Connectbase enhances Bouygues Telecom Wholesale's operations by implementing Mplify API for real-time quote automation, improving client connections and global growth.

Winners to be recognized at Mplify Member Summit – Americas for innovation advancing NaaS and AI-ready digital infrastructure LOS ANGELES, August 25, 2026 – Mplify, the global alliance shaping the…

韓国系オーストラリア人アーティスト、オリヴィア・マーシュが最新シングル「First December with You」と「Heaven」で新たな音楽の地平を切り拓く。彼女の音楽はABBAやジョン・デンバーからの影響を受けつつ、ポップスとR&Bをシームレスに融合。ワーナー・ミュージック・コリアのMPLIFYからグローバルデビューを果たし、シンガポールでの「Yuewen...

DE-CIX is among the first IX operators to join the Mplify Alliance, advancing standardized, automated NaaS for the AI-driven digital economy.

<div id="remove_no_follow"> <div class="grid grid--cols-10@md grid--cols-8@lg article-column"> <div class="col-12 col-10@md col-6@lg col-start-3@lg"> <div class="article-column__content"> <section class="wp-block-bigbite-multi-title"><div class="container"></div></section> <p>The Carrier Ethernet market is undergoing a significant shift as AI workloads demand new performance validation from network infrastructure. </p> <p>Mplify, the alliance <a href="https://www.networkworld.com/article/4011711/mef-goes-beyond-metro-ethernet-rebrands-as-mplify-with-expanded-scope-on-naas-and-ai.html">formerly known as MEF</a> (Metro Ethernet Forum), is responding with a dual certification strategy that preserves decades of carrier investment while creating a pathway for AI-ready transport validation.</p> <p>This week, the organization announced two certification tracks: Carrier Ethernet for Business, available now as a rebrand of MEF 3.0 certification, and Carrier Ethernet for AI, targeted for a second-quarter 2026 launch. The move addresses a fundamental question facing service providers: how to monetize existing Ethernet infrastructure for AI transport alongside the industry’s focus on high-bandwidth wavelength services.</p> <p>“Three years ago, we said we’re going to start pivoting to NaaS, and all of this work is supporting that, including the AI element,” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-vachon-5675ab1/">Kevin Vachon</a>, chief operating officer of <a href="https://www.mplify.net/">Mplify</a>, told <em>Network World</em>.</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="carrier-ethernet-for-business-rebrand-with-recertification-path">Carrier Ethernet for Business: Rebrand with recertification path</h2> <p>Carrier Ethernet for Business maintains identical technical requirements to MEF 3.0 certification. Service providers already certified under MEF 3.0 can transition to the Mplify certification at no additional cost.</p> <p>The transition offers a practical benefit: recertification with updated test dates. Some existing MEF 3.0 certifications are five years old. The new program allows providers to show fresh certification records without infrastructure changes.</p> <p>“We didn’t want to just put a different sticker on it,” Vachon said. “We wanted to give the opportunity for operators to recertify their infrastructure so at least you’ve now got this very competitive infrastructure.”</p> <p>Testing occurs on live production networks. The automated testing platform can be completed in days once technical preparation is finished. Organizations pay once per certification with predictable annual maintenance fees required to keep certifications active. Optional retesting can refresh certification test records.</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="carrier-ethernet-for-ai">Carrier Ethernet for AI</h2> <p>The Carrier Ethernet for AI certification takes the business certification baseline and adds a performance layer specifically designed for AI workloads. Rather than creating a separate track, the AI certification requires providers to first complete the Carrier Ethernet for Business validation, then demonstrate they can meet additional stringent requirements.</p> <p>“What we identified was that there was another tier that we could produce a standard around for AI,” Vachon explained. “With extensive technical discussions with our membership, our CTO, and our director of certification, they identified the critical performance and functionality parameters.”</p> <p>The additional validation focuses on three key performance parameters: frame delay, inter-frame delay variation, and frame loss ratio aligned with AI workload requirements. Testing uses <a href="https://www.mplify.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MEF-91.pdf">MEF 91</a> test requirements with AI-specific traffic profiles and performance objectives that go beyond standard business service thresholds.</p> <p>The program targets three primary use cases: connecting subscriber premises running AI applications to AI edge sites, interconnecting AI edge sites to AI data centers, and AI data center to data center interconnections.</p> <p>The certification validates transport performance across geographically distributed, multi-provider environments. With hundreds of carriers maintaining standards-based network-to-network interfaces, the interoperability element becomes relevant for AI workloads spanning multiple carrier domains.</p> <p>The certification focuses on inference workloads rather than training. </p> <p>“Right now, the first generation is really on the inference workloads and not on the training side,” Vachon said. A future certification tier may address training requirements.</p> <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="market-outlook">Market outlook </h2> <p>The certification program could help service providers make the most of their existing Carrier Ethernet infrastructure for AI applications. The $57 billion annual Carrier Ethernet market has built an extensive global footprint over two decades.</p> <p>Mid-tier operators may use certification for differentiation. “You have those that will use this type of certification to show differentiation. ‘Hey, I might be small or midsize, but I can meet all of these,'” Vachon said.</p> <p>Larger carriers may evaluate certification more selectively. “You have others to say, ‘I know I can meet all of these standards, and I may not need to get certified against them,'” Vachon noted.</p> <p>The program connects to Mplify’s broader NaaS for AI strategy. The alliance’s LSO API standards support automated provisioning and management of network services, potentially enabling dynamic bandwidth allocation for distributed AI workloads. Mplify’s technical leadership is in early discussions with organizations focused on data center interconnect and GPU networking.</p> <p>“Leadership is great if you put out blueprints and white papers and things like that, but if you have real, live work that directly supports that, then you’re doing something,” Vachon said.</p> </div></div></div></div>

Twenty-five years ago, Ethernet was still a technology used mostly inside of enterprises as well as data centers, but it wasn’t quite where it needed to be for carrier and metro deployments. Among the many reasons why and how Ethernet evolved to become carrier grade for metro deployments was the multi-vendor standards, specifications and implementation efforts from the Metro Ethernet Forum, which was founded in 2001. In recent years, the organization has referred to itself just as MEF and has not spelled out the whole name as it has expanded beyond just metro Ethernet concerns. The group now has multiple efforts underway for carrier Ethernet, SASE, lifecycle services orchestration (LSO) and NaaS, as well as an emerging set of initiatives for AI. In an effort to better represent what it does now, MEF is rebranding itself as the Mplify Alliance. “We were formed in 2001, and the initial mission was to take Ethernet from the LAN across the metro, instead of converting it to TDM and frame relay,” Kevin Vachon, chief operating officer at Mplify, told _Network World_. Vachon noted that MEF now has a large scope of work and a robust roadmap going forward, which influenced the decision to change the organization’s name. The basic idea behind the new name is that the group will amplify the efforts of its community and the interoperability standards it helps to develop. The name Mplify is intended to respect the organization’s history by keeping the ‘M’ as well as noting in the logo that organization was formerly known as MEF. srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mplify-logo.png?quality=50&strip=all 512w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mplify-logo.png?resize=300%2C254&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mplify-logo.png?resize=199%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 199w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mplify-logo.png?resize=99%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 99w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mplify-logo.png?resize=426%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 426w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Mplify-logo.png?resize=296%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 296w" width="512" height="433" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px"> Mplify ## From metro Ethernet to cross-provider automation This rebranding reflects a technical journey that spans over two decades, beginning with a focused mission that rapidly expanded as networking requirements evolved. While MEF is only now rebranding, Vachon said that the scope of the organization had already changed by 2005. Instead of just looking at metro Ethernet, the organization at the time had expanded into carrier Ethernet requirements. The organization has also had a growing focus on solving the challenge of cross-provider automation, which is where the LSO framework fits in. LSO provides the foundation for an automation framework that allows providers to more efficiently deliver complex services across partner networks, essentially creating a standardized language for service integration. ## NaaS leadership and industry blueprint Building on the LSO automation framework, the organization has been working on efforts to help providers with network-as-a-service (NaaS) related guidance and specifications. The organization’s evolution toward NaaS reflects member-driven demands for modern service delivery models. Vachon noted that MEF member organizations were asking for help with NaaS, looking for direction on establishing common definitions and some standard work. The organization responded by developing comprehensive industry guidance. “In 2023 we launched the first blueprint, which is like an industry North Star document. It includes what we think about NaaS and the work we’re doing around it,” Vachon said. The NaaS blueprint encompasses the complete service delivery ecosystem, with APIs including last mile, cloud, data center and security services. (Read more about its vision for NaaS, including easy provisioning and integrated security across a federated network of providers) ## Next up for Mplify? More AI Building on top of the organization’s existing standards, Mplify is also working on AI service standardization. The organization has already begun demonstrating practical AI service delivery frameworks, with a notable example being the “GPU-as-a-Service” prototype showcased at Mobile World Congress 2025. Mplify’s work focuses on creating standardized APIs that enable enterprises to specify and purchase complex AI infrastructure services. The current AI work centers on helping service providers create scalable, interoperable AI offerings. This includes developing APIs that allow enterprises to specify detailed GPU requirements and automate service procurement across multiple providers. These APIs allow providers to present AI offerings based on industry standards, eliminating the need to reinvent it from scratch for each transaction. Beyond direct AI service delivery, the organization is also working on enabling AI-related infrastructure connectivity. This includes automating data center interconnects to facilitate efficient AI workload movement and creating standardized methods for specifying AI infrastructure requirements. The work is still evolving, with the organization planning to publish both immediate, practical implementations and longer-term standards through its semi-annual release process. “We’re seeing operators trying to figure out how to leverage and monetize AI,” Vachon said.

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YouTube video by Olivia Marsh Official

YouTube video by Olivia Marsh Official

SecureIQLab joins forces with Mplify