MEF18 to Host 20 Proof of Concept Demonstrations Featuring 50 Service and Technology Solution Providers

Companies will showcase services and technologies aligned with MEF 3.0 at interactive Los Angeles event

Los Angeles, 24 September 2018 – MEF is pleased to announce the titles of nearly 20 Proof of Concept (PoC) Showcase demonstrations that will be presented at theMEF18 global networking event ( mef18event.com), held 29 October – 2 November 2018 in Los Angeles, California. The PoCs will highlight how the MEF 3.0 framework is revolutionizing the industry’s ability to orchestrate assured communications services across a global ecosystem of automated networks.

“We are eager to unveil our 2018 PoC Showcase because we are seeing enormous strides from the community in progressing all aspects of MEF 3.0 service and technology development. In fact, we have doubled the amount of PoC participants compared to last year’s event,” said Pascal Menezes, CTO, MEF. “This year’s PoCs fall into six broad categories and exemplify the many aspects of MEF 3.0 services and the transformation required to deliver them successfully: automated commercial interaction; service fulfillment and activation; service assurance; multi-layer services; SD-WAN; and Universal CPE.”

The current list of 18 confirmed PoC demonstrations is shown below. See the PoC Showcase page for the most up-to-date information, as MEF anticipates additional companies will join this list.

Automated Commercial Interaction

• PCCW Global, Sparkle, Tata Communications, SingTel, CBCcom, Liquid Telecom, Clear, and Cataworx: MEF 3.0 LSO Federated Inter-carrier Bandwidth-on-Demand Services Through Automated Discovery and Blockchain Settlement
• Colt Technology Services and Zeetta Networks: Blockchain-Based Carrier Marketplace for LSO Sonata

Service Fulfillment and Activation

• Tata Communications, Sparkle, Equinix, Liquid Telecom, ECI, Amartus, and Spirent: Fulfillment and Activation of an Intercontinental MEF 3.0 Service Spanning Four Operators
• Vodafone, Verizon, EXFO, Fortinet, and CENX: Blade Runner – Orchestrated Multi-domain Augmented Reality
• Eurofiber and Inmanta: End-to-end Service Orchestration of E-LAN over Multiple Domains via the LSO Interlude Interface and Across Multiple Vendors
• Vodafone, Ciena, and DGIT Systems: Pocket-sized Model-driven Networks 
• Zayo and Ciena: Self-Service, Agile, Orchestrated CloudLink™
• AT&T, Equinix, and Ciena: Multi-Domain, Application-Defined Advanced Global Interconnection Orchestration
• AT&T, Amdocs, Fujitsu, and Iometrix: Transformation in Action – Harmonizing Delivery of Intent-based Networks and Services

Multi-layer Services

• CenturyLink, NEC/Netcracker, Infinera, and Coriant: MEF 3.0 Implementation for Orchestrated Multi-layer Optical Transport

Service Assurance

• Colt Technology Services and Accedian: Machine Learning for Service Assurance
• CenturyLink and Infinera: Data Science Applications for LSO Architecture-based Service Fulfillment and Assurance
• Spectrum Enterprise, TELUS, Nokia, and Sandvine: Application-aware, Multiservice Provider Self-optimizing Network Using MEF 3.0 LSO Framework
• Verizon: DevNet – Application Intelligent Software-Defined Network

SD-WAN

• Fortinet and Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS): Zero Touch Services with Secure SD-WAN
• Sparkle and Amartus: Towards a Multi-vendor Orchestrated SD-WAN: LSO-enabled Solution with Open Source Orchestrator and Container-based uCPEs
• BringCom, Versa, Simbanet, and Isocel: Instantiation and Delivery of SD-WAN over a Virtualized and Orchestrated Wholesale Carrier Ethernet Access Service

Universal CPE

• AT&T and RAD: Boosting uCPE with SDN/NFV/Legacy Capabilities, Including Network and VNF Service Chain Monitoring and Plugware for Universal Access and Brownfield Deployments

There will be a special Proof of Concept Awards ceremony in the MEF18 Networking Hall during the evening of Wednesday, 31 October, that will recognize Gold, Silver, and Bronze PoC Award winners as well as the winner of the 2018 MEF 3.0 Implementation Project Award. The judging panel is comprised of senior industry analysts.

About MEF18
MEF18 focuses on accelerating worldwide adoption of assured services orchestrated across automated networks. MEF18 is on pace to be bigger and better than last year’s popular MEF17 event, with a target audience of 1,000+ attendees from 275+ companies and 35+ countries; 250+ service and technology executives; 110+ expert speakers, 115+ sponsors and partners; and more.

MEF18’s content, networking, and special activities are designed to appeal to executives and other senior experts from communication and cloud service providers; enterprises; government organizations; network technology suppliers; systems integrators, open source projects, standards organizations; industry and financial analysts; investors; the press; and others.

MEF18’s program will build upon popular elements of last year’s event while introducing several new activities. Elements include: world-class plenaries and sessions with service, technology, and enterprise expert speakers; MEF Workshops; the WAN Exchange (brought by WAN Summit); PoC demonstrations; MEF 3.0 implementation demonstrations; a vibrant Networking Hall; MEF Awards Dinner; Global Media Hub; LSO Hackathon; and on-site MEF professional certification exam preparation courses. This year, the 4Q18 MEF Members Meeting will be collocated with MEF18. For more information: www.MEF18event.com

Sponsorship Opportunities
For sponsorship information, please visit the MEF18 Sponsor Price List and Sponsorships and Benefits pages or email Alysia Bennett at alysia@mef.net.

About MEF
An industry association of 200+ member companies, MEF recently introduced the MEF 3.0 transformational global services framework for defining, delivering, and certifying assured services orchestrated across a global ecosystem of automated networks. MEF 3.0 services are designed to provide an on-demand, cloud-centric experience with user- and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities. MEF 3.0 services are delivered over automated, virtualized, and interconnected networks powered by LSO, SDN, and NFV. MEF produces service specifications, LSO frameworks, open LSO APIs, software-driven reference implementations, and certification programs. MEF 3.0 work will enable automated delivery of standardized Carrier Ethernet, Optical Transport, IP, SD-WAN, and Layer 4-7 services across multiple provider networks. For more information: https://www.mef.net.

Additional resources:

• MEF 3.0 Overview
• MEF YouTube Channel

Media Contact: 
Ashley Schulte
Witz Communications for MEF
ashley@witzcommunications.com