2023 MEF: Global NaaS Event Showcase
BTW, for those at the show who heard about our Enterprise Edge and Cloud Networking report, which touches on NaaS, you can download from the button on the right, and check out videos from the related showcase.
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Highlights from Industry Thought Leaders at Global NaaS Event by MEF
“The veritable alphabet soup of acronyms serves to confuse even the most diligent and capable CISOs, especially when vendors continually redefine and reclassify each category to fit their needs.” Read the report to help you sort through the mess.
Content from Thought Leaders at 2023 Global NaaS Event by MEF
The following media comprises interviews and other content related to 2023 Global NaaS Event by MEF. Views expressed are those of the presenting individuals and companies and may not necessarily represent views of Converge! Network Digest or AvidThink.
Industry Pivot to NaaS
Kevin Vachon, COO of MEF, emphasized the organization’s focus on Network as a Service (NaaS) and its role in setting industry standards at the MEF’s Global NaaS event in Arlington, Texas. He also introduced an Enterprise Leadership Council to meet customer requirements.
MEF's NaaS Blueprint
Nan Chen, President and CEO of MEF, unveiled the company’s new blueprint for Network as a Service (NaaS), emphasizing the need for industry standards and MEF’s capacity to standardize and collaborate with the entire industry. Chen also highlighted the role of Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) APIs in delivering automated services.
MEF's NaaS - from APIs to SuperClouds
Pascal Menezes, CTO of MEF, presented the new NaaS Global blueprint, aiming to standardize APIs to facilitate interaction between hyperscalers, product vendors, and cloud operators. Menezes envisions a future where all clouds are interconnected, and highlighted the synergy between MEF’s work, TM Forum, and the Linux Foundation’s CAMARA project.
New Business Outcomes with NaaS
Mirko Voltolini, VP Innovation at Colt, spoke at the MEF Global NaaS event about the potential of NaaS to orchestrate services across multiple domains and providers, emphasizing the crucial role of APIs and the need for industry collaboration. Voltolini also shared that Colt has been utilizing APIs since 2015, advocating for the adoption of MEF LSO APIs.
NaaS Must Focus on Standardizing Automation
Michael Kearns, Chief Strategy Officer at Amartus, underscored the significance of automation and standardization in NaaS to streamline services for enterprise customers, emphasizing the necessity for standardization processes and API standardization to manage modern networks’ complexity. Kearns also spotlighted Amartus’ proficiency in network and cloud automation.
NaaS is the Umbrella for Advance Connectivity
Jorge Brites, Senior Manager of Architecture & Innovation at Cirion, outlined the company’s new business strategy which includes aligning its operations with the MEF LSO framework. Cirion aims to standardize operations, automate processes, and assist other companies in their technological journey.
Accelerated Revenues for Network Operators
Dan Wagner, CEO and Founder of CloudSmartz, highlighted the company’s decade-long commitment to developing automation solutions for the trillion-dollar telecom industry, with a recent focus on enhancing customer experience. CloudSmartz is growing rapidly by offering products that support NaaS, and accelerate revenue while reducing costs through automation.
A Big Stake in the Ground for NaaS
Mauricio Sanchez, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group, lauded MEF’s NaaS vision for bringing order to numerous standards and providing a clear industry direction, emphasizing the importance of on-demand secure connectivity. Sanchez concluded that the future will be dominated by APIs, underscoring the need to focus on useful APIs rather than creating them indiscriminately.
MEF's Enterprise Leadership Council
Sunil Khandekar, Chair of MEF’s Enterprise Leadership Council, is leading an initiative to establish a council comprising senior executives representing all major enterprise verticals to complement MEF’s top-tier service providers board and technology vendors technical advisory board, aiming to integrate the enterprise viewpoint.
Enterprise Pull for Network Services
Sunil Khandekar, Chair of MEF’s Enterprise Leadership Council, discussed the potential of Network as a Service (NaaS) to simplify network services consumption, despite challenges posed by diverse endpoints and office locations. Khandekar expressed optimism that technology vendors and service providers are progressing towards making NaaS consumption-based.
Think Networks as a Platform
Shawn Hakl, VP of 5G Strategy at Microsoft, emphasized the significant strides made by operators and suppliers in adopting LSO, which has enabled automation across various sectors of the industry, particularly in SDWAN and security. Hakl also underscored the importance of MEF promoting industry collaboration, advances in generative AI, and focus on AI-based operations.
NaaS for MultiCloud Connections
Divesh Gupta, VP of New Technology & Sales Operations at PCCW, highlighted their product, Edgeport, that provides automated connections between data centers and enterprise buildings using MEF LSO Sonata APIs. Gupta also shared a use case for their product, Console Connect, which orchestrated connectivity from Hong Kong to Singapore, offering an on-demand connection to AWS.
Moving Up the Stack with NaaS
Erin Dunne, Director of Research Services at Vertical Systems Group, emphasized the significance of network connectivity in facilitating automated services, with layer one and two services like wavelengths and Ethernet becoming increasingly crucial. She highlighted the role of NaaS in providing simplicity desired by enterprises, and the importance of APIs and standards.