Los Angeles, 1 October 2018 – MEF is assembling top communications service provider and enterprise experts at the MEF18 global networking event to explore how multi-national enterprises can utilize dynamic MEF 3.0 services to address their digital transformation needs. MEF18 will uniquely empower enterprise professionals with high-quality program content, peer-to-peer networking opportunities, and live Proof of Concept demonstrations of emerging services that provide unprecedented user- and application-directed control over network resources and service capabilities.
MEF18 will be held 29 October – 2 November 2018 at the JW Marriott LA LIVE in Los Angeles, California. Qualified business, government, and other service end-users are eligible to attend the event for free by registering here.
The MEF18 program includes three key elements designed for service end-users:
Plenary Keynotes & Executive Perspectives
Dozens of executive speakers from AT&T, Comcast Business, Deutsche Telekom, PCCW Global, Spectrum Enterprise, Verizon, Orange, CenturyLink, Equinix, Ciena, and other leading service and technology providers will discuss the industry transition to cloud-centric network services that deliver the dynamic performance and security required to thrive in the digital economy. See MEF18’s all-star speaker line-up .
Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) Chief Information Officer Bill Martin will provide a special guest keynote on Tuesday, 30 October, that will focus on the daunting challenges and amazing opportunities that IT presents the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. Martin will explore how IT keeps AEG’s vast portfolio of independent businesses connected as it transitions to an all-cloud approach and shutters its data center.
WAN Exchange
MEF has partnered with the WAN Summit, the leading global event series uniting the buyers and suppliers of enterprise networking services, to present the WAN Exchange on Tuesday, 30 October. The WAN Exchange will focus on the transformation needs of multi-national enterprises and the steps service providers are taking to address these.
“Enterprises are looking for agility, simplicity, and assurance, and there is a sense of urgency that service providers must respond by delivering automated network services that empower customers with unprecedented control and visibility,” said Nan Chen, President, MEF. “We are pleased to work with the WAN Summit to assemble a community of experts dedicated to tackling tough networking issues and unleashing the full potential of industry innovation.”
WAN Exchange sessions include the following topics and speakers, several of whom participate in MEF’s Enterprise Advisory Council:
3:20 – 4:05pm: Seeking Peak Performance for Application-Aware Networks – Monitoring, SLAs & Quality of Experience
Erin Dunne, Director of Research Services, Vertical Systems Group (moderator)
Gert Vanderstraeten, Network Architect – Microsoft IT Network Infrastructure Services (CSEO)
Michael Martin, Senior Enterprise Architect – Networking & Security, McKinsey & Company
Gunnar Peters, Senior Director, Emerging Networks, Spectrum Enterprise
Reuben Massey, Senior Enterprise Solution Architect, InfoVista
4:05 – 4:50pm: Experiences with SD-WAN Adoption – From PoC to Pilot to Roll Out
Greg Bryan, Senior Manager, Enterprise Research, TeleGeography (moderator)
Manish Gupta, Chief Architect of Enterprise Infrastructure, Intuit
Jeff Lewis, VP of Product Management, Comcast Business
John Isch, Director of Network & Voice NAM, Orange Business Services
Chris Liou, VP Service Provider Product Management, Silver Peak
4:50 – 5:30pm: Your Carrier & You – What to Expect in an Era of End-to-End Service Automation
Robert Schult, Research Director, TeleGeography (moderator)
John Downs, Global Communications Manager, Bloomberg
Jonathan Beasley, Principal Architect, Refinitiv (former Finance and Risk business unit of Thomson Reuters)
Service provider speakers to be announced
Proof of Concept Showcase Demonstrations
MEF18 will host nearly 20 Proof of Concept demonstrations that will feature more than 50 service and technology solution providers. This year’s PoCs cover such topics as: automated commercial interaction; automated service fulfillment and activation; proactive service assurance; application-aware networking, intent-based networks and services, multi-layer services; secure SD-WAN; and Universal CPE.
See the PoC Showcase page for the most up-to-date information.
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