Addressing Skills Gaps with MEF Professional Certification MEFSDNNFV

Addressing Skills Gaps with MEF Professional Certification - MEF-SDN/NFV, MEF-CECP, MEF-NF Greg Spear, Accedian, MEF Certification Co-Chair Rami Yaron, Marketing & Education Committee Co-Chair, MEF; Strategy Adviser, Infovista MEF Q 3/19 Members Meeting, July 2019

Skills Gap – Top Business Challenge

Engineering expertise has leaped to become the top business challenge for migrating to dynamic services. What are your company's most significant business challenges The no. 1 ranked challenge in 2018 was not even in the top 5 as of our 2016 survey! for migration to new dynamic services? Top 5 Business Challenges (% of Respondents) 90% 84% 81% 78% 1. Engineering expertise and technical resources 2. Orchestration across multiple provider networks 3. Orchestration across multiple technology domains within our company 4. Current OSS/BSS systems are inadequate to support new services 5. Integrating new services with legacy infrastructures Source: Migration to MEF 3. 0 Services Powered by LSO, MEF & Vertical Systems Group Survey Report, Q 4/2018. Percentages related to “major or significant challenge. ”

Lack of training / in-house talent is the biggest obstacle for deploying NFV What challenges, barriers, or risks to you believe inhibit users from deploying NFV? Lack of Training/In-house Talent 64% Too Much Confusion 47% 38% Platform Immaturity Interoperability Issues 33% Performance Issues 33% Security Concerns 15% Lacks Market Support 9% Alternatives Exist 6% Other 5% 0% Source: NFV Report Series Part 1, 2018 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

SDN/NFV migration is hindered by industry-wide skills gap There needs to be a fundamental change in company culture to benefit from network virtualization Operators need to invest more in staff to manage NFV/SDN infrastructure Agree 80% Neutral 17% Agree 69% Neutral Disagree 1% Disagree Don't know 2% Don't know 17% 12% 2% Source: The Future of Networks: Dealing with Transformation in a Virtualized World, Cartesian & Broadband Forum, 2018

IT managers see value in professional certifications IT managers who believe their staff is more effective after completing certification 96% 94% 95% 92% 90% 88% 86% 85% 84% 82% 80% 2016 2017 Source: 2018 IT Skills and Salary Report, Global Knowledge 2018 • >50% of IT managers estimate the annual economic benefit of a certified employee exceeds $10, 000. • Key benefits include: • Close organizational skills gaps • Boost productivity • Complete projects more quickly

Program Overview

The MEF 3. 0 professional certification framework. Expert Level Professional Level Essential Level

MEF professional certifications were developed with broad industry collaboration.

Status: Professional Certifications Available • MEF-CECP • MEF-NF • MEF-SDN/NFV (includes SD-WAN content) Planning • MEF SD-WAN MEF - beta exam availability October Focus • Marketing MEF certifications

MEF Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional (MEF-CECP) exam Exam Details: 80 questions in 105 minutes Language: English Learning Topics • Services and Attributes Covered: • Class of Service and Traffic Management • Service OAM • Infrastructure, Operations, and Applications • Ethernet, MEF Basics, and MEF Certification Cost: US$420

Each evolution of the CECP exam adds the latest CE innovations to the exam’s domain. MEF 3. 0 CE (2018 -Present) + + Access E-LAN/E-Line (51) Transit E-LAN/E-Line services (51) Co. S Labels & guidelines (23. 2) Performance Monitoring updates (35. 1): • New PM Solution, Threshold Crossing Alerts, Co. S considerations, etc. CE 2. 0 (2013 -2018) + Service Definition & Attributes updates (6. 2, 10. 3): CE 1. 0 (2012 -2013) Ethernet Services & Attributes (6. 1, 10. 2) ENNI & Operator Service Attributes (26. 1) Ethernet Services Transport (WP) Access Technologies (WP) ` Circuit Emulation (3, 8) Service OAM (17, 30, 35) Certification + + + • SOAM Service Frames, One-way Group Availability, Synchronous Mode, Multiple Links, Token sharing, etc. Multi-CEN L 2 CP (45) Operator Services (33) Class of Service (23. 1) Protection (20) Mobile Backhaul Timing (22. 1) Resiliency Performance Attribute (10. 2. 1) + Service Activation Testing (48) + Service Lifecycle Process Model (50)

MEF SDN/NFV Certified Professional (MEF-SDN/NFV) exam Exam Details: 80 questions in 120 minutes Language: English Learning Topics Covered: • • • Operator-level understanding of SDN and NFV, sufficient to demonstrate mastery of the design, installation/deployment and management of complex SDN and NFV networks. The breadth of SDN and NFV skills necessary to address all the facets of advanced networking, vendor-neutral information that an IT technical professional needs to know (networking, virtualization in many forms), as well as the knowledge to plan, install, and operate advanced SDN and NFV networks) across a wide variety of network architectures. Domains include Planning, Building, and Operating SDN and NFV networks, with knowledge of architecture, testing, solution design, security, as well as metrics and management of a deployed SDN/NFV solution. Cost: US$420

WHO Product management Sales engineering Product development Network engineering Network architecture Product support Network operations WHAT 1. Vendor neutral certification. 2. The most up-to-date industry certification on SDN & NFV domains. 3. The only certification covering NFV. WHY Closing the skills-gap! • Accelerate time to market for SDN/NFV enabled products. • Grow revenue, optimize operations. • Attract & retain talent WHY ME? Career growth Industry recognition Professional networking Increased performance Job opportunity

Comparing industry SDN & NFV certifications FUNDAMENTAL CERTIFICATION OCSA ADVANCED CERTIFICATION OCSE MEF SDN/NFV Networking SDN NFV Controllers Orchestration/LSO Security Ecosystem Release Date Version Latest Update Exam Level OCSE AUG 2015 JUN 2018 1. 0 A OCT 2015 JUN 2018 Easy Challenging

The MEF Network Foundations (MEF-NF) exam. Exam Details: 60 questions Language: English Exam Domains: SDN | NFV | Carrier Ethernet Connectivity Services LSO/Orchestration ‘The Software-Driven Network Vision’ use cases Prerequisites: Foundational knowledge in computer networking practices Cost: US$350

5 Pillars of the MEF-Network Foundations Blueprint. Pillar 1 Pillar 2 Software Defined Networking Network Functions Virtualization Pillar 3 LSO/Orchestration Pillar 4 Carrier-Based Connectivity Services Pillar 5 Software-Driven Network Vision

SD-WAN Professional Certification • Appeals to a broad range of industry professionals • Exam largely based on MEF 70 • Need 200 SME’s to take the beta! • Ask to MEF members involved in SD- WAN: Engage 2 -10 people in your company to register for the beta! MEF is developing the beta exam, availability October 1 st certified professionals to be announced at MEF 19

Surveys and Commentaries….

Why did you decide to take the MEF SDN/NFV certification exam? Employer regards SDN/NFV training & certification key to enabling network/service transformation 81% I need to demonstrate SDN/NFV expertise to my employer (or future employer) 19% 75% I expect it will increase my ability to compete for a job or receive higher financial compensation 25% 69% 0% 10% 20% 30% 25% 40% 50% Primary Factor Source: MEF SDN/NFV Professional Certification Survey, January 2019 60% 70% Secondary Factor 80% 90% 100%

What do you regard as the key benefits of SDN/NFV certification? Help close an organizational skills gap 89% Improve ability to meet customer needs / increase credibility with customer 83% Improve personal ability to keep pace with technology change 83% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 11% 6% 50% Primary Benefit Source: MEF SDN/NFV Professional Certification Survey, January 2019 60% 70% Secondary Benefit 80% 90% 100%

Why did you get SDN/NFV certification from MEF vs. SDN- or NFV-related certification from a vendor or other cert. body? MEF is vendor-neutral 88% MEF SDN/NFV certification is most relevant to service/network transformation 12% 75% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 6% 50% Primary Factor Source: MEF SDN/NFV Professional Certification Survey, January 2019 60% 70% Secondary Factor 80% 90% 100%

Service Providers Comment on the Skills Challenge “There are some significant challenges as well. Engineering expertise. We're all feeling the pain right now. It's hard to get good engineering expertise especially in these next-gen services. MEF 3. 0 certification is helpful. We're starting to send a lot of our people through 3. 0 certification. ” - Satya Parimi, Group VP, Data Products Click for video “[Softwarization] is not a trivial exercise because, in my experience so far, it’s not so much about a network transformation being a technology challenge, but it’s a management challenge. The network transformation follows business transformation, follows organizational transformation…Injecting software type thinking and working into a static network type legacy environment is particularly challenging…Technology is the least of our worries. It’s about how do we manage the transition from an organization standpoint. - Bart Oskam, CTO, Eurofiber

Service Providers Comment on the Skills Challenge Click for video “[Softwarization] really comes back to the organization challenges…change the mindset. Because as you work more in a cloud-native mode, the way you define products becomes a little bit different, what the products actually are a little bit different…you have to always be looking for disruption points…that leads to a lot of confusion potentially inside of an organization…So what we did internally is adopt an agile mindset…The cloud mindset is trickling down into all the processes and transforming us culturally and organizationally…. You really need to focus on the existing resources and support them, mentor them, get them training…. ” - David Hughes, VP of Engineering, PCCW Global

Resources for getting certified

Visit MEF Pro. Cert Limited time promotion Reduced price for re-certification of MEF-CECP mefprocert. com

Many study options to prepare for MEF professional certification Classroom Training – Onsite & remote options Self-study E-Learning

MEF Accredited Training Providers ~90% of MEF certified professionals used a MEF-ATP They provide certified curriculum & instructors And consistent quality

Many resources available to support your MEF-CECP certification EDUCATION &TRAINING MEF accredited training providers offer many flexible training options BLUEPRINT &TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS MEF-CECP Exam Blueprint ON-LINE PUBLICATIONS MEF Reference Wiki MEF Technical Specifications MEF White Papers

Join the team of over 6200 certified professionals! Organizations Close the skills gap! Individuals • Improved job opportunities & earning potential • Deeper understanding of technology • Credibility and confidence to solve challenges in todays digital economy • Accelerate time to market for SDN/NFV enabled services. • Grow revenue, optimize operations. • Attract & retain talent

Addressing Skills Gaps with MEF Professional Certification - MEF-SDN/NFV, MEF-CECP, MEF-NF Greg Spear, Accedian, MEF Certification Co-Chair Rami Yaron, Marketing & Education Committee Co-Chair, MEF; Strategy Adviser, Infovista MEF Q 3/19 Members Meeting, July 2019