The MEF’s new Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification program for services and equipment complements the MEF’s recent launch of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 with certification for 8 new services. “India is one of the most important growing markets for Carrier Ethernet. CE 2.0 brings significant value added benefits, matching the Enterprise users’ application performance needs to MEF services with specific SLA’s, accelerating global deployment and optimizing bandwidth use and costs. CE 2.0 certification has been developed to bring these new benefits to service providers, equipment vendors and users more quickly, with higher quality and at lower cost,” commented Kevin Vachon, Chief Operating Officer of the MEF.
The 680 test cases in the new certification program replace months or even years of costly and highly specialized test development required for assuring compliance with the new CE 2.0 services. CE 2.0 certification accelerates the ability for service providers to deploy new services and to bring deserved industry recognition for innovation and quality.
Registration for CE 2.0 certification opens today for equipment vendors and will open on May 28th for Service Providers. The MEF is providing detailed program descriptions in two key documents: the CE 2.0 Certification Blueprint and the CE 2.0 Technical Foundation now available at www.MetroEthernetForum.org.
Widely recognized MEF 9 and MEF 14 certifications remain valid and available under the umbrella of the new “CE 1.0 Certification” brand.
“CE 1.0 Certification has been an extraordinary success,” stated Nan Chen, President of MEF. “With nearly 150 vendors and service providers already offering over 1,000 certified products and services globally, there is no lack of choice for demanding customers. With CE 2.0 experiencing immediate adoption, we expect CE 2.0 certification program to exceed the uptake of our first certification program.”
CE 2.0 supports multiple classes of service plus manageability across interconnected provider networks—unlike the standardized CE 1.0 services delivered over a single provider’s network. E-Line, E-LAN, E-Tree and a new E-Access service type are available for certification both as port based and virtual services.
There will be a four month initial phase for the new certifications culminating in announcements of the first certified equipment vendors in Q4 2012 and the first certified service providers in Q1 2013. As with CE 1.0 certification, successfully certified members will be permitted to use the appropriate CE 2.0 certification logo and will be listed on the MEF’s Certification Registry on the MEF Web site.