AT&T, Verizon among telcos backing MEF's SASE certification program

Telecom industry association MEF and CyberRatings.org (CyberRatings) have launched a beta program to certify Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) products and services. MEF also announced the availability of its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Industry Blueprint – more on that later.

MEF's SASE certification program

MEF Technology Advisory Board (TAB) member companies Cisco, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, Palo Alto Networks, Versa Networks and VMware have all signed on as participants of the beta program. The TAB was formed in May of 2022 as a way for MEF to provide its technology supplier members with more of a voice in MEF's strategic vision around cybersecurity, business automation, SD-WAN, connectivity and edge computing.

This marks the kick-off of the SASE certification program, which MEF initially unveiled in August. MEF has also developed several SD-WAN standards, starting in 2019, and issued its first SASE standard and Zero Trust framework in 2022.

MEF said its SASE certification program is also supported by the organization's Board of Directors, which includes senior executives from AT&T Business, Colt Technology Services, Comcast Business, Liberty Latin America, Lumen, Microsoft, PCCW Global, Orange, Sparkle and Verizon Business.

MEF President Nan Chen said the SASE certification is a step toward improving market confidence in cybersecurity products and services.

"This Beta program, with participation from MEF's TAB and the support of our Board of Directors, underscores our commitment to delivering trusted, standardized solutions that empower enterprises on their digital transformation journey," said Chen in a statement.

As part of the certification program, CyberRatings is contributing test programs to rate the product and service effectiveness of Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN), Security Service Edge (SSE Threat Protection), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and SASE services. MEF said SASE certification will ensure compliance to the MEF SD-WAN (MEF 70.1) standard and standards for SASE (MEF 117) and Zero Trust (MEF 118).

Vikram Phatak, CEO of CyberRatings.org, added that the certification will provide customers with greater transparency into their investments in cybersecurity and SASE services.

"A robust testing and certification program is essential to provide customers with visibility into what they're buying," said Phatak in a statement.

The beta program is set to wrap up this year and SASE certification will be made generally available to MEF's members in the first half of 2024.  

NaaS Industry Blueprint

MEF also developed a NaaS Industry Blueprint to assist service providers in developing, marketing and deploying NaaS platforms.

The blueprint provides enterprises with guidance in selecting the right NaaS platform for their business, explained MEF.

MEF defines NaaS platforms as "as on-demand connectivity, application assurance, cybersecurity, and multi-cloud-based services across a standards-based automated ecosystem."

MEF's Blueprint includes a definition of NaaS and its core features and outlines the necessary services and certifications needed to develop a NaaS platform. The Blueprint also references MEF services such as the Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) automation API standards and other industry tools for building and deploying NaaS services. It outlines NaaS use cases for transport, SD-WAN, SASE and multicloud services.