company higher consilWorld-Class Team Focused On Accelerating Industry Transition To Third Network Services Enabled By LSO, SDN, NFV, CE 2.0

Boston, 4 August 2016MEF is pleased to announce the results of the 2016 – 2017 Board of Directors elections and subsequent appointments by the Board at the MEF Annual Members Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The leadership team will guide MEF’s efforts to accelerate the industry transition from static to agile, assured, and orchestrated Third Network services. These productivity-enhancing services are delivered over automated, virtualized, and interconnected networks powered by LSO (Lifecycle Service Orchestration), SDN, NFV, and CE 2.0 (Carrier Ethernet 2.0).

Nan Chen, President of MEF, said, “MEF has completed one of the most productive fiscal years in the organization’s 15 year history, and we topped things off with a record number of 17 new Members joining in our closing quarter. I want to thank MEF leadership team members – including outgoing Director Ken Countway from Comcast – for their outstanding contributions in guiding MEF’s work to realize the Third Network vision. I look forward to working with this great group of professionals – including incoming Director Allan Langfield from Comcast – to reshape the communications industry with exciting new service and technology innovations.”

Chen continued: “As we start our new fiscal year, MEF is focused on advancing work in four key areas: Third Network services (including orchestrated CE 2.0, IP, and other Layer 1 – 7 services); LSO APIs and other specifications; Open Initiatives; and certification programs for services, equipment, and professionals. We are progressing dozens of initiatives within MEF and in collaboration with external open source projects and standards organizations to move the industry forward.”

Elected MEF Board of Directors

  • Vincent Alesi – Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Network Services Planning, Verizon
  • Nan Chen – Executive Vice Chairman, CENX
  • Lance Hassan – Director of Commercial Services, Charter Communications
  • Allan Langfield – Executive Director, Product Development, Comcast
  • Scott Mansfield – Principal Engineer, Ericsson
  • Eric Puetz – Director, Standards and Industry Alliances, AT&T Labs
  • Raghu Ranganathan – Principal & Distinguished Engineer, Office of CTO, Ciena
  • Ralph Santitoro – Head of SDN/NFV Solutions Practice, Fujitsu Network Communications
  • Shahar Steiff – AVP New Technology, PCCW Global
  • Michael Strople – Managing Director, Canada, Zayo Group & President, Zayo Managed Services, Zayo Group
  • Alessandro Talotta – Chief Executive Officer, Telecom Italia Sparkle

Appointed Honorary Director

  • Bob Metcalfe – Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of Innovation at the University of Texas at Austin

Appointed Advisory Directors

  • Axel Clauberg – Vice President, IP & Optical, Deutsche Telekom AG
  • Huiling Zhao – Director of the Cloud Research Center, China Telecom

Appointed Officers

  • Nan Chen – President
  • Mike Strople – Chairman
  • Kevin Vachon – Chief Operating Officer
  • Pascal Menezes – Chief Technology Officer
  • Eric Puetz – Treasurer
  • Scott Mansfield – Secretary

Appointed Committee Co-Chairs 

  • Certification Committee – Eric Puetz (AT&T), John Hawkins (Ciena)
  • Global Marketing Committee – Ralph Santitoro (Fujitsu Network Communications), Rami Yaron (Telco Systems)
  • Technical & Operations Committee – Raghu Ranganathan (Ciena), Shahar Steiff (PCCW Global)

About MEF

MEF is the driving force enabling Third Network services for the digital economy and the hyper-connected world. The Third Network concept combines the agility and ubiquity of the Internet with the assurance and security of CE 2.0 (Carrier Ethernet 2.0). Third Network services provide an on-demand, orchestrated, and assured experience with user-directed control over network resources and cloud connectivity. Third Network services are delivered over automated, virtualized, and interconnected networks powered by LSO, SDN, NFV, and CE 2.0..

MEF leverages its global 210+ network operators and technology vendor community, builds upon the robust $80 billion Carrier Ethernet market, and provides a practical evolution to the Third Network with LSO, SDN, and NFV implementations that build upon a CE 2.0 foundation. For more information, see www.MEF.net.

MEF is the host of the MEF16 (www.MEF16.com) global networking event that will be held during 7 – 10 November 2016 at the Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore/Washington, USA.