MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, has announced key milestones for its MEF 3.0 certifications.
Driven by accelerated digital and network transformation initiatives, businesses increasingly demand standardized, certified services, technologies, and professionals to propel business growth and innovation.
To date, 80 global service and technology providers now offer MEF 3.0-certified Carrier Ethernet (CE) and SD-WAN solutions. In addition, more than 8,000 professionals from 500+ companies around the globe have earned MEF professional certifications in Carrier Ethernet, SD-WAN, and SDN/NFV.
Also today, MEF announced its new SD-WAN certified professional (MEF-SDCP) exam, which validates knowledge, skills, and capabilities in SD-WAN, SD-WAN security, performance monitoring, measurement, and service readiness. Especially useful to professionals in the service provider, technology vendor, and enterprise communities, the MEF-SDCP is the industry’s only vendor-neutral SD-WAN professional certification.
MEF’s notable training and certification achievements include:
Five of the six top companies ranked on Vertical Systems Group’s 2021 U.S. Carrier Managed SD-WAN Leaderboard—AT&T, Comcast Business, Verizon, Lumen, and Windstream—have achieved MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification, and each of these providers employs professionals with MEF-SDCP training and certification.
In its first benchmark for Global Managed SD-WAN Services, Vertical Systems Group’s Mid-2021 Global Provider Carrier Managed SD-WAN Leaderboard, two ranked companies—AT&T and Verizon—and three companies in the Challenge Tier—Colt, PCCW, and Telia—have attained MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services certification.
The top four SD-WAN technology providers as ranked by Dell’Oro Group—Cisco, Fortinet, VMware and Versa—have attained MEF 3.0 SD-WAN technology certification.
Fifty-one service providers have achieved MEF 3.0 CE services certification (a 42 percent annual increase), including five of the top six as ranked on Vertical Systems Group’s 2021 Global Provider Carrier Ethernet Leaderboard—Orange Business Services, Colt, Verizon, Lumen, and BT.
Companies represented on Vertical Systems Group’s Mid-2022 U.S. Carrier Ethernet LEADERBOARD plus its Challenge Tier employ 36 percent of the thousands of MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professionals (CECP) worldwide.
“Worldwide, the networking industry has recognized significant advantage by achieving MEF 3.0 certifications for services, technology, and professionals,” said Rosemary Cochran, Principal & Co-Founder, Vertical Systems Group. “Our research and market share results for Carrier Ethernet—and now global provider Managed SD-WAN— have shown the strong correlation between leadership and compliance with MEF specifications as service providers and platform suppliers attain MEF 3.0 certification. Certification facilitates competitive differentiation, service assurance for customers, and streamlined collaboration among industry players.”
“The industry recognizes that alignment on standardized services is critical for market growth. MEF 3.0 certified services and technologies verify conformance to MEF’s industry-leading standards for performance, assurance, and agility, meeting customer expectations for certified services, and enabling faster service delivery and a competitive advantage,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “In addition, professional certifications, including both MEF-SDCP and MEF-CECP, enable employees to achieve and apply standardized industry knowledge and expertise to upskill workforces and deliver industry-leading services and support. We applaud all the companies and professionals that have worked diligently to achieve MEF certifications.”
In addition to certifications for services, technologies, and professionals, MEF LSO API certification offers companies the ability to validate that their MEF LSO Sonata and Cantata APIs conform to use case and business requirement specifications established by the industry’s defining authority for standardized, automated, network-based services. Four service providers—Sparkle, TIME dotCom, UFINET, and Verizon—are LSO Sonata-certified for automated ordering of CE Access E-Line services.
MEF 3.0 certified service providers and technology vendors are listed in the MEF Services Registry, the MEF Technology Registry, and the MEF LSO API Registry. All MEF-certified professionals are listed in the MEF Certified Professionals Registry.
MEF 3.0 CE and LSO API company certification is conducted by Iometrix, a MEF Accredited Certification Test Partner (MEF-ACTP), MEF 3.0 SD-WAN company certification is conducted by Spirent, a MEF-ACTP. MEF professional certifications are offered through MEF Accredited Training Providers (MEF-ATPs) Lumious, Perpetual Solutions, and The Academy.
