CenturyLink is first-ever recipient of the Best SD-WAN Managed Service award

MONROE, La., Nov. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink (NYSE : CTL ) today announced it won seven awards from MEF that highlight the depth and breadth of CenturyLink's network and managed services, including Software-Defined Wide-Area Networking (SD-WAN). Award winners were recognized at the MEF17 networking event held this week in Orlando, Fla.

An industry association of more than 210 member companies, MEF manages the world's largest awards program that is focused on emerging dynamic network services powered by Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO), Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Carrier Ethernet. CenturyLink was recognized for its service, application and technology innovation and excellence with the following awards:

• Best SD-WAN Managed Service (Worldwide)
• Retail Service Provider of the Year (Global)
• LSO Leadership (Global)
• Retail Service Provider of the Year (North America)
• Wholesale Service Provider of the Year (North America)
• Enterprise Application of the Year for Government Proof of Concept Demonstration
• Proof of Concept Showcase Excellence Award (Bronze)

"These awards validate our market leadership and innovation in network services, as well as our success as a trusted partner providing secure and reliable connectivity that helps enable our customers to achieve their digital transformation initiatives," said Andrew Dugan, senior vice president of technology planning, network architecture and security, CenturyLink.   

"Congratulations to CenturyLink for its strong showing in the MEF17 Awards. The company exhibited innovation in services development and delivery, and communicated that value to MEF's panel of judges effectively," said Brian Washburn, practice leader, network transformation and cloud, Ovum.

"CenturyLink was one of the first service providers to bring to market a managed SD-WAN service and receiving MEF's first-ever SD-WAN award confirms how well our solution is meeting the needs of the industry and our customers," said Eric Barrett, director, product management, CenturyLink. "We are pleased to be recognized for our SD-WAN service architecture, feature/functionality, go-to-market strategy, pricing, SLAs, support and customer experience."

The panel of judges for the MEF Awards consisted of 14 global and regional senior analysts from ACG Research, ATLANTIC-ACM, Battle Green Research, Frost & Sullivan, GlobalData, IHS Markit, Metanoia, Ovum and Vertical Systems Group, in addition to other independent judges.

"MEF congratulates CenturyLink for being recognized as an industry-leading service provider on a global scale with numerous MEF Awards," said Nan Chen, president, MEF. "We continue to see amazing service and technology innovations year-over-year from companies participating in MEF's annual awards program, and are thrilled to witness the advances being made to accelerate development and delivery of agile, assured, and orchestrated services."

CenturyLink acquired Level 3 Communications on Nov. 1, 2017. Visit http://www.level3isnowcenturylink.com to learn more about the new CenturyLink.

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (NYSE : CTL ) is the second largest U.S. communications provider to global enterprise customers. With customers in more than 60 countries and an intense focus on the customer experience, CenturyLink strives to be the world's best networking company by solving customers' increased demand for reliable and secure connections. The company also serves as its customers' trusted partner, helping them manage increased network and IT complexity and providing managed network and cyber security solutions that help protect their business.

SOURCE CenturyLink, Inc.

Related Links

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