SD-WAN FEATURED ARTICLE

MEF Moving Toward SD-WAN Specs

June 07, 2018

By Maurice Nagle, Web Editor

Industry standards and specifications serve to provide developers and providers a framework. Sounds a touch sophomoric, but groups like the MEF (News - Alert) set the tone for the future of networking. Since the November introduction of the MEF 3.0 transformation global services framework, there has been much in the way of progress. Let’s take a look, shall we.




MEF announced it published two MEF 3.0 Ethernet and IP specifications, furthered two MEF 3.0 SD-WAN projects and is nearly ready to finalize a MEF 3.0 Layer 1 service definition specification since the initial release of the MEF 3.0 transformation global services framework in November.

“Expansion of MEF 3.0 standardization work beyond Ethernet to include IP, SD-WAN, and Layer 1 services is critical for enabling the streamlined interconnection and orchestration of a mix of connectivity services across multiple providers,” said Pascal Menezes, CTO, MEF. “Combining this work with the ongoing development of our emerging suite of LSO (Lifecycle Service Orchestration) APIs will pave the way for orchestrated delivery of on-demand, cloud-centric services with unprecedented user- and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities.”

The first SD-WAN initiative is aimed at addressing service orchestration across multi-vendor SD-WAN deployments based on different vendor products. The Multi-Vendor SD-WAN Implementation project involves MEF members Nuage Networks, Riverbed (News - Alert) and VeloCloud.

The SD-WAN Service Definition project, spearheaded by VeloCloud and Riverbed is working to develop a service specification that will include application-centric QoS, security, service components as well as business priority policy requirements to create SD-WAN services.

The modern network comprised of Ethernet, analytics, AI, software-defined networking solutions and more will present new levels of complexity. Thankfully, innovation from groups like the MEF is addressing these issues head on.

What’s in your WAN?




Edited by Maurice Nagle

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