ETSI Multi-Access Edge Computing releases new white paper and starts work on interoperability

Sophia Antipolis, 26 September 2017

Today the ETSI Industry Specification Group on Multi-Access Edge Computing (ISG MEC) announces two important steps in helping the industry to properly leverage ETSI MEC standards and generate value from MEC deployments.

A new white paper on Developing Software for Multi-Access Edge Computing has been released and the group is starting new work on testing and compliance with MEC specifications.

The white paper on software development for the network edge is an important tool in helping application developers understand the unique properties of a MEC environment and how to properly architect their applications to fully benefit from MEC. The document provides guidance for software developers on how to approach architecting and developing applications with components that will run in edge clouds, such as those compliant with ETSI MEC standards. It summarizes the key properties of edge clouds, as distinct from a traditional cloud point-of-presence, as well as the reasons why an application developer should choose to design specifically for these. It also provides high-level guidance on how to approach such design, including interaction with modern software development paradigms, such as microservices-based architectures and DevOps.

In addition, ETSI MEC ISG is pleased to announce new work on testing and compliance. A forthcoming document will list the functionalities and capabilities required by a MEC compliant implementation. In addition, it will specify a testing framework defining a methodology for the development of interoperability and/or conformance test strategies, test systems and the resulting test specifications for MEC standards. We invite all interested members of the community to join the ETSI MEC ISG and contribute to this work.

Alex Reznik, Chair of ETSI ISG MEC said: “With these two steps, ETSI ISG MEC has taken an aggressive approach towards closing several gaps that are impeding the growth of the MEC marketplace. Our white paper should make it easier for software developers to understand how to approach developing for MEC and thus help grow the space of MEC-ready applications. At the same time, we are now aggressively moving to clarify for the market what it means to comply with ETSI MEC specifications, and thus move closer to true interoperability around ETSI MEC standards.”