Verizon's Ihab Tarazi becomes the Metro Ethernet Forum's new Chairman

Ihab Tarazi, Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) Vice President of Global Network Planning, is adding another title to his industry technologist role--he was named Monday as the new chairman of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF).

Ihab Tarazi, MEF

Tarazi

At Verizon, Tarazi has been leading a number of key network and technology initiatives for the telco including the incorporation of control plane and 100G optical technologies into its long haul and its metro networks in the next year.

He has also been a force in driving new standards bodies including the MEF, which has developed its Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0) standard.

"Ihab is one of the most influential and respected leader in the global telecommunications industry and brings us tremendous first-hand knowledge of planning and engineering one of the largest and most advanced Ethernet networks in the world," said Nan Chen, President of the MEF, in a release announcing Tarazi's appointment. "We have already benefited greatly from his presence and leadership on our board, which undoubtedly will accelerate adoption of CE 2.0 and advance Carrier Ethernet deployment."

Joining Tarazi will be Nan Chen, who will continue to serve as the organization's president. Other key appointments include: Robert Kuse, Director of Commercial Engineering, Cox Communications as Treasurer; Arie Goldberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Omnitron Systems as Secretary, and Kevin Vachon as Chief Operating Officer.

Other board directors include a mixture of representatives from both the vendor and service provider community: Lionel Florit, Senior Manager, Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO); Andrew McFadzen, Head of Global Marketing, Orange Business Services; Scott Mansfield, Principal Engineer, Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC); Eric Puetz, Director of Strategic Standards, AT&T (NYSE: T); Raghu Ranganathan, Senior Advisor (Office of CTO) Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN); Ralph Santitoro, Director of Carrier Ethernet Market Development, Fujitsu Network Communications (OTC: FJTSY.PK); Karen Schmidt, Executive Director, Product Management and Strategy, Comcast Business Services (Nasdaq: CMCSA).

For more:
- see the release

On the Hot Seat: Verizon's Ihab Tarazi on driving 100G, control plane technology into the metro network

In Detail: Following the Packet Optical Transport Systems (P-OTS) evolution

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