MEF Webinars – Enabling a Global Ecosystem of Automated Networks
MEF brings together the community of service providers, technology vendors, open source projects, and standards organizations to accelerate the worldwide adoption of dynamic services orchestrated across a global fabric of automated networks.
Our webinars provide a roadmap for service providers striving to introduce on-demand, cloud-centric services that span multiple provider networks to serve the needs of the digital economy.
In 2019, our webinars will help service providers position their network for opportunity and growth, exploring topics related to the MEF 3.0 Global Services Framework:
- Standardized, Orchestrated Services
- Open LSO APIs
- Service and Technology Certifications
- Community Collaboration
Participate and learn from industry experts on the innovation that is possible with MEF 3.0.
Speakers
Speakers – Meet the Experts
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Stan is a communications professional with 20 years of experience in industry analysis, forecasting, strategic marketing, and event programming. In 2013, he joined MEF, where he is directing program development for MEF global networking events, managing industry analyst relations, and developing research and other initiatives to help accelerate MEF 3.0 adoption and LSO development. Prior to MEF, Stan was a Senior Analyst at Heavy Reading, where he focused on CE services and network equipment markets and SDN. He chaired ~20 major Light Reading CE events in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Before Heavy Reading, Stan was the director of market intelligence at Ciena. |
Pascal is a proven technology thought leader, sales evangelist, product manager and seasoned IP architect with decades of experience in internetworking, next-generation information systems, and communication architectures. Pascal currently serves as Chief Technology Officer and Advisory Director to MEF. He is focused on cloud scale architectures, real-time media networks, Software Defined Networks (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO). He is a former Principal from Microsoft Skype for Business Global Carrier Group where he spent close to 10 years working on many real-time media and network technologies. Pascal has done five startups with multiple successes, has received numerous industry awards and has presented extensively in numerous events globally. Pascal holds 4 patents with 25 additional patents pending and has co-authored many standards in the IETF, MEF, IMTC and Broadband Forum (MPLS). |
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Sam Hurrell has been involved with education delivery in the telecoms sector for over 12 years. As Client Delivery Manager with Perpetual Solutions, he works with telecoms service provider, vendor and systems integrator customers to create and project manage company-wide core network education programs at product development, engineering and management levels. The programs include technologies such as IP, MPLS, Carrier Ethernet, GPON, SDH & SONET, and WDM. He says: “It’s an honor to be involved with the MEF-CECP program from an early stage. The evolution and accelerating growth of Carrier Ethernet is creating a shortfall of technical competencies within the industry as a whole, and those individuals holding this professional certification will really stand out. Carrier Ethernet companies who standardize their education around this certification will see immediate benefit in product development and customer engagement.” |
Craig Easley—our President & Dean of Academic Affairs, has been a long-term contributor to MEF within the Technical, Marketing and Certification Committees, and has served ten terms on the MEF Board of Directors, as well as Co-Chair of the Marketing and Professional Certification Committees. He has over 20 years of experience in the information technology and telecommunications industries with a number of leading Carrier Ethernet equipment providers, combined with years of classroom training experience formerly running Network General’s “Sniffer University. Craig has been consistently recognized for his many contributions to the work of the MEF, and is recipient of the MEF Outstanding Contributor Award. |
Stan Hubbard - Director of Communications & Research, MEF
Pascal Menezes - CTO, MEF
Sam Hurell - CEO, Perpetual Solutions 
Craig Easley - President, CEAArchived Webinars
Date |
Topic |
Speakers |
Recording |
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2019-02-06 |
Addressing the SDN/NFV Skills Gap for Network & Service Transformation SDN and NFV technologies are critical to the success of network and service transformation for communications service providers and enterprises, but the skills necessary to achieve results are scarce. A recent MEF and Vertical Systems Group survey ranked engineering expertise and technical resources as the No. 1 business challenge for migrating to cloud-centric, dynamic network services. Research by SDxCentral, Cartesian, and others have identified SDN and NFV skills shortages as the major barriers to success. MEF's vendor-neutral SDN/NFV professional certification is the only industry accreditation recognizing the technical depth that is required in these technologies to address organizational skills gaps, accelerate transformation initiatives, and ensure competitiveness now and in the future. Attend this webinar to learn about:
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Moderator Speakers Sam Hurrell |
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| 2018-07-10 12:00 PM US Eastern |
SDN & NFV: Executive Perspectives on Organizational Readiness Is today’s workforce up to the challenge of SDN and NFV? Are we prepared to plan, deploy and manage virtualized networks? Industry predictions say both SDN and NFV technology adoption is continuing to grow. Not only do revenue-generating services rely on the maturity of SDN / NFV but also the skilled engineers, developers and operators behind the technology. Join in and understand how to “up-skill” your workforce to take full advantage of the SDN and NFV opportunity for agile services growth. What the webinar will cover:
This webinar is ideally suited for:
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Rick Bauer Dan Pitt Vishal Sharma |
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| 2018-05-10 12:00 PM US Eastern |
An Introduction to SDN/NFV Professional Certification In April 2018, MEF introduced the new MEF SDN/NFV professional certification. MEF-SDN/NFV is the first ISO-standard certification exam that validates professionals’ knowledge, skills, and abilities in the domains of software defined networking and network functions virtualization. This vendor-neutral certification empowers individuals with the know-how to plan, build, and operate complex SDN and NFV solutions. The MEF-SDN/NFV exam is available in beta format for a discounted price of $210 (50% savings) for a very limited time, until a select number of exams are completed. Click here to register for and learn more about the exam. The webinar covers:
This webinar is ideally suited for:
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Rick Bauer |
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| 2018-04-12 10:00 AM US Eastern<br/ > (Presented in Spanish) |
MEF 3.0 - Lo Que Necesitas Saber En noviembre de 2017, MEF lanzó su nuevo framework MEF 3.0 para definir, entregar y certificar servicios ágiles, asegurados y orquestados en un ecosistema global de redes automatizadas. Decenas de empresas de servicios y tecnología han aceptado el MEF 3.0 y actualmente están involucradas en el trabajo de desarrollo de MEF 3.0. Los servicios de MEF 3.0 buscan proporcionar una experiencia de servicios bajo demanda, centralizados en la nube y que pueden ser controlados por los propios usuarios. El framework de servicios globales del MEF 3.0 está compuesto por estos pilares clave:
Este webinar ofrecerá una introducción al MEF 3.0 que incluye:
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Andres Madero Thomas Mandeville Rick Bauer |
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| 2018-02-28 |
MEF Network Foundations – Advancing Professional Skills for Today’s Evolving Networks Building on the success of its MEF-Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional (MEF-CECP) program, MEF introduced its MEF Network Foundations (MEF-NF) certification in December 2017. MEF-NF helps individuals pursue advance skills to keep pace with rapidly evolving network environments. This new certification validates individuals’ concept-level understanding of key modern networking terms, processes, and elements covering knowledge and practice domains of SDN, NFV, Connectivity Services/Carrier Ethernet, and Lifecycle Service Orchestration. MEF-NF certification is ideally suited for:
This webinar covers:
A leading service provider will provide a testimonial on the value of MEF-TN certification and share the business benefits that can be reaped by having a highly skilled workforce. |
Moderator: Rick Bauer Speakers: Kevin Marz Eric Timm, |
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| 2018-01-24 |
MEF 3.0 - What You Need to Know In Nov. 2017, MEF released our MEF 3.0 transformational global services framework for defining, delivering, and certifying agile, assured, and orchestrated services across a global ecosystem of automated networks. Dozens of service and technology firms have publicly embraced MEF 3.0 and currently are involved in MEF 3.0 development work. MEF 3.0 services provide an on-demand, cloud-centric experience with unprecedented user- and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities. Over the next several months, MEF will host a series of webinars covering the key pillars of MEF 3.0:
This webinar provides an overview of MEF 3.0, including:
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Moderator: Speakers: Bob Mandeville - President, Iometrix |
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| 2017-08-09 11:00 AM ET |
SD-WAN Managed Services: Terminology, Use Cases, Challenges and MEF Work SD-WANs have become very popular because they solve current business challenges while leveraging new SDN, NFV, orchestration and cloud technologies. Enterprises have been building SD-WANs for several years but prefer to have a service provider manage the service for them rather than build and operate it themselves. Service providers are challenged to quickly introduce new SD-WAN managed services due to the lack of standardization of service definitions and architectures. Today, SD-WANs come in all types and flavors. In this webinar, you will learn about the MEF's SD-WAN standardization work and different use cases from the perspective of two SD-WAN managed service providers (MSPs) with different delivery models. The webinar will discuss the market drivers and business benefits for SD-WAN managed services and how MEF standardization of SD-WAN services using the LSO reference architecture could address current operational challenges to accelerate service delivery. |
Speakers: Peter Agnew Ralph Santitoro |
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| 2017-06-29 11:00 AM ET |
Puntos de Interconexión Ethernet: Construyendo el Camino a los Servicios de la Tercera Red Carrier Ethernet es el combustible para la economía digital global y la base sobre la cual se construye nuevos servicios dinámicos, seguros y orquestados para el mundo hiper_conectado. Pero la falta de estandarización para interconectar proveedores y operadores de servicios Ethernet es un obstáculo para el crecimiento y la eficiencia del mercado. Actualmente, la mayoría de las interconexiones Ethernet son interconexiones de red a red (NNI) no estándar y personalizadas, lo que impide escalar el mercado. Más de una docena de proveedores de servicios y proveedores de tecnología miembros del MEF han participado en el proyecto MEF para crear Puntos de Interconexión Ethernet (Ethernet Interconnect Points o EIP) aprovechando los estándares existentes para interconexión CE. La primera fase del proyecto EIP involucró la creación de una Directriz de Implementación de Punto de Interconexión Ethernet que recomienda cómo usar las Interfaces Estándar de Red a Red (ENNIs) de forma eficaz. Esta guía inicial se enfoca en la configuración de servicios de acceso Ethernet (E-Access) de una manera simple, y las nuevas directrices avanzarán en complejidad con en el tiempo. Las directrices ayudarán a la industria a escalar rápidamente y reducir complejidad. Este webinar explorará dónde se dirige el mercado, las expectativas técnicas, los obstáculos operacionales que pueden surgir y la necesidad de que los operadores gestionen eficazmente la transición a medida que el mercado avanza hacia la estandarización. Este seminario apunta a aquellos proveedores de servicios que compran servicios de Ethernet mayoristas de operadorese interconectan sus redes para crear servicios CE minoristas de extremo a extremo pasando por múltiples redes. También se compartirá informaciones que pueden ser importantes para la toma de decisiones mientras desarrolla su estrategia de cómo sacar total provecho de interconexiones Ethernet estandarizadas. |
Speaker: |
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| 2017-06-27 11:00 AM ET |
Winning Strategies for Preparing MEF 2017 Award Submissions The MEF 2017 Awards program is open for entries until 13 September 2017. This prestigious program recognizes excellence in the Third Network and Carrier Ethernet community that creates innovative solutions optimized for the digital economy and hyper-connected world. This year’s program includes 40 awards in enterprise applications, services, proof of concept demonstration, technology, and professional categories. This webinar that will help you identify the award categories in which your company excels. We will cover:
This is an excellent opportunity to have all of your questions answered and will help you to get one step closer to being an award winner. |
Speakers: Rosemary Cochran |
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| 2017-03-29 12:00 PM ET (Noon) |
Adopting MEF’s SAT Power Play for Improved Testing Efficiency Service Activation Testing (SAT) plays an important role in MEF’s Third Network vision of delivering agile, assured, and orchestrated connectivity services. MEF 48 (SAT), MEF 46 (Latching Loopback) and MEF 49 (SAT Control Protocol and PDU Formats) specifications make up a framework for standardized testing and troubleshooting of Carrier Ethernet-based services for service providers. Collectively these specifications are known as the MEF SAT Power Play. These specifications can be used all together or individually to comprehensively test Carrier Ethernet-based services. The webinar will discuss the important relationship between MEF’s SAT specifications and the work of other standards developing organizations (SDOs), such as IETF RFC 2544 and ITU-T Y.1564. Discover the many benefits of MEF’s SAT Power Play including improved testing efficiency for retail and wholesale Ethernet service deployments, boosting customer satisfaction by reducing the number of faulty turn ups, and accelerating the interconnection process between peer operators. |
Speakers: Eric Leser Mike Bencheck |
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| 2017-01-18 11:00 AM ET |
Understanding CE 2.0 Service Assurance - Can It Generate Revenue? Service assurance encompasses the procedures used to monitor a network service and maintain a particular service quality. Learn how MEF has tackled this topic to enable Service Providers to deliver high-value Carrier Ethernet (CE) services that are fully assured and can deliver the service quality required in today’s competitive business service and carrier-to-carrier markets. This webinar begins with the key business drivers, CE 2.0's performance attributes and best practices for measuring CE 2.0 service performance. With multiple transport technologies, legacy tools, proprietary instrumentation, interoperability challenges as well as other related service assurance standards, these factors conspire making it difficult to understand and leverage best practices. CE 2.0 product owners, network engineering and OSS engineering will benefit from this webinar by better understanding the potential return on investment to be gained from adopting these best practice. Attendees will also learn how to simplify management, accelerate delivery and turn-up of existing services, and new service launches. |
Moderator: Christopher Cullan Eric Leser |
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| 2017-01-12 12:00 PM ET |
Considerations for Deploying Virtual Network Functions and Services This webinar discusses considerations for implementing NFV to add new virtual network functions and virtual network services onto foundational Carrier Ethernet (CE) connectivity services. The webinar discusses terminology and use cases for different deployment models for virtual network functions at the customer premises or within the service provider’s data center or central office. The webinar also discusses different business and operational considerations when deploying NFV using Network Interface Devices (NIDs) and vCPE at the customer premises for different network functions and services. |
Moderator: Diego Lopez Ralph Santitoro Mike Sapien |
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| 2017-01-11 12:00 PM ET |
LSO Innovation Platform Technical Overview & User Guidance This webinar will provide a technical explanation of the LSO Innovation Platform, its capabilities and how it can be used to develop micro-services. Attendees will receive detailed, hands-on instructions on how to implement micro-services on the LSO Innovation Platform including examples of the user interface and functionality. |
Moderator: Yaakov Berkovitch |
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| 2017-01-10 12:00 PM ET |
LSO Innovations Platform for Rapidly Introducing New Network Functionality MEF's LSO Innovation Platform is a valuable tool for technology providers to develop and test both service orchestration functionality and business applications incrementally. Traditionally, service orchestration and business applications have been the domain of monolithic OSS/BSS systems that precluded the rapid introduction of new functionality. MEF's LSO Innovation Platform upends that approach and enables any best-of-breed analytics, assurance, control, fulfillment, performance, policy, security and usage functionality to be rapidly introduced into service provider environments. This webinar will provide a business-oriented view of the LSO Innovation Platform and explain its importance to service providers and technology providers in the telecom and cloud services market. |
Speakers: Daniel Bar-Lev Sarit Tager |
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| 2016-09-08 12:00 ET |
Achieving Optimal Performance Through Smart Mobile Backhaul Network Design To meet the increase in mobile devices and the demand for more bandwidth, as well as high quality of service (QoS) and experience (QoE) for users, operators are deploying new types of infrastructure and technologies, such as Small Cells, carrier-grade Wi-Fi, distributed antenna systems (DAS), and remote radio heads (RHH), among others. These new technologies impose different requirements on the backhaul network in order to achieve better user experience. Therefore, operators must have a clear strategy to improve their current mobile backhaul networks. Mobile backhaul network design may determine the capacity and performance of the mobile network. This webinar covers current and future work of MEF with regard to mobile backhaul for LTE/ LTE- Advance Small Cells, including:
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Moderator: Speakers: Glenn Parsons, Editor MEF 22.2, Standards Advisor, Ericsson Rami Yaron, MEF Global Marketing Co-chair, VP of Strategy & Business Development, Telco Systems |
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| 2016-06-21 12:00 pm ET |
Business Benefits of Becoming a MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional The research study is based on responses from 330 MEF-CECPs from 38 countries worldwide who work for service providers, equipment vendors, software suppliers and other firms. Highlights of the findings include an effectiveness rating of 9 out of 10 for improvements in the typical CE sales process and even higher on order processing flow improvements. In this webinar, two leading service providers with more than 450 MEF-CECPs in their organizations (Level 3 Communications & Charter Communications) will provide testimonials on the value of MEF-CECP certification and share the business benefits that can be reaped by having a highly skilled CE-focused professional work force. |
Erin Dunne - Director of Research, Vertical Systems Group John Morgan - Sr. Director, Global Sales Training & Performance, Level 3 Communications Tammy Famularo - Sr. Network Sales Engineer, Charter Communications Craig Easley - President, Carrier Ethernet Academy |
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| 2016-06-09 11:00 am ET |
MEF Carrier Ethernet 2.0: The Foundation to Agile, Assure & Orchestrated Third Network Services A significant transformation is taking place in data communications networks that is accelerating the ability to deliver on-demand services with unprecedented user control over interconnected networks. MEF refers to this transformation and the underlying network that deliver these services as the “Third Network.” The Third Network combines the on-demand agility and ubiquity of the Internet with the performance and security assurances of Carrier Ethernet (CE) 2.0. As the global defining standards development body for Carrier Ethernet for the past 15 years, MEF has accelerated the growth and adoption of CE services through its specifications, service definitions and information models that are agnostic to the underlying transport technology used to deliver them. MEF offers certification programs for CE services, network equipment and individuals. Lifecycle service orchestration (LSO) is a key enabler to deliver Network as a Service as defined in MEF’s Third Network vision. The objective of the Third Network is to provide an on-demand cloud-centric experience with unprecedented levels of user control over the network’s capabilities. Such capabilities are orchestrated between physical and virtual service endpoints across multiple networks and technology domains. This webinar will cover the work of the MEF that delivers on the Third Network vision and defines the complete service lifecycle requirements to deliver Network as a Service from ordering through service activation including supporting APIs. |
Moderator: Speakers: Andres Ramos Acosta, Product Portfolio Manager, Internexa & MEF CALA Marketing Co-chair |
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| 2016-03-23 12:00 pm ET |
Ethernet Interconnect Points – Paving the Way to Third Network Services Through the EIP project, MEF is developing Ethernet Interconnect Point Implementation Guidelines that recommend how to effectively use standardized Ethernet Network to Network interfaces (ENNI). The initial guidelines focus on the most basic Ethernet E-Access configuration possible and will advance in complexity over time. The guidelines will help the industry rapidly scale and reduce complexity. This webinar will explore key areas such as current market assessment, where the market is heading, technical expectations, operational obstacles that may be encountered, and the need for Operators to effectively manage the transition as the market moves to standardization. Service Providers who buy wholesale Ethernet services from Operators and interconnect their networks to create multi-network end-to-end retail Carrier Ethernet services should attend this webinar to be better informed to make decisions on their journey towards leveraging standardized interconnections. |
Stan Hubbard, Director of Communications & Research, MEF Dan Blemings, Director of Ethernet Product Management, AT&T Tim Sheehan, Technical Manager, University of NH Interoperability Lab Jeff Brown, Director of Marketing & Product Management, Windstream |
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| 2016-02-25 |
New Dynamic & Assured Third Network Services Powered By LSO This webinar covers key findings from the survey and also includes additional insight gained from real-world service provider experiences in offering dynamic network services. Among other things, we explore:
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Moderator: Stan Hubbard, Director of Communications & Research, MEF Guest Speakers: Adam Saenger, Vice President - Global Product Management & Development, Level 3 Communications |
Play Recording |
| 2015-09-24 |
Global Market for Small Ethernet Access Operators – MEF Services Interconnect Listen to this MEF Webinar for an overview of this valuable program and how it can enable your company to:
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Daniel Bar-Lev, Director of Certification and Strategic Programs, MEF Thomas Mandeville, Director of Operations, Iometrix | Play Recording |
| 2015-09-17 |
Service Activation Testing (SAT) Power Play The MEF Service Activation Testing Power Play provides a comprehensive set of management tools and standard test suites to automatically verify the performance and conformance of CE 2.0 services during service turn up and activation. This webinar demystifies Service Activation Testing, describing how MEF-based SAT can improve customer satisfaction, by reducing the number of faulty turn ups, and accelerating the interconnection process between peer operators. It reveals the benefits for retail and wholesale Ethernet service deployments and analyze use cases where Service Providers are successfully improving their operations effectiveness, using CE 2.0 Service Activation Testing (MEF 48). |
Moderator: Bruno Giguère, Director of Product Marketing, MEF Isabelle Morency, Vice President of Engineering, Veryx Technologies Gregory Spear, Solution Manager, Accedian Networks Mario Bianchetti, Senior Program Manager, Telecom Italia Brendan Gunn, Group Manager - Product Management & Development, Verizon |
Play Recording |
| 2015-08-27 |
Mastering the Paradigm Shift - New Professional Certification from the MEF This webinar covered two key topics. It introduced the new MEF C3 Professional Certification program and covered the terminology and concepts of Service Architecture, Connectivity Services, Lifecycle Frameworks and Lifecycle Orchestration. In addition, it revealed why it is critical to fully understand how to deploy those CE service attributes necessary to support agile cloud services, which are covered in the current MEF-CECP exam. |
Moderator: Mark Fishburn, Lance Hassan, |
Play Recording |
| 2015-06-16 |
Differentiating Your Wholesale Ethernet Services in a Changing Market This webinar covered:
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Moderator: Speakers: Bob Mandeville, President, Iometrix Matthew Duckworth, Marketing Director, Verizon |
Play Recording |
| 2015-05-20 |
MEF Lifecycle Service Orchestration – Enabling Third Network Services This webinar will discuss the MEF work to define the complete service lifecycle requirements to deliver Network as a Service from ordering through service activation including supporting APIs. We also will share highlights from a joint survey conducted by the MEF and the Rayno Report that (1) benchmarks where service providers are in terms of evolving data service portfolios toward more dynamic solutions and (2) sheds light on network operator views about how lifecycle service orchestration can be applied to overcome operational support system (OSS) challenges as they transition to SDN and NFV-enabled networks. |
Scott Raynovich, Chief Analyst, Rayno Report Marie Fiala Timlin, Director of Marketing, CENX Ralph Santitoro, Director of Solutions Architecture, Fujitsu and MEF Distinguished Fellow Stan Hubbard, Director of Communications & Research, MEF |
Play Recording |
| 2015-04-29 |
MEF Third Network Vision Based on Network as a Service Principles As the global defining body for Carrier Ethernet, the MEF has been the driver for the accelerated growth and adoption of Carrier Ethernet services through its standardized service types, such as E-Line and E-LAN, service definitions and the information models that are agnostic to the underlying transport technology used to deliver them. This webinar describes the MEF vision for the evolution and transformation of network connectivity services and the networks used to deliver them. The MEF refers to this as the “Third Network” which combines the on-demand agility and ubiquity of the Internet with the performance and security assurances of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0). |
Ralph Santitoro, Rami Yaron, John Hawkins, |
Play Recording |
For more information on MEF's webinars, please contact Heather Hobbs at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..