner ecosystem.

The Maravedis Research also congratulated the 2026 finalists, whose entries demonstrated the depth of innovation in the multifamily connectivity market, including Aervivo, Calix, CBX Connect, Discernity, Elauwit Connection, GFiber and Quext, Internet Subway, Positron Access Solutions, Quext, RUCKUS Networks, Seldin LLC, SmartRent, WiBUZ, and Xfinity Communities.

Maravedis Research, the leading research firm specializing in managed Wi-Fi and multifamily broadband, presented the inaugural Maravedis MDU Connectivity Awards 2026, a program that has set the stage for future advancements in the multifamily connectivity market.