March 18, 2020 It is pleased to announce that Comcast Business, PCCW Global, Spectrum Enterprise, and Telia Company are the first service providers certified for MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services. Spirent, MEF’s SD-WAN Authorized Certified Test Partner, certified the SD-WAN managed services to validate their conformance to the industry-leading SD-WAN Service Attributes and Services (MEF 70) global standard.
End users who purchase certified MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services can have confidence that they align to well-developed standards created by MEF – the world’s authority for standardized network services. Specifically, MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification involves rigorous tests of the service attributes and requirements defined in MEF 70 and described in detail in MEF’s draft SD-WAN Certification Test Requirements (MEF 90) standard.
“MEF congratulates Comcast Business, PCCW Global, Spectrum Enterprise, and Telia Company for achieving MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification, which is an important innovation milestone not only for each company but also for the industry at large,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “We expect broad adoption of certified MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services and technologies will help fuel market growth and enable creation of powerful new hybrid networking solutions optimized for digital transformation.”
Recent research from Heavy Reading indicates that 76% of 125 surveyed service provider professionals worldwide believe that SD-WAN services certification is “critical” or “important” for accelerating SD-WAN market growth.
Bob Victor, SVP Product Management, Comcast Business
“Becoming one of the first service providers to achieve MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification underscores our commitment to being a technology and standards leader to improve the quality, management and interoperability of Ethernet and IP services for our customers. We’re proud to lead the industry as the combination of SD-WAN, Ethernet and broadband connectivity displaces legacy networking and transport technologies.”
Marc Halbfinger, Chief Executive Officer, PCCW Global
“PCCW Global’s managed SD-WAN service is available in 140+ countries and provides our customers with intelligent path selection on a dynamic high-speed underlay of IP-MPLS, Global Internet Access (GIA) and broadband connections. We are proud to be among the first few service providers in the world to be certified for MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services and applaud MEF for their efforts in setting up the first industry-wide SD-WAN standard (MEF 70). Our enterprise and wholesale customers embarking on their digital transformation journey can therefore expect better interoperability and improved application performance across disparate service providers’ domains.”
Tomi Airola, Head of Business Networking, Telia Company
“Telia is proud to be one of the first service providers to have successfully achieved the MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification milestone. We view our MEF 3.0 certification as a key step in addressing the requirements of our enterprise customers. Certification is especially important for helping customers simplify the process of selecting a service provider that is committed to standardized global services. SD-WAN has become an essential part of Telia’s managed services portfolio to accelerate our customers’ digital transformation journey.”
Rosemary Cochran, Principal and Co-Founder, Vertical Systems Group
“These first MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certifications achieved by Comcast Business, PCCW Global, Spectrum Enterprise, and Telia Company are very important. This signifies that MEF 3.0 certification is a new competitive differentiator for SD-WAN service providers, as well as the benchmark for assuring compliance with globally recognized SD-WAN specifications. Our research shows a direct relationship between a commitment to MEF certification and the business success of market leading companies. We anticipate similar results for MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification.”
Today’s news follows MEF’s announcement in early January of the first group of certified MEF 3.0 SD-WAN technology vendors, including Nuage Networks, Versa Networks, and Infovista.
The MEF 3.0 SD-WAN Certification Program will be transitioning from a pilot to general availability during the next few months. Companies interested in certification for SD-WAN managed services and products should contact [email protected] for additional information.
