Industry association MEF has released a first MEF SDN/NFV professional certification, which it bills as the first industry-wide certification that validates professionals’ knowledge, skills, and abilities in the domains of software-defined networking and network functions virtualization.

MEF also announced that five training companies that are members of the prestigious MEF Accredited Training Provider (MEF-ATP) program are qualified to deliver approved training for this certification. Incentives for IT/telecom professionals to earn this credential were also announced today by MEF.

“We are delighted that MEF has created yet another skills certification in software-centric networking technologies, adding to its world-renowned Carrier Ethernet Certified Professional (MEF-CECP) credential,” said MEF president Nan Chen.

“Given the rising deployment of SDN and NFV solutions globally, and the tremendous potential for telecom and enterprise IT organizations to leverage SDN and NFV, we are confident that this certification will open new doors, new jobs, and new horizons for the networking workforce,” Chen added. “

Organizations that encourage their IT professionals to train for and earn this credential will signal their commitment to excellence in their workforce. Already we have received inquiries from companies wanting to get their engineers, operators and technical architects certified.”