MEF Honors Industry Leaders at GNE


MEF Excellence Awards recognize the visionaries and innovators driving industry transformation to dynamic services

Dallas, Texas, 4 October 2023 – MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, security and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, today has announced winners of its 2023 MEF Excellence Awards, recognizing and celebrating the exceptional companies and individuals propelling the automated services ecosystem. Winners were unveiled at MEF’s Global Network-as-a-Service Event (GNE) happening this week in Dallas, Texas and selected by an esteemed panel of senior industry analysts from Appledore Research, AvidThink, Dell’Oro Group, Frost & Sullivan, ISG, Omdia, TeleGeography, and Vertical Systems Group.

The 2023 MEF Excellence Awards included, for the first time, recognition of industry leading NaaS solution and service providers committed to NaaS services and platforms. MEF defines NaaS as on-demand connectivity, application assurance, cybersecurity, and multi-cloud-based services across a standards-based automated ecosystem. In addition, the first Michael Howard Industry Impact Award recognizing an outstanding individual who has worked to build a sense of community, share knowledge, and encourage collaboration among the industry was awarded.

“We are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2023 MEF Excellence Awards, a testament to the industry’s visionaries and innovators who are driving the evolution towards a NaaS ecosystem,” said Nan Chen, President of MEF. “The achievements of these companies and individuals are truly remarkable. We appreciate their dedication and commitment to developing and delivering service and technology solutions with compelling value for customers. The companies honored in the MEF Excellence Awards program are true industry leaders.”

2023 MEF Excellence Awards Winners

Dynamic Services Category:

NaaS Provider of the Year

  • Global – Colt Technology Services
  • APAC – DCConnect Global Ltd.
  • EUR – Colt Technology Services
  • LATAM – Orchest Technologies
  • North America – Verizon

Best NaaS Vision

  • Colt Technology Services

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Managed Service Provider of the Year

  • Global – AT&T
  • APAC – Tata Communications
  • EUR – Sparkle
  • North America – Lumen Technologies

SD-WAN Managed Service Provider of the Year

  • Global – (TIE) – Colt Technology Services & Tata Communications
  • APAC – Tata Communications
  • EUR – Sparkle
  • North America – AT&T

On-demand MEF 3.0 CE Service Provider of the Year

  • Global – Verizon
  • EUR – Sparkle
  • LATAM – Ufinet

Automated Ecosystem Category:

Best Service Automation Innovation Vendor

  • Sage Management

Best Services Ecosystem Automation Platform

  • Console Connect

Most Impactful Service Automation Vendor

  • Netcracker Technology

Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) Connectivity Exchange of the Year

  • Console Connect

LSO Solution Provider of the Year

  • Amartus

Service Automation Leadership – LSO Business API Partner Implementations

  • AT&T

LSO Market Leadership

  • AT&T

Professional Awards:

Michael Howard Industry Impact Award

  • Daniele Mancuso, Senior Vice President, Chief Product Management, Sparkle

Industry Executive of the Year

  • Eric Cevis, President, Verizon Partner Solutions, Verizon Business Group

About MEF 

MEF is a global industry association of network, cloud, security, and technology providers working together to accelerate enterprise digital transformation through a better-together ecosystem. MEF delivers service standards, LSO frameworks and APIs, and training and certification programs for services, technologies, APIs, and professionals. The MEF 3.0 Framework enables automated delivery of standardized Carrier Ethernet, IP, Optical Transport, SD-WAN, SASE, and other services across multiple provider networks. For more information and to hear the latest Executives at the Edge podcast visit MEF.net and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.  

Media Contact

Melissa Power 
MEF
pr@mef.net 

Media Contact:

Melissa Power
MEF
PR@mef.net