MEF Expands MEF 3.0 to Define SASE Services
August 2020 by Marc Jacob
MEF is pleased to announce its work to define Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) services. SASE is a developing market that combines network connectivity and security functions with subscriber policies to meet a higher level of performance and assurance required by the modern enterprise. This is the next step in MEF’s mission to enable digital transformation through dynamic, assured, and certified MEF 3.0 network services. As the leading authority defining network services, MEF’s goal is to achieve industry consensus on a standardized, converged software-defined networking, security, and policy framework that can be used by enterprises and service providers to transform consumption of cloud services and applications in the form of SASE services.
MEF work underpinning the type of consensus needed to standardize SASE services is well underway and gaining momentum against a backdrop of accelerated change at the network edge. MEF has just published a groundbreaking MEF SASE Services Framework white paper that outlines a framework to standardize SASE services based on existing SD-WAN, security, automation, and other standardization work within MEF. MEF also has launched the SASE Services Definition (MEF W117) project that will leverage this standardization work, including:
• SD-WAN Service Attributes & Service Framework (MEF 70 and MEF W70.1)
• Application Security for SD-WAN Services (MEF W88)
• Zero Trust Framework and Service Attributes (MEF W118) - new
• Universal SD-WAN Edge (MEF W119) - new
• Performance Monitoring and Service Readiness Testing for SD-WAN Services (MEF W105)
• MEF Services Model: Information Model for SD-WAN Services (MEF 82)
• LSO Legato Service Specification - SD-WAN (MEF W100)
• Intent Based Orchestration (MEF W71)
• Policy Driven Orchestration (MEF W95)
Companies Engaged in SASE-Related Work
Experts from Fortinet, VMware, Juniper, Nuage Networks from Nokia, Versa Networks, Cisco, Ciena, CMC Networks, and Datavision contributed to the MEF SASE Service Framework white paper. Employees from these and numerous additional companies – including AT&T, Bell Canada, CenturyLink, Fujitsu Network Communications, Silver Peak, and others – have contributed to the related SD-WAN, security, and SD-WAN service automation work.
Participation in SASE-related projects are open to all MEF members. Contact SASE@mef.net to learn more about how to become involved and/or to join MEF.