To provide context and accessibility to MEF content, MEF regularly publishes supporting collateral and educational materials that provide a more accessible entry point into MEF’s products—our Standards and SDKs, along with adjacent work areas and industry topics
MEF SASE Certification Specifications for Service Providers — 2025 Feb
Primary Resource for: SASE Certification, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification, SD-WAN Certification
Product Portfolio: SASE, SASE Certification, SD-WAN Certification, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification
MEF Certified SASE RFI Template for Enterprises — 2025 Feb
Primary Resource for: SASE, SASE Certification, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification, SD-WAN Certification
Product Portfolio: SASE, SASE Certification, SD-WAN Certification, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification
This RFI template helps enterprise buyers evaluate certified, standards-based Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solutions that integrate SD-WAN, Zero Trust, and Security Service Edge (SSE) capabilities.
MEF SASE Certification Specifications for Technology Providers — 2025 Feb
Primary Resource for: SASE Certification, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification, SD-WAN Certification
Product Portfolio: SASE, SASE Certification, SD-WAN Certification, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification
MEF LSO API Test Service Data Sheet — 2025 Feb
Primary Resource for: LSO API Test Service
Product Portfolio: LSO API Test Service
This Data Sheet outlines MEF LSO API Test Service.
MEF LSO API Certification Data Sheet — 2025 Feb
Primary Resource for: LSO API Certification
Product Portfolio: LSO API Certification
This Data Sheet outlines MEF LSO API Certification.
NaaS Industry Blueprint — 2024 Oct
Also See: NaaS Customer Experience White Paper
Product Portfolio: NaaS
A foundational resource for service providers, cloud providers, technology suppliers, and other ecosystem participants, MEF’s newest Network-as-a-Service Blueprint emphasizes the need for collaboration across multiple fronts to maximize market opportunities.
NaaS Customer Experience White Paper — 2024 Sep
Also See: NaaS Industry Blueprint
Primary Resource for: NaaS
Product Portfolio: NaaS
The industry's first white paper written jointly by service providers, this insightful paper lays out what enterprises should expect from a NaaS offering.
Q3-2023 Members Meeting Workshop -Spotlight on SASE — 2023 Jul
Product Portfolio: SASE
Tags: SASE
In this cross-committee session, MEF members discuss the ongoing work of SASE, SD-WAN Zero Trust and SSE, and how they are brought together to provide industry baselines for the emerging Secure NaaS market.
SASE: State of the Industry Report — 2023 May
Primary Resource for: SASE, SSE Certification, Zero Trust Certification, SD-WAN Certification
Product Portfolio: SASE
How standards-based SASE certification addresses the pressing need for validated cyber defense and application performance.
AUTOMATION: State of the Industry Report — 2023 May
Product Portfolio: APIs
MEF’s inaugural State of the Industry Report examines what’s driving digital transformation today.
LSO Payload Handbook — 2022 Jun
Product Portfolio: APIs
The aim of this document is to provide a comprehensive guide for developers of both MEF and Non-MEF LSO Payloads (product and service schemas) by describing the governance, technical and documentation requirements.
MEF-SDCP Professional Certification Exam Reference Materials — 2022 Jun
Primary Resource for: SD-WAN Certification
Product Portfolio: SD-WAN
Tags: MEF-SDCP
This package incorporates the references required to prepare for the new MEF-SDCP (June 2022) certification exam.
MEF 3.0 CE Services Certification Benefits Report — 2022 Apr
Primary Resource for: Carrier Ethernet Certification
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet Certification
Tags: Certification
This survey-based report draws attention to the value of MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet certified services as part of MEF’s ongoing commitment to drive their adoption worldwide. Key findings are based on feedback from 18 of 51 MEF 3.0 CE certified service providers (March – April 2022).
MEF 3.0 SD-WAN & SASE – Frequently Asked Questions — 2021 Dec
Primary Resource for: SD-WAN
Product Portfolio: SASE, SD-WAN, Overlay Services
Tags: Certification
MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Services & SASE – Frequently Asked Questions
MEF LSO Sonata APIs – Frequently Asked Questions — 2021 Nov
Primary Resource for: LSO Sonata
Product Portfolio: LSO Sonata
MEF LSO Sonata APIs – Frequently Asked Questions
Business Opportunities from Billing and Settlement of Digital Services using DLT — 2020 Dec
Tags: Billing, Commercial, DLT, LSO Sonata
This paper explains Smart Bilaterals and their importance in streamlining billing and settlement between service providers buying from, and selling to, one another.
SASE Services Framework — 2020 Jul
Product Portfolio: SASE
This White Paper is aimed at both enterprises that are increasingly depending on digital services serving users in increasing numbers, types and locations, as well as the service providers that want to offer them security for those digital services.
MEF and 5G — 2020 Jun
Primary Resource for: 5G
Product Portfolio: 5G
Tags: Mobile Backhaul, Mobile Fronthaul, Network Slicing
Relationship between the work of MEF and 5G technologies
Simplifying NFV Operations in the WAN with LSO and Lean NFV — 2020 Jun
Product Portfolio: Intra-Provider APIs
Tags: NFV
This document is aimed at Information and Communications Technology Service Providers (ICT-SPs) that are experiencing challenges scaling adoption of NFV in their WAN infrastructure.
Slicing for Shared 5G Fronthaul and Backhaul — 2020 Apr
Primary Resource for: 5G
Product Portfolio: 5G
Standardized VNF License Management Framework — 2020 Apr
Product Portfolio: Intra-Provider APIs
This White Paper is aimed at Communications Service Providers (CSPs) and their VNF vendors who are currently challenged with introducing large numbers of VNFs into the Service Provider’s environment due to high overhead involved in agreeing and managing VNF licenses.
MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet Certification Business Case for Service Providers — 2020 Mar
Primary Resource for: Carrier Ethernet, Carrier Ethernet Certification
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet Certification, Carrier Ethernet
Tags: Business Case, Certification
This document focuses on the business case for service providers to certify MEF 3.0 CE services
Orchestrated MEF 3.0 Optical Transport Services — 2020 Mar
Primary Resource for: Optical Transport
Product Portfolio: Optical Transport
MEF is the first industry body to publish standards for Optical Transport services and their orchestration.
Business and Operational Aspects of Implementing LSO Sonata — 2020 Feb
Also See: The Case for Standardized and Automated Inter-Provider Business Interface
Primary Resource for: LSO Sonata
Product Portfolio: LSO Sonata, Carrier Ethernet
This White Paper is aimed at service providers that have made a decision to create a standardized zero-touch/automated inter-provider commercial and business interface based on MEF’s extensive LSO Sonata APIs and underlying standards.
The Case for Standardized and Automated Inter-Provider Business Interface — 2020 Feb
Also See: Business and Operational Aspects of Implementing LSO Sonata
Primary Resource for: LSO Sonata
Product Portfolio: LSO Sonata, Carrier Ethernet
This paper is aimed at those decision makers within ICT-SPs (Information and Communications Technologies Service Providers including traditional telcos, MSOs, MNOs, cloud operators and other entities involved in wholesale supply of data services) and their wholesale data services partners that are discussing adoption of standardized and automated inter-provider business interfaces.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 SD WAN Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: SD-WAN
Product Portfolio: SD-WAN
In July 2019, MEF published the industry’s first global standard defining an SD-WAN service and its service attributes to help accelerate SD-WAN market growth and facilitate creation of powerful new hybrid networking solutions that are optimized for digital transformation.
MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: SD-WAN
Product Portfolio: SD-WAN
Tags: Also in Mandarin, Also in Spanish
This White Paper is intended for SD-WAN Service Providers and their enterprise customers who want to understand what a standardized, managed SD-WAN service is and the benefits it brings to the industry.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: Carrier Ethernet
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet
MEF 3.0 CE is the third generation of MEF-defined Carrier Ethernet services providing the highest level of performance, assurance, and agility available in the nearly $60 billion global CE services market.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 IP Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: IP
Product Portfolio: IP
In May 2019, MEF published its IP Service Attributes (MEF 61.1) standard that is a foundational step for defining standardized MEF 3.0 IP services that can be orchestrated across multiple service providers.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 Optical Transport Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: Optical Transport
Product Portfolio: Optical Transport
In 2018, MEF published its first Optical Transport services standard (MEF 63) for subscriber services that support Ethernet and Fibre Channel client protocols as well as SONET/SDH client protocols for legacy WAN services.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Certification — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: SD-WAN
Product Portfolio: SD-WAN Certification, SD-WAN
MEF's SD-WAN Certification serves to accelerate market adoption of managed SD-WAN services by validating compliance with industry-designed and delivered standards for delivering managed SD-WAN as well as the underlying technology.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF & 5G: Orchestrating 5G Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: 5G
Product Portfolio: 5G
Following a brief introduction on 5G, the presentation covers the following main topics (beginning at 6:03): Transport for 5G, Orchestrating 5G services, 5G network slices, MEF Services over 5G network slices
MEF 3.0 Workshop – Application Security for SD-WAN Services — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: Cybersecurity
Product Portfolio: Cybersecurity
SD-WAN benefits end customers by enhancing their applications network traffic. The appetite to combine application protection with network efficiency is high. Hence, MEF is focused on defining the first standard description of a security service. Security done wrong actually could negate SD-WAN benefits in speed and availability.
MEF 3 0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 Services Overview — 2019 Nov
Product Portfolio: Service Standards
MEF 3.0 services redefine innovation by providing an on-demand, cloud-centric experience with unprecedented user- and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – End-to-End Service Automation – LSO Framework and API Standardization — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: LSO Interlude
Product Portfolio: APIs, LSO Interlude
MEF’s LSO Reference Architecture guides agile development of standardized LSO APIs that enable end-to-end automation of MEF 3.0 services across multiple providers and over multiple network technology domains (e.g., Optical Transport, CE, IP, 5G, etc.).
MEF 3.0 Workshop – Digital Services Expertise – New MEF SD-WAN Certified Professional (MEF-SDCP) — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: SD-WAN
Product Portfolio: SD-WAN Certification, SD-WAN
Addressing the skills gap challenge is tantamount to successfully navigating the industry's digital transformation. MEF's SD-WAN Certified Professional designation validates the knowledge required to design, engineer, operate and solution MEF managed SD-WAN services.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF Certification – Accelerating MEF 3.0 Adoption — 2019 Nov
Product Portfolio: SD-WAN, Carrier Ethernet
MEF’s service, technology, and professional certification programs are designed to accelerate availability and adoption of MEF 3.0 solutions and help ensure competitiveness now and in the future. MEF 3.0 certification enables service and technology providers to validate that their solutions comply with the highest industry standards for performance, assurance, and agility.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – Intra-Provider Automation with LSO APIs – LSO Presto & LSO Legato — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: LSO Legato, LSO Presto
Product Portfolio: Intra-Provider APIs
MEF's intra-domain service and network orchestration is addressed by the North-South APIs, including LSO Presto, LSO Legato and LSO Adagio. Here the key elements of LSO Presto and LSO Legato which interface from the business layer through to the domain controller layer of service provider's domain are detailed.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – Automation of LSO APIs Using Intent-Based Networking — 2019 Nov
Product Portfolio: APIs
MEF’s initial Intent-Based Networking (IBN) work aims to enable an SD-WAN service subscriber to set intent-related performance and security objectives and have those be translated into granular technical policies at the network level.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – Inter-Provider Automation – LSO Sonata Roadmap & Use Cases — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: LSO Sonata
Product Portfolio: LSO Sonata
LSO Sonata is the corner-stone effort of inter-provider service automation, enabling service provider partners to use automation to manage their service-oriented business functions, from serviceability to order. Initial service automation is focused on MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet services, delivering increased business velocity for the service provider and its enterprise customers.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 LSO Sonata Certification — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: LSO Sonata
Product Portfolio: LSO Sonata
MEF LSO Sonata Certification will enable the verification and resulting business velocity to inter-provider service automation by establishing and validating adherence to the LSO Sonata API standards.
MEF 3.0 Workshop – MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet Certification — 2019 Nov
Primary Resource for: Carrier Ethernet, Carrier Ethernet Certification
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet Certification, Carrier Ethernet
MEF's Carrier Ethernet certification has enabled the accelerated adoption and growth behind the $60 Billion dollar Carrier Ethernet services market by ensuring the delivered services and technology comply with the industry best-practices inherent in MEF's Carrier Ethernet standards.
Understanding MEF’s Service Activation Testing Power Play — 2016 Nov
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet
Tags: SAT
The MEF introduced the MEF 48 (Service Activation Testing [SAT]) along with MEF 46 (Latching Loopback), and MEF 49 (SAT Control Protocol and PDU Formats) as a framework to help service providers with a new standardized approach to testing and troubleshooting Carrier Ethernet-based services
Understanding Carrier Ethernet Service Assurance – Part II — 2016 Sep
Also See: Understanding Carrier Ethernet Service Assurance – Part I
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet
Tags: Service Assurance, SOAM
This paper together with its companion paper, “Part I: An Introduction to Service Assurance and Carrier Ethernet Service Performance Attributes”, provides an in-depth guide to performance monitoring and assurance across the body of work of the MEF enabling the reader an accessible, one-stop guide to understanding CE 2.0 performance monitoring best practices and use them to their full advantage.
Understanding Carrier Ethernet Service Assurance – Part I — 2016 Sep
Also See: Understanding Carrier Ethernet Service Assurance – Part II
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet
Tags: Service Assurance, SOAM
This paper together with its companion paper, “Part II: How to Measure Carrier Ethernet Performance Attributes”, provides an in-depth guide to performance monitoring and assurance across the body of work of the MEF enabling the reader an accessible, one-stop guide to understanding CE 2.0 performance monitoring best practices and use them to their full advantage.
Carrier Ethernet and NFV — 2016 Jul
Product Portfolio: Carrier Ethernet
Tags: NFV
This paper explores the role of NFV in conjunction with delivering CE 2.0 services.