ATIS, MEF Introduce Ethernet Automation Spec

By Paula Bernier
Executive Editor, TMC

Two of the most well-know organizations in the telecommunications arena have come together to create a spec focused on one of the most important trends in networking today. Those organizations are ATIS and MEF (News - Alert). And that new spec is about automation.

The Ethernet Ordering Technical Specification defines process for ordering carrier Ethernet services on a global basis. It focuses on business interactions associated  with intercarrier ordering of Access E-Line and Standalone UNI products. It also includes use cases and MEF-defined attributes needed to support product ordering for each use case.

“This new joint specification transforms the Ethernet ordering process globally, thus enabling faster delivery of interconnected networks,” said ATIS Preisdent and CEO Susan Miller (News - Alert). “It makes the ordering process easier for customers while also advancing service provider business imperatives in this area.”

The spec supports requirements defined in the Lifecycle Service Orchestration Reference Architecture and Framework for ordering services over the LSO Sonata interface.

“Given that ATIS (News - Alert) has such broad ordering experience throughout North America, I feel that partnering with our MEF counterparts has led to a collaboration that will provide the framework for a unified platform defining requirements for Ethernet ordering throughout the entire international telecommunications community,” said Letty Walker, senior lead analyst of OSS and technology support at CenturyLink (News - Alert) and the ATIS OBF OS co-chair and Joint ATIS-MEF co-lead.

The MEF has recently been talking a lot about what it calls the Third Network. This network, it says, is an agile, assured, and orchestrated environment. And it will help enable multi-operator orchestration of IP services employing MEF Lifecycle Service Orchestration.

“It enables the definition of standard LSO APIs and Yang modules at the service layer for managing and monitoring IP services – including inter-provider services – that are consistent with the LSO Reference Architecture used for Carrier Ethernet services,” David Ward, CTO of engineering and chief architect at Cisco (News - Alert), said last year. “Enabling automation of inter-provider IP services is a key pain point for our service provider customers today, which this work will help address."