Project, to be exhibited at MEF18, advances the feasibility of LSO standards and brings harmony to multi-carrier cooperation

Petach Tikva, Israel – Oct. 30, 2018 – Amartus, ECI, Equinix, Liquid Telecom, Sparkle, Spirent, and Tata Communications announced today that the team’s MEF 3.0 Service Fulfillment and Activation Project will demonstrate additional advancements of the MEF 3.0 vision of assured services across automated networks at MEF18 in Los Angeles. The proof of concept is part of a longstanding MEF 3.0 Implementation Project providing end-to-end implementation of the LSO architecture, LSO Sonata APIs, and other LSO APIs across multiple operator domains.

Today’s networks are increasingly burdened with supporting emerging technologies and cloud-based applications across service provider ecosystems. But the process of setting up these services to span multiple service provider domains remains complex and time-intensive, often taking many months to complete. This marks the third iteration in an extended project, created to facilitate the activation and assurance of services across multiple service provider domains and establish industry standards to solve this issue. It also incorporates complex services, leveraging both software defined networking (SDN) and network virtualized functions (NFV) across both physical and virtual entities.

The proof of concept demonstrates agile service delivery and the automated, assured orchestration of MEF services across four production domains – Tata Communications, Sparkle, Equinix and Liquid. The project successfully aligns with MEF standards and open source work, while supporting interoperability and integration between different orchestration platforms, including both proprietary and open-source (i.e. ONAP).

“We’re proud to participate in yet another successful execution of the MEF vision in our third iteration of the fulfilment and activation Implementation Project,” said Sarit Tager, vice president of R&D, SDN and LSO at ECI. “ECI has been a long-time proponent of advancing the development of LSO standards, and this proof of concept realizes the possibility of orchestration across multiple service provider networks. At MEF18, our team will once again show that global connectivity can be achieved dynamically, contribute to increasingly important enterprise cloud strategies and meet end-user expectations for on-demand agility.”

The project also achieved the following innovations: - Seamless orchestration of multiple technologies, including provider backbone bridging (PBB) and Internet protocol (IP) - End-to-end support of LSO interfaces, including the use of published interfaces (LSO Sonata, LSO Presto) with as yet non-published interfaces (LSO Cantata, LSO Legato) - The POC demonstrates interoperability among different entities, across multiple business applications and orchestration systems, including proprietary and open source environments (such as ONAP) - Combination of SDN and NFV technologies (connectivity and virtual entities) across multiple technologies and vendors - The POC supports various scenarios of service activation and validation

“This MEF18 proof of concept fortifies the MEF vision of accelerating worldwide adoption of assured services orchestrated across a global ecosystem of automated networks, leveraging standardized LSO APIs,” said Pascal Menezes, MEF CTO. “Our goal is to enable service providers to transition from operating as independent islands of excellence to being integral players in a worldwide business federation of cloud-like networks that support dynamic services across multiple providers. The MEF 3.0 Service Fulfillment and Activation Project brings together innovative industry leaders to see these ideas come to life, and is a great example of industry support for emerging LSO Sonata and other LSO APIs.”

This proof-of-concept will be demonstrated in an interactive presentation at MEF18 in Los Angeles, CA the week of October 29. For more information about the proof-of-concept showcase, please visit http://www.mef18event.com/index.php/proof-of-concept-showcase.

ABOUT MEF AND MEF18 An industry association of 210+ member companies, MEF is enabling service providers to create a global ecosystem of networks that deliver agile, assured, and orchestrated services for the digital economy and hyper-connected world. These services provide an on-demand, cloud-centric experience with user and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities. They are delivered over automated, virtualized, and interconnected networks powered by LSO, SDN, and NFV. MEF produces LSO frameworks, open LSO APIs, software-driven reference implementations, service specifications, and certification programs. MEF’s work will enable automated delivery of standardized wavelength, Carrier Ethernet, IP, SD-WAN, and Layer 4-7 services across multiple provider networks.

MEF18 focuses on enabling agile, assured, and orchestrated communications services for the digital economy. Emerging “MEF 3.0” services provide an on-demand experience with user- and application- directed control over network resources and service capabilities. They are delivered across a global ecosystem of automated networks powered by LSO, SDN, and NFV. 1,000+ attendees from 275+ companies and 35+ countries. MEF18 uniquely empowers industry stakeholders with high-quality content, extraordinary peer-to-peer networking opportunities, and valuable insight into cutting-edge services and technologies. Attendees consistently have rated MEF’s global events among the best in the industry.

ABOUT AMARTUS

Amartus is a software development and integration company specializing in network and cloud automation. We drive innovation in networking and help software vendors, network equipment manufacturers, and service providers accelerate network transformation, leverage their pioneering solutions, and grasp the unique opportunities offered by the cloud. Our experts assist companies on their path to network virtualization & optimization, and help them expand network and cloud management solutions and take advantage of the cutting-edge technologies.

ABOUT ECI

ECI is a global provider of ELASTIC network solutions to CSPs, critical infrastructures as well as data center operators. Along with its long-standing, industry-proven packet-optical transport, ECI offers a variety of SDN/NFV applications, end-to-end network management, a comprehensive cybersecurity solution, and a range of professional services. ECI's ELASTIC solutions ensure open, future-proof, and secure communications. With ECI, customers have the luxury of choosing a network that can be tailor- made to their needs today while being flexible enough to evolve with the changing needs of tomorrow.

ABOUT EQUINIX

Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) connects the world's leading businesses to their customers, employees and partners inside the most-interconnected data centers. In 52 markets worldwide, Equinix is where companies come together to realize new opportunities and accelerate their business, IT and cloud strategies. For more information: www.equinix.com.

ABOUT LIQUID TELECOM

Liquid Telecom is the leading independent data, voice and IP provider in eastern, central and southern Africa. It supplies fibre optic, satellite and international carrier services to Africa's largest mobile network operators, ISPs and businesses of all sizes. It also provides payment solutions to financial institutions and retailers, as well as award winning data storage and communication solutions to businesses across Africa and beyond.

ABOUT SPARKLE

Sparkle is TIM Group’s fully owned Global Operator and among the top #10 international service providers worldwide, with a proprietary backbone of around 530,000 km of fiber spanning from Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia. Leveraging its global IP, Data, Cloud, Data Center, Mobile Data and Voice Platforms, Sparkle offers a full range of ICT solutions to Internet Service Providers, OTTs, Media and Content Players, Application Service Providers, Fixed and Mobile operators as well as Multinational Enterprises. Its sales force is active worldwide and distributed over 36 countries. Find out more about Sparkle at tisparkle.com Media Contact: Sparkle Communication, [email protected]

ABOUT SPIRENT

Spirent Communications plc. (LSE: SPT) offers test, measurement, analytics and assurance solutions for next-generation devices and networks. The company provides products, services and information for high-speed Ethernet, positioning and mobile network infrastructure markets, with expanding focus on service assurance, cybersecurity and 5G. Spirent is accelerating the transition of connected devices, network equipment and applications from development labs to the operational network, as it continues to innovate toward fully-automated testing and autonomous service assurance solutions.

ABOUT TATA COMMUNICATIONS

Tata Communications Limited (CIN no: L64200MH1986PLC039266) along with its subsidiaries (Tata Communications) is a leading global provider of A New World of Communications™. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises and communications service providers.

The Tata Communications global network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 240 countries and territories across 400 PoPs, as well as nearly 1 million square feet of data centre and colocation space worldwide. Tata Communications’ depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services and leadership in global international voice communications. Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.