LOS ANGELES--()--The MEF’s (Metro Ethernet Forum) global membership passed the 200 member company mark for the first time as it concluded its fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. Other major milestones passed in this eleventh year since the MEF’s inception, include over 150 service providers and equipment vendors certified to CE 1.0 and the number of MEF-CECPs (MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professionals) has now passed the 300 mark - a number that is expected to triple over the coming year.
“It has been a great twelve months for the MEF,” announced Nan Chen, MEF President. “Our growing, global membership base demonstrates the industry’s commitment to the globalization and success of standardized Carrier Ethernet Services. It also gives us the critical mass to pursue our goals aggressively, being a solid foundation for migration to our recently-announced CE 2.0 and CE 2.0 Certification flagship initiatives.”
Among the year’s many highlights has been the demonstration of current CE 2.0 service capabilities for private cloud environments together with new work to make Carrier Ethernet even more dynamic and responsive to future cloud requirements. “CoreSite’s interconnection platform allows customers to join ecosystems that drive business goals,” said Jarrett Appleby, COO of new member company CoreSite. “CE 2.0 will play a critical role in the delivery of our new services to Cloud and Mobile Providers. Our membership in the MEF is instrumental in making this all happen”.
Another CE 2.0 application in development is mobile backhaul services.
Brian Rose, Director of Product Development at Cox Business, commenting on the recent release of MEF 22.1 (Mobile Backhaul Implementation Agreement Phase 2) said, ”As the demand for Ethernet Services for Mobile Backhaul continues to skyrocket, MEF’s standards-based framework helps us continue to scale and optimize this business.”
CE 2.0, with powerful and standardized attributes of Multi-CoS, Interconnect and Manageability, is taking Carrier Ethernet and telecommunications to next level of capabilities and efficiency in order to cost-effectively meet exponential growth of data in business, mobile and cloud applications.
MEF proudly welcomes a broad range of new member companies in 2012. New service provider members include (HQ country): Ascenty Telecom (Brazil), Allstream (Canada), Sify Technologies Limited PT (India). Indosat, Tbk (Indonesia), UPC Broadband (Netherlands), Radius Telecoms (Philippines), Lightower Fiber Networks, Lumos Networks, LS Networks, Midcontinent Communications, Cbeyond (USA), Sunrise Communications AG (Switzerland), Samsung SDS Co. Ltd. (South Korea) and VNPT (Vietnam). Other new member companies include: US-based semiconductor manufacturer Altera Corporation, training provider Carrier Ethernet Academy, security firm Certes Networks, data center provider Coresite and equipment manufacturer Pulse Communications. Hong Kong’s Comba Telecom, Sweden’s NetInsight AB, Japan’s Furukawa Network Solution Corporation, and Canada’s Advantech Wireless complete the list of recent equipment manufacturer additions.
About the MEF:
The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 200 organizations, including telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductor vendors and testing organizations. The MEF’s mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services. The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier Ethernet worldwide.
For more information about the Forum, including a complete listing of all current MEF members, please visit the MEF web site at http://www.MetroEthernetForum.org/.