Network security provider Wedge Networks announced that it has joined the MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum). Wedge has expressed a commitment to promoting Security as a Service as a key contribution to the MEF’s recently announced the world’s Third Network vision of agile, assured and orchestrated networking delivered worldwide as a service.
According to Dr. Hongwen Zhang, President & CEO – Wedge Networks, security is a key indicator of a high quality network service.
“The mobile worker’s first priority is to be connected, and the Internet is available almost anywhere. But security is the next vital concern: as a service it should be available anywhere, personalised to the user’s needs,” said Dr.Zhang
“Wedge is specialized in weaving advanced security in large service provider networks as cloud based services. Its technology is high performance, software defined, seamlessly embedded in these networks to provide thorough security for all endpoints. It aligns well with the new MEF vision,” added Dr.Zhang.
The world’s Third Network proposes worldwide Network as a Service (NaaS), to remove today’s split between: a) a business service that take months to establish but promises assured performance and security, and b) ubiquitous, on demand Internet/IP connectivity that leaves users to deal with security and performance issues.
The Third Network is an evolution of network connectivity to better align with the dynamic and virtualised nature of cloud-based services. When providing connectivity as a service for different types of customers, data and network security measures taken for granted in a private, static network become a critical concern.
Wedge sees security as a service as a vital subset of the MEF vision of agile, assured and orchestrated services.
Further, “Users expect consistent security protection, regardless of where or how they are attached to the network. Monitoring, reporting and security analytics should also be consistently available. For M2M (machine-to-machine) coverage, this is all the more important because the IoT (Internet of Things) is typically lacking in built-in defenses,” explained Dr. Zhang.
According to Nan Chen, President – MEF, there has been a very positive response from the industry to our Third Network announcement and Wedge was very quick to take up this challenge from a security perspective as their technology will deliver the advanced virtualized network security capabilities necessary to satisfy the automation, scalability and robustness of the Third Network.
“Wedge are already highly respected for their pioneering work with the CloudEthernet Forum (CEF) .We are delighted to expand their expertise further by welcoming them on board the MEF to play an instrumental role in the development of our vision,” said Chen.