Building the NaaS Experience: Connect, Innovate, Transform at MEF’s Global Event

  • By
  • Sep 03, 2024

MEF’s Global Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) event (GNE) in Dallas, Texas 28-30 October brings together the entire NaaS ecosystem to discuss the vision of a new generation of NaaS and provide a snapshot of the industry for service providers, technology vendors, wholesale providers, retail providers, hyperscalers, system integrators and of course, the end-user enterprise community. The event lays out how MEF’s high value open standards for connectivity, cybersecurity, and business automation together with assets such as Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) APIs and blockchain and smart contracts will transform the digital economy. This year’s event will focus on evaluating the NaaS advancements that have occurred over the past year, identifying current challenges in the market, and forecasting future developments.

In the lead up to the event, the MEF membership has evolved its NaaS vision beyond that of individual NaaS providers utilizing the capabilities of cloud and connectivity partners in single ecosystem for a cloudified user experience. MEF will present a vision of evolving NaaS federations with participation and onboarding requirements defined by the MEF membership and based on open standards and assets from across the digital transformation industry. The roadmap for NaaS federations will enable enterprises, NaaS providers, cloud, data center and connectivity providers, security providers, solution providers and system integrators and many new entrants to the digital service economy to converge and collaborate on high value solutions for current and emerging NaaS use cases that use MEF’s LSO APIs, MEF standardized product models, cybersecurity standards, multi-party ERP solutions and certification.

In addition, the MEF membership is setting out a framework of common requirements of a NaaS user experience that defines the customer-facing aspects of NaaS offerings to provide enterprises and application developers a baseline to understand NaaS provider offerings. Enhancing this will be an update to MEF’s NaaS Industry Blueprint that is important to both the NaaS providers and the increasing number of system integrators working with them to implement their NaaS solutions.

MEF will kick off GNE 2024 with a half-day LSO Automation Summit where the participants will hear practical insights from industry experts across the entire automation ecosystem, including buyer to seller journeys to core processes and cutting-edge applications like blockchain-enabled billing. Sessions will cover business cases for LSO API automation, innovative concepts like product payloads and partner matchmaking, and address challenges such as global address validation. The next two days will cover the critical areas shaping the future of NaaS, including enterprise needs, service evolution, and the importance of automation in a global context.

Sessions and panels will revolve around key themes including:

  • Enterprise-Driven NaaS: Led by MEF’s Enterprise Leadership Council (ELC), enterprise executives will share their expectations and needs regarding NaaS, including consumption models and service provider roles. The event will explore forward-looking use cases and NaaS strategy from industry pioneers. Sessions will highlight executive perspectives on digital transformation drivers, cloud-first strategies, AI-enhanced networking, cyber threats, SD-WAN, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), and NaaS adoption.
  • NaaS Offerings: There will be numerous sessions exploring the development and variety of NaaS offerings, including retail and wholesale services, and service demand and bundling innovations. Security will also be an important focus highlighting MEF’s new State of the Industry Report on SASE, the challenges in the cybersecurity landscape, including the increased risk of major cyberattacks and steps the industry needs to take to contain these attacks.
  • NaaS Ecosystem and Automation: GNE will explore the comprehensive view of global NaaS ecosystem evolution and its key players, including service providers, wholesale providers, data center operators, and technology vendors. With a focus on automation, sessions will delve into how automation and standardization are reshaping the landscape and provide strategies to excel in the evolving automated NaaS ecosystem.
  • NaaS in Action: Over a dozen live demos of the latest NaaS innovations and technologies in action will be on display at GNE. Demos will include service and technology provider organizations from across the NaaS ecosystem to showcase the power of automation and explore the industry collaborations shaping the NaaS landscape. Information about GNE 2024 happening 28-30 October in Dallas, Texas, including how to register can be found here.

Featured

  • TSA Introduces New $45 Fee Option for Travelers Without REAL ID Starting February 1

    The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that it will refer all passengers who do not present an acceptable form of ID and still want to fly an option to pay a $45 fee to use a modernized alternative identity verification system, TSA Confirm.ID, to establish identity at security checkpoints beginning on February 1, 2026. Read Now

  • The Evolution of IP Camera Intelligence

    As the 30th anniversary of the IP camera approaches in 2026, it is worth reflecting on how far we have come. The first network camera, launched in 1996, delivered one frame every 17 seconds—not impressive by today’s standards, but groundbreaking at the time. It did something that no analog system could: transmit video over a standard IP network. Read Now

  • From Surveillance to Intelligence

    Years ago, it would have been significantly more expensive to run an analytic like that — requiring a custom-built solution with burdensome infrastructure demands — but modern edge devices have made it accessible to everyone. It also saves time, which is a critical factor if a missing child is involved. Video compression technology has played a critical role as well. Over the years, significant advancements have been made in video coding standards — including H.263, MPEG formats, and H.264—alongside compression optimization technologies developed by IP video manufacturers to improve efficiency without sacrificing quality. The open-source AV1 codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media—a consortium including Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others — is already the preferred decoder for cloud-based applications, and is quickly becoming the standard for video compression of all types. Read Now

  • Cost: Reactive vs. Proactive Security

    Security breaches often happen despite the availability of tools to prevent them. To combat this problem, the industry is shifting from reactive correction to proactive protection. This article will examine why so many security leaders have realized they must “lead before the breach” – not after. Read Now

  • Achieving Clear Audio

    In today’s ever-changing world of security and risk management, effective communication via an intercom and door entry communication system is a critical communication tool to keep a facility’s staff, visitors and vendors safe. Read Now

Most   Popular

New Products

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.

  • EasyGate SPT and SPD

    EasyGate SPT SPD

    Security solutions do not have to be ordinary, let alone unattractive. Having renewed their best-selling speed gates, Cominfo has once again demonstrated their Art of Security philosophy in practice — and confirmed their position as an industry-leading manufacturers of premium speed gates and turnstiles.

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.