Sponsored by:

Rick BauerDirector of Certification, MEF

New Services, Technology & Professional Certification Programs

40 min

cer·ti·fi·ca·tionsərdifiˈkāSH(ə)n/noun

The action or process of providing an official document attesting to a status or level of

achievement.

An official document attesting to a status or level of achievement.

Sponsored by:

MEF Services Certification Program Update

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MEF Certification Program Statistics

PROFESSIONALS

62% 2 Year AAGR

SERVICES

91% 2 Year AAGR

TECHNOLOGY

58% 2 Year AAGR

275SERVICES

99PROVIDERS

378DEVICES

44VENDORS

5246PROFESSIONALS

440COMPANIES

209+SPs

84COUNTRIES

MEF-CECP is a globally recognized, vendor neutral certification program, designed to ensure that organizations have a common baseline of technical Carrier Ethernet skills across many organizational functions

Enables Service Providers and Vendors to certify that their services/products comply with relevant MEF specifications.

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95 CE 2.0 Certified Service Providers

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44 CE 2.0 Certified Equipment Vendors

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CE 2.0 Services Certifications

Service Type Port Based Service VLAN Based Service

E-LinePoint-to-point EVCUNI to UNI

EPLEthernet Private Line

EVPLEthernet Virtual Private Line

E-LANMultipoint-to-multipoint EVCUNI to UNI

EP-LANEthernet Private LAN

EVP-LANEthernet Virtual Private LAN

E-TreeRooted-multipoint EVCUNI to UNI

EP-TreeEthernet Private Tree

EVP-TreeEthernet Virtual Private Tree

E-AccessPoint-to-point OVCENNI to UNI

Access EPLAccess Ethernet Private Line

Access EVPLAccess Ethernet Virtual Private Line

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Current CE 2.0 Certification Process

Registration

• Submit online registration form

• Specify services to be tested and basic test environment

• Sign NDA

• MEF membership

Test Preparation

(+/- 60 days)

• Specify full set of service attributes and parameters

• Provisioning of services for testing on production network

• Prepare remote access for test probes

Test Probes

(+/- 10 days)

• Shipped pre-configured by Iometrix

• Installed by service providers at each site

• Connected to internet to allow remote access

Testing

(+/- 20 days)

• Tests conducted remotely by Iometrix test engineers

• Pre-testing allows service provider to re-configure services according to Iometrix observations

• Official test run

Deliverables

(+/- 15 days)

• CE 2.0 Certificate

• CE 2.0 Test Report

• Listing on MEF Registry

• CE 2.0 Certified Logo

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The Carrier Challenges Ahead . . .

• Massive demand for bandwidth, services, and applications to satisfy increasingly complex requirements.

• Cloud, IoT, 5G, Open API’s, SDN, NFV, and hyperscale are driving demand beyond CE 2.0.

• Market wants pervasive “CE Experience” across a wider range of connectivity options.

• Carrier Ethernet Services no longer the only layer of services to validate.

• Standards/Deployment must be agile, assured, and orchestrated, and validation/certification must be, also.

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MEF 3.0 Certification: Validating Dynamic Multi-Layer Connectivity Services

MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet ServicesAll MEF 3.0 Carrier Ethernet Services and future releases

Orchestration: LSO APIs starting with network resource

provisioning and service ordering

Availability: Starting Q4 2017

MEF 3.0 IP Services

All MEF 3.0 IP Services and future releases

Orchestration: Future LSO APIs for IP services

Availability: First service release planned for 2018

Layer 1 ServicesAll MEF 3.0 Layer 1 Services and future releases

Orchestration: Future LSO APIs for L1 services

Availability: First service release planned for 2018

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Cloud/Subscription Testing for MEF 3.0 CertificationsIometrix, MEF’s Authorized Testing Provider is introducing a test platform enabling users to test from the cloud via a user-friendly portal, software-based probes acquired on a subscription basis

Cloud Manager

This is the ‘intelligence’ of the platform where test cases are created, executed, computed and logged

User Portal

This is the user-facing interface connected to the cloud that allows users to perform all functions, from set up to testing to reviewing results

Software Probes

The powerful test software runs on commonly available white boxes

MEF Services Network

Iometrix APIClient Emulator

Iometrix Software Probe

Iometrix Test User Portal

FRAMEWORK

Cloud Test Manager

UNI ENNI UNI ENNI

Iometrix Software Probe

MEF 3.0: A New Subscription Model

ALL SERVICES

Service Providers

There are no limits to what service providers can test and certify.

Service providers can test and certify new services, services when upgraded (new software), services when enhanced (new features) as well as services under development.

Services can also be tested at any geographic site, over any type of access or transport network or with any type equipment at the UNI / ENNI.

ALL PRODUCTS

Equipment Vendors

There are no limits on what vendors can test and certify.

Equipment vendors can test and certify new products, all products in a series, products when upgraded (new software), products when enhanced (new features) as well as products under development.

Products can also be tested with different interface speeds and various types of access and transport technologies.

ALL CERTIFICATIONS

CE Services & LSO

Subscriptions include all CE Services & related LSO APIs.

Also, when new services, attributes or APIs are released they become directly part of the subscription.

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MEF 3.0: Transforming Certification

MEF CERTIFICATION FEATURES

Carrier Ethernet Services & Equipment certification

Per service/per product certification testing

Subscription-based, unlimited MEF 3.0 certification testing:

• Services/Equipment when enhanced (new features)

• All equipment in a product series (existing and future)

• All interface speeds, all access types, all transport technologies

Subscriptions include all CE Services & related LSO APIs.

CE 2.0 MEF 3.0

• Services/Equipment when upgraded (new software)

Future subscriptions planned for Optical/Wavelength and IP Services.

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MEF Registry: Expanding for MEF 3.0

• Presents aggregated certified credentials of each organization

• Custom, user-defined description of services, links to products

• Data-driven API reflects up-to-the-moment capability status

• Perfect for 3rd party validation of capabilities, sales opportunities, partner readiness

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Why MEF 3.0 Certification?

• MEF 3.0 built on a solid foundation of CE 2.0 reliability and popularity, with agile, orchestrated, flexible connectivity

• New Certification Platform: Unlimited, Cloud-based, virtualized, integrated with your services/equipment

• Leverage the economics of agile and flexible platform testing services delivery

• Includes multi-service and LSO

• MEF/Iometrix as your partner: trusted, visible success, empowering your organization’s services sales

MEF Professional Certification Programs

(new logos to debut at MEF17)

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MEF Network Professional Certification FrameworkFo

un

dat

ion

Leve

l C

red

enti

als

MEF Network Foundations (MEF-NF)

Exp

ert

Leve

l C

red

enti

als

Network Master Practitioner(4 Professional Level Certifications)

Certified Network Expert(Network Master Practitioner +

Vendor-Specific Certification Stack)

Pro

fess

ion

al

Leve

l C

red

enti

als MEF Carrier

Ethernet Certified Professional(MEF-CECP)

MEF SDN & NFV Technologies

MEF LSO and Orchestration Technologies

Programmable Network Security

Network Design &

Architecture

Produced by MEF in association with leading industry groups worldwide

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Build in Collaboration with Worldwide Partners

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Target Audience: MEF Network Foundations

The target market for Third Network Foundations is the network engineer or administrator or technical sales professional working for an organization either providing or consuming advanced networking services (enterprise data center, carrier, network operations center, etc.). These individuals want to secure their place in a rapidly-evolving network environment; complexities and dependencies in these new networking technologies need to be adequately understood and leveraged for the success of the business. These personnel are discovering that in order to succeed in their career, they must be conversant in a wide variety of vendor-neutral concepts and terminology.

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The Future Impact of SDN & NFV

10%

19% 18%

24%

11%

18%

9%

27%

19% 19%

8%

18%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Very SignificantImpact

Significant Impact Moderate Impact Some Impact No Impact Don't Know

Impact of Software-Driven Network Technologies on Organizational Structure and Culturefrom "2016 Guide to SDN & NFV", by Jim Metzler

SDN NFV

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New Trends in Network Engineering: Broader Domains

HR analysts studying networking summarized the impact that software-defined and software-managed networks would have on their workplace, and weighted that impact in the following manner:

• An accelerated transition to highly dynamic and flexible cloud architectures;

• Greater investment in logical architectures, systems design thinking and business virtualization;

• An impact on design and purchasing decisions;• More focus on business processes;• A redefinition of roles and responsibilities;• A reorganization based on IT and DevOps skills.

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Network Foundations Certification Blueprint

Pillar 1Software-Defined Networking

Network Functions Virtualization

LSO/Orchestration

Carrier-Based Connectivity Services

The Software-Driven Network Vision

Pillar 2

Pillar 3

Pillar 4

Pillar 5

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MEF-CECP

• MEF-CECP Program– Globally recognized, vendor neutral certification

– Ensures that organizations have a common baseline of technical Carrier Ethernet skills across many organizational functions

• MEF-CECP Exam– 1h 45m online exam available worldwide

– US$350 testing fee; $420 in January 2018

– MEF membership not required

• MEF-CECP Scope– Service definitions, UNI, ENNI, EVC & OVC attributes

– CE Applications (e.g. business services, MBH)

– Transport and access technologies

– Management, Service OAM

64%

24%

12%

ServiceProviders EquipmentManufacturers Other

SalesEngineering

26%

NetworkEngineering

16%ProductManagement

9%

NetworkDesign6%

NetworkArchitecture

7%

Training5%

Other15%

NetworkOpera ons

4%

TechnicalDevelopment

4%

TechnicalSupport

4%

ProductDevelopment

4%

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Accredited Training Providers

• Self-study– Many materials such as MEF specifications,

whitepapers are available at MEF.net

• Accredited Training Providers– 6 Global MEF Accredited Training Providers (MEF-

ATPs)

– At customer premises or at the MEF-ATP facilities

– Group proctoring of examinees at the end of the MEF-CECP training

– Pricing and scheduling agreed directly with the MEF-ATPs

More than 80% of MEF-CECPsstudied with a MEF-ATP

Sponsored by:

Rick BauerDirector of Certification

MEF

New Services, Technology & Professional Certification Programs

40 min