MEF Forum

The MEF, founded in 2001, is a nonprofit international industry consortium, dedicated to worldwide adoption of Carrier Ethernet networks and services.

The forum is composed of leading service providers, major incumbent local exchange carriers, network equipment vendors, and other networking companies that share an interest in Metro Ethernet. It had 217 members as of September 2015.

The MEF is a combination of a technical and a marketing forum to promote the adoption of Metro Ethernet. This is a key differentiator from other standard bodies such as the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The forum makes recommendations to existing standards bodies and creates specifications that are not being developed by (or fall within the scope of) other standards bodies.

History

Logo of the EFMA

The MEF was preceded by the Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance (EFMA), also a nonprofit international industry consortium. It was established in 2001[1] to promote standards-based Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) technologies and products and position EFM as a key networking technology for an access network.

In 2005, with the completion of the 802.3ah standard by the IEEE, the EFMA became part of the MEF.[2]

In 2015, the MEF voted to change its official legal name to MEF Forum to reflect its expansion in setting standards for virtualized networks.[3]

MEF white papers

These white papers provide a comprehensive technical overview of Ethernet services, based on the work of the MEF Technical Committee. The papers are intended to help buyers and users of Ethernet services understand the types and characteristics of the services and to help service providers clearly communicate their capabilities.[4]

Technical specifications

As of August 2015, the MEF had approved 53 technical specifications (see the full list):

References

External links

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