Sept/Oct 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

virtual reality Streamlining UCaaS lead-to-revenue lifecycle in one cloud-based platform Call Usage Rating Real-Time Carrier Integrations FCC Tax Compliance Channel Partner Management DISCOVER & DEMO TODAY onebillsoftware.com MEF Publishes First SD-WAN Standard MEF announced the publication of the industry’s first global standard defining an SD-WAN service and its service attributes. SD-WAN Service Attributes and Services (MEF 70) was officially approved by MEF members and ratified by the MEF Board of Di- rectors at the organization’s recent Annual Members Meeting in August. SD-WAN service standardization is part of a transformational initiative to define, deliver and certify a family of dynamic carrier Ethernet (CE), optical transport, IP, SD-WAN and security services orchestrated across auto- mated networks using LSO (lifecycle service orchestration) APIs.  “Combining standardized SD-WAN services with dynamic high-speed un- derlay connectivity services – including Carrier Ethernet, Optical Transport, and IP – enables service providers to deliver powerful MEF 3.0 hybrid networking solutions with unprecedented user- and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities,” said Nan Chen, MEF president. The SD-WAN standard describes requirements for an application-aware, over-the-top WAN connectivity service that uses policies to determine how application flows are directed over mul- tiple underlay networks irrespective of the underlay technologies or service providers that deliver them. MEF 70, among other things, de- fines service attributes that describe the externally visible behavior of an SD-WAN service as experienced by the subscriber, rules associated with how traffic is handled and key technical con- cepts and definitions. According to MEF, the SD-WAN standardization offers numerous benefits that will help accelerate SD-WAN market growth. For starters, it will enable a wide range of ecosystem stakeholders to use the same terminology when buying, sell- ing, assessing, deploying and delivering SD-WAN services, while making it easier to interface policy with intelligent under- lay connectivity services. It also paves the way for creation and implementation of certified MEF 3.0 SD-WAN services, which will give users confidence that a service meets a fundamental set of re- quirements, said MEF. “We’re seeing a significant change in how customers are using SD-WAN now versus two years ago, and that evolution is what makes service stan- dards from MEF so critical,” said Ro- man Pacewicz, chief product officer, AT&T Business. 51 September - October, 2019 | Channel Vision