MEF, a global industry association of network, cloud, and technology providers accelerating enterprise digital transformation, and the ITW Global Leaders’ Forum (GLF), a board representing a global network of leaders from the world’s largest International carriers, have announced that the GLF has endorsed MEF’s standards-based Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) automation APIs for its member organizations.
Further, MEF and the ITW GLF have established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to formalize the organizations’ long-standing collaboration to foster development of a global ecosystem of automated networks.
The agreement describes how MEF and the GLF will promote standards-based business and operational automation being advanced by both organizations to their membership and the industry.
GLF endorses MEF
Automating business and operations processes using MEF’s LSO APIs assures application interoperability and supports rapid delivery of complex, high-value services to customers over increasingly connected automated networks across multiple providers. As part of the MOU, MEF and the GLF will support emerging industry requirements and increased adoption of MEF- and GLF-endorsed initiatives.
“Automation is no longer a choice for service providers. It’s a must have. Standardized APIs like MEF’s LSO APIs are an essential building block to automate business and operational functions and accelerate service delivery, speed time to revenue, and improve customer experience,” said Kevin Vachon, Chief Operating Officer, MEF. “There has been tremendous increase in market demand and global adoption for MEF’s rich set of LSO APIs, and we are honored that our years of collaboration with the ITW GLF have culminated in its endorsement. We look forward to working together to further drive development and adoption to unlock the full potential of a global automated ecosystem.”
“Business and operational automation are key features to implement the GLF vision of an ecosystem of carriers competing and collaborating to better serve our customers, and the work done by MEF with the LSO APIs goes exactly in this direction. We are thrilled to work with MEF to accelerate adoption and promote ubiquitous automated connectivity,” said Elisabetta Romano, Chief Network, Operations and Wholesale at TIM and Chair of the GLF Board.
LSO APIs automate service provider and enterprise business and operational transactions and offer a standardized way for service providers to buy and sell services. More than 115 service providers worldwide are in some stage of the LSO Sonata adoption lifecycle – from interest through to implementation. Find additional information about LSO APIs here.
The GLF Board, which comprises 32 international carrier executives, supports and requires a holistic approach to a global API exposure strategy and standards as an imperative to support an automated international connectivity industry. Released in November 2022, “Tomorrow’s Telco” outlines the vision of the GLF’s Board members to be able to provide seamless endpoint to endpoint experiences for customers and highlights where collaboration and cooperation are required to realise this goal. The MoU with MEF endorsing the LSO Sonata APIs is the culmination of years of cooperative work between the GLF & MEF and is a key step towards harmonizing the industry’s approach to automation.
