MEF’s ELC Brings User Input into NaaS and SASE Specifications

Enterprises are on the cusp of having several new choices in global connectivity services, including enhanced SD-WAN, SASE, and Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings. MEF, the international organization that was instrumental in driving the success of carrier Ethernet, is mimicking that effort by working on certifications and specifications for these new services.

MEF’s approach goes beyond ensuring bare-bones interoperable connectivity. It's going deeper into the back offices, into the provisioning, into the automation of services. Carriers and service providers who become certified using MEF’s frameworks and specifications will be able to provide enterprises with a powerful way to connect offices and workers around the globe.

So, if a company headquartered in the U.S. wants to order services to connect a branch office in Zaire, Bangalore, South America, or any place, it can order from one provider, who then may use the services of a second provider to support and deploy the services in that region. MEF tries to smooth out the interactions between all three entities through automation, lifecycle service orchestration (LSO), and more. Again, this goes beyond interoperability, coordinating provisioning and billing, and addressing problem resolution.

See also: Global NaaS Event Roundup: Taking NaaS and SASE Forward

Focus on the Enterprise

Most of MEF’s efforts are focused on the carriers and service providers who are going to deploy and support the new generation services. Given that NaaS, SASE, and other services will be consumed by enterprises, MEF wants to make sure the work it and its member organizations are doing meets enterprise needs. 

Last year, MEF formed the Enterprise Leadership Council (ELC), which provides input to MEF on key initiatives and projects. “My vision for developing MEF's enterprise program is to enable enterprises to collectively express their requirements and work together on important initiatives with decision-makers and technology experts from key stakeholder communities such as technology providers, cloud providers, and service providers on our industry’s one-of-a-kind, non-profit, independent MEF platform," says Sunil Khandekar, MEF Chief Enterprise Development Officer.

The ELC was formed last year with four founding members and, since then, has grown to twelve members that represent various industry verticals such as Entertainment, Financial services, Banking, Retail, Technology, Healthcare, and Consulting.

Since its formation, the ELC has been very active. The group has quarterly meetings at MEF. Everybody comes together quarterly, and there are two meetings essentially. One is between Khandekar and the entire ELC team. Then, the ELC joins the board and the Technology Advisory Board for discussions.

Khandekar notes that with the group’s input, “we already started working on several important initiatives.” The initiatives cover specific aspects of automation and cybersecurity alerts. In the next month or so, there will be a number of announcements related to new MEF initiatives driven by input from the ELC members. “These initiatives will assist enterprises in confidently adopting new technologies, constructing automation frameworks, and successfully delivering their cloud, network, and security projects to accelerate digital transformation.”

A Final Word on the MEF ELC

As the enterprise program gains momentum with the ELC-led initiative and the launch of other projects aimed at enterprises, MEF aims to attract a wide range of enterprises interested in joining MEF to participate, contribute, or simply take advantage of the initiatives and projects for their cloud, network, or cybersecurity projects.

MEF’s Global NaaS Event (GNE) is taking place from October 28-30 in Dallas, Texas. It will feature several ELC leaders in panel discussions on topics pertinent to the enterprise. Details about GNE 2024, including registration information, can be found here.

MEF technology experts, including CTO Pascal Menezes, frequently write for Network Computing. See the complete list of their articles here.