Understanding Network as a Service: How NaaS Can Benefit Your Business

Many IT organizations are struggling to keep up with the increasing pace of business while managing network complexity, responding to disruptions, protecting users and data, and responding to anomalies. To address these issues, many people are looking to new networking paradigms such as NaaS (Network-as-a-Service ). NaaS provides continuous on-demand or subscription-based access to the most recent networking technology.

It delegated responsibility for ongoing network management to a third party. As a result, NaaS allows IT teams to focus on tasks that add value and lead to increased adaptability, resilience, and creativity. As with any transformational approach, there are doubts and concerns about NaaS. It is not, however, an all-or-nothing situation. IT teams can work with trusted partners to test NaaS on a small scale, weigh the benefits and risks, and determine whether it fits into their overall business and technology strategy.

As the public cloud becomes the primary host for a growing number of mission-critical applications, security, speed, and agility demands in the network are rapidly increasing. NaaS addresses these issues by offering simple, secure, and adaptable business-critical connections that are available when and for as long as you require them.

In this article, you will find answers to the following questions to better understand the concept of "network as a service" (NaaS):

• What is network-as-a-service (NaaS)?
• How did NaaS develop?
• How does "Network as a Service" (NaaS) Work?
• What are the use cases of NaaS?
• What are the benefits of NaaS?
• What are the challenges of NaaS?
• Why should you consider NaaS?
• Top NaaS providers 2023
• What is the difference between NaaS and SASE?
• What's the difference between NaaS, IaaS, and SaaS?
• What's the difference between NaaS and CaaS?
• What is the future of NaaS?

What is Network as a Service (NaaS)?

Hardware, software, services, management, licensing, and network infrastructure components that are used in a subscription-based or flexible consumption model are collectively referred to as "network as a service" (NaaS). Network as a Service (NaaS) is a flexible method of consuming enterprise network infrastructure that gives businesses the ability to keep up with innovation, adapts to quickly changing business needs, and enhances user experiences and network performance through a subscription model that is similar to the cloud.

Network infrastructure provisioning, deployment, network management, upkeep, and lifecycle management can all be outsourced by businesses using NaaS.

NaaS reduces the time that network staff must spend maintaining the network as well as the degree of expertise and training that staff members must possess. With NaaS, the network effectively becomes a service that you pay for, much like electricity, water, or heat.

How did NaaS Develop?

When most businesses were configuring their network infrastructure, the Internet was not regarded as a safe place to conduct business. As a result, they created their own internal, private versions of the Internet and used rented links to connect facilities. They had to set up their own wide area networks (WANs), and each office location required its own hardware for firewalls, DDoS protection, load balancing, and other functions. Enterprises needed to set up dedicated connections between each location, which could be accomplished with a method such as MPLS.

Employee traffic had to go through the corporate networking infrastructure via a VPN before being routed to the Internet when connecting to the Internet rather than the internal network. For instance, if a company had its headquarters in Austin, Texas, and a worker in a branch office in New Orleans, Louisiana, needed to load a website, the HTTP request would pass through the corporate VPN, across an MPLS link to the Austin headquarters (about 800 kilometers away), and then out to the wider Internet.

As some business activities began to move to the cloud, this model quickly became inefficient. Consider the New Orleans employee who frequently used a SaaS application, which required them to constantly load content over the Internet. Their and other employees' requests would become bottlenecked in the Austin data center, slowing network service.

Furthermore, as cloud computing becomes more efficient, more capabilities become available through the cloud. DDoS mitigation, firewalls, load balancing, and other critical networking functions can now all be performed in the cloud, removing the need for internal IT teams to build and maintain these services.

For these reasons, NaaS is a more efficient option than relying on internally maintained WANs, which require constant maintenance and frequently create network traffic bottlenecks. Instead of internal IT teams attempting to keep up with the demand for network services, NaaS allows company employees to connect directly to their cloud services through a virtual network managed and secured by an external vendor.

If our hypothetical company adopts a NaaS model, the employees in New Orleans will no longer have to wait for their web traffic to pass through all of the internal corporate infrastructure. Instead, they simply connect to the Internet and sign in using a browser to gain access to all of the cloud services they require. Meanwhile, the NaaS provider secures their browsing activity, safeguards their data, and routes their web traffic as efficiently as possible.

In many ways, NaaS is the logical next step in the migration of business processes to the cloud. Instead of just software, infrastructure, or platforms, the entire network can now be provided as a service.

How Does Network as a Service (NaaS) Work?

It can be difficult to configure and run routers and protocols, WAN optimizers, and other components such as firewalls and software-defined WAN endpoints. These responsibilities are handled by a third-party provider and then made available to enterprise customers via NaaS.

Traditionally, organizations consumed enterprise network infrastructure through a one-time capital outlay of hardware, software, licenses, and services that may or may not be packaged together. NaaS enables enterprises to consume and, in some cases, outsource the entire lifecycle of their enterprise network deployment, with all hardware, software, licenses, and services delivered in a flexible consumption or subscription-based offering that can be accounted for as an operational expense in many cases.

In addition, NaaS enables organizations to outsource network planning, deployment, and day-to-day operational management, such as software upgrades, monitoring, and troubleshooting, as well as decommissioning and end-of-life support. Organizations benefit from this process by gaining access to cutting-edge technology while reducing the burden on their IT staff.

In the NaaS business model, instead of a jumble of network management tools and hardware stacks, IT employees control the organization's network via a portal. A new location can be connected to the WAN by using a leased line to a nearby data center or the internet to connect to the NaaS provider's nearest point of presence (POP).

What are the Use Cases of NaaS?

NaaS technology helps with the following four aspects of day-to-day business operations:

• Your company can use bandwidth on demand: Bandwidth on demand (BoD) enables your business to scale network speeds in response to seasonal trends, unexpected traffic, and other real-time events that affect application performance. Best of all, most BoD services include some level of automation. This feature allows administrators to set thresholds for web servers and cloud-based applications. When the bit rate reaches those limits, the network automatically increases data transmission rates to accommodate the increased traffic. How it helps the business: Assume your sales team receives an increase in calls as a result of the launch of a new product campaign. Instead of overloading and crashing, the BoD service takes over and lets the web server handle the requests, allowing your company to collect leads, sell products, and achieve other conversion goals.

• Your company receives automatic failover: Consider a NaaS solution to be a package. Cloud partners typically combine disaster response and automatic failover services into a single package. The way this feature operates is that it automatically activates a circuit to another Point of Presence (PoP) if the LAN at one of your locations fails. When the primary link is restored, a dynamic routing protocol directs customer traffic over the backup link, and it switches back to the primary link. How it helps the business: The cloud houses your company's productivity suite, accounting system, and other applications. End users will experience little to no disruption if a network connection fails at a local branch. Furthermore, your in-house IT staff does not have to do anything, saving the company time and money.

• You can direct traffic to a specific application: While most NaaS services provide bandwidth on demand, your company may have to purchase limited data speeds to stay within the company's budget. Under these constraints, you must identify the most valuable applications across your organization and ensure they have enough bandwidth to function properly. You can do so with the help of NaaS. Using a console or other graphical user interface, your administrators can quickly configure the network to give mission-critical systems' data frames priority over those from unimportant applications. The benefit to the company is that applications that process terabytes of enterprise data, such as supply chain management solutions, are not affected by WAN outages.

• You are not required to set up, repair, or configure equipment: Some NaaS solutions include network function virtualization (NFV), which is part of the software-defined networking (SDN) movement. This feature works as follows: An NFV application runs on a generic cloud switch and storage equipment. Virtual machines are used to logically run firewalls, intrusion detection systems, domain name services, and other common networking technologies. Some solutions even allow administrators to remotely configure content filters and firewalls for specific locations. The advantage to the company is that you won't need to send a network administrator to a data center to set up a DNS server, a firewall appliance, and other pieces of hardware. Normally, such commitments require a full day to implement, but administrators can now focus on innovative, business-changing, and frequently customer-facing IT solutions.

What are the Benefits of NaaS?

Network as a Service offers numerous benefits, ranging from budget management to security, sustainability, and agility. The advantages of Network as a Service are as follows:

• Improved Security: Faster deployment of new features and functions improves security for NaaS by keeping the network in good repair and lowering operational risk. Extended services ensure optimal performance while protecting organizations from security vulnerabilities caused by outdated equipment or configurations.

• Enhanced Service Quality: NaaS provides a number of benefits, including improved sound quality, more efficient call routing, and better network administration. Customers can focus on the quality of their work instead of being distracted by IT issues. The ideal NaaS partner works with you to optimize your network streams and ensure that your data reaches the cloud on time.

• Proactive Administration: With proactive advisory and management capabilities, NaaS deployments reduce risks. Proactive management capabilities frequently include AIOps (AI for IT Operations) driven insights or highly skilled networking experts to ensure that the organization is maximizing its deployment with the most up-to-date product features, functions, or configurations. This proactive management approach is intended to optimize performance and operations, as well as to identify and resolve any issues before they cause an outage.

• Increased Productivity and Enhanced Performance: When your network is performing well, with fewer problems and downtime, IT personnel (and other employees) can complete their daily tasks more efficiently and effectively. Overall productivity rises as a result. The right NaaS partner provides you with monthly reports in advance, allowing you to identify problems and important trends.

• Scalable Centralized Management: To enable organizations to scale networks easily, NaaS cloud management capabilities provide cohesive management of network domains (data centers, enterprise campuses, and WANs). To oversee all network operations, additional managed services are implemented.

• High Availability in Expertise: Working with a NaaS provider gives you access to an expert team of experienced, diverse, and qualified employees. Your chosen partner will be by your side throughout the project, from planning to execution and long-term support. When the project is completed, your partner will assist you with training and knowledge transfer so that you can operate the infrastructure on your own.

• Flexibility in Financing: NaaS enables businesses to overcome traditional financial barriers by providing an alternative to upfront capital investments. One of the primary benefits of NaaS is the ability to pay as you go. Finance flexibility enables organizations to address today's dynamic business environment, where change can occur quickly.

• Cost-cutting Measures: NaaS reduces many IT expenditures, including infrastructure, hardware, software, operations, and maintenance. Savings are realized not only through outsourcing but also through the knowledge and skills that NaaS providers provide. The right NaaS partner helps you navigate the transition as smoothly as possible, reducing costs and errors as you implement new procedures and equipment. Furthermore, most NaaS providers charge a subscription-based fee on a monthly basis, which allows you to plan your monthly IT budget.

• Sustainability: Effective NaaS programs help to alleviate the security and cost concerns associated with outdated hardware resources. Equipment repurposing and proper disposal are important but costly. Sustainable reuse and retirement are important features of a NaaS offering that help organizations meet their sustainability goals more easily.

Figure 1. Benefits of NaaS

What are the Challenges of NaaS?

Visibility and control over security and compliance issues are difficult to achieve when deploying NaaS. A certain level of security control must, by necessity, reside with the service provider. This makes comprehensive network monitoring and auditing somewhat difficult. From this vantage point, the challenges of NaaS are outlined below:

• Compatibility: Current NaaS architectures lack vendor flexibility, portability, and long-term commitments. Legacy systems may have issues, such as software or hardware that is incompatible with the solution. The majority of NaaS compatibility issues are caused by outdated hardware or on-premises applications that are no longer in use. The infrastructure of the NaaS vendor may not be compatible with legacy systems that are still in place, older hardware, on-premises-based applications, and so on.

• Legacy Data Centers: Because many organizations still use on-premises data centers rather than the cloud for some critical operations or applications, transitioning to the NaaS model takes some time and effort, even though the services can help their customers. Because NaaS connections are typically established using "best effort" public broadband, the service is only available where broadband internet connections are available, limiting its performance and capabilities to the speed of the last-mile connectivity.

• Vendor lock-in: Using a cloud service always carries the risk of an enterprise becoming overly reliant on that particular service provider. Vendor lock-in has serious consequences if the service provider's infrastructure fails or their prices rise. From a different angle, some organizations may experience a loss of control. With outsourced network services, adopters may be concerned about service responsiveness and control over their network resources.

Why Should you Consider NaaS?

There are numerous reasons why you should consider NaaS, which we outline below:

• NaaS allows your company to speed innovation by:

  • NaaS accelerates network technology update lifecycles through equipment upcycling and/or recycling.
  • NaaS enables faster deployment of new features and functionality.
  • NaaS keeps up with today's changing ecosystem of hardware and software innovations.

• By providing the required flexibility to handle rapidly changing business circumstances, NaaS:

  • With a subscription-based architecture, NaaS reduces the need for huge capital investments required for large deployments.
  • With a program tailored to your specific requirements, NaaS reduces operational complexity.

• You utilize NaaS to use the knowledge of vendors such as Aruba to maximize network performance and give the best user experience by:

  • NaaS provides constant performance and security monitoring, easing the management burden for resource-constrained companies.
  • NaaS provides proactive administration, with access to highly competent networking experts who are devoted and named exclusively for your account.
  • NaaS has tested network designs and configurations that were created in collaboration with clients and industry experts.

Top NaaS Providers 2023

The top 7 network-as-a-service (NaaS) providers for 2023 are listed below, and the companies on this list have a strong track record in the industry:

1. The Perimeter 81
2. Cisco Plus NaaS
3. Aryaka SmartServices
4. Akamai Aura Managed CDN
5. Cloudflare Magic WAN
6. Megaport MCR
7. Amdocs NaaS

Best NaaS providers are outlined below:

1. The Perimeter 81: Through Perimeter 81's NaaS service, network management, and security are integrated with local and cloud-based resources like AWS, Salesforce, Azure, and Google Cloud. This cloud-native NaaS includes authentication, Wi-Fi security, zero trust, DNS filtering, and breach prevention. By moving network resources closer to the point of use, it lowers network latency. A single Zero Trust Network as a Service takes the place of conventional network security technology thanks to Perimeter 81. Additionally, Perimeter 81 reduces network latency. Key features of Perimeter 81 are listed below:

   • IT professionals can choose to split-tunnel all or just some of the network traffic that goes from client apps to the network-as-a-service.
   • Support for multiple locations: To ensure that the system can deliver the best service with the least amount of lag and the fastest rate possible, dedicated gateways can be distributed to different locations.
   • Create user, group, and group profiles so that team members can be added and groups can be made to control who has access to the network.
   • All content and network traffic are encrypted before being sent over the network.
   • Use a connector or an IPsec site-to-site tunnel to connect their on-premises and cloud systems.

2. Cisco Plus NaaS: Cisco Plus uses automation and analytics powered by AI to boost productivity and cut expenses. Numerous cross-architecture solutions are included in the Cisco Plus brand and are made available as services. These tools currently have uniform subscriptions and are a patchwork, although this is fast changing. For instance, Cisco Plus Hybrid Cloud offers networking, computing, and storage solutions for data centers under a consumption model. Key Features of Cisco Plus NaaS are as follows:

   • Cisco's SASE solution integrates networking and security in the cloud.
   • You can scale up or down based on changing demand.
   • Bare metal computing, edge computing, virtualization, and VDI are more NaaS variations in data center networking.

3. Aryaka SmartServices: Incorporating SD-WAN and SASE architectures, Aryaka SmartService offers specialized security and network solutions for local and international deployments. The mission and guiding principles of Aryaka are to prioritize the needs of its clients and to go above and beyond. Important features of Aryaka SmartServices are given below:

   • SD-WAN services can be delivered to any place in the world in 48 hours.
   • A service's global point of presence (PoP) footprint.
   • It provides a variety of cloud-edge services.
   • Aryaka's global NOCs are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to maintain business network uptime.
   • Depending on the SD-WAN and SASE designs, specialized L2 connections, as well as a managed networking and security solution, are available.

4. Akamai Aura Managed CDN: The company's primary CDN solution is available as a SaaS using Akamai's Aura Managed CDN. Users of these managed CDN services have the option to optimize their networks for content delivery and offer video streaming services. They lessen upfront expenses and deployment time. Akamai provides specialized CDN capacity for streaming video and data applications, as well as third-party CDN services for network providers, in order to allow video streaming solutions and improve data distribution while minimizing installation time and cost. Key Features of Akamai Aura Managed CDN are listed below:

   • Reduce trouble by using an Akamai turnkey CDN service, which is monitored and controlled around the clock.
   • Offers a variety of devices with premium subscription content via multi-format HTTP video transmission across the operator's network.
   • Network operators can track activity and performance using the Aura Operator Interface analytics and reporting platform.

5. Cloudflare Magic WAN: The network of Cloudflare, which offers a worldwide connection, cloud-based safety, efficiency, and monitoring through a single interface, may replace conventional WAN designs with Cloudflare Magic WAN. It securely connects all traffic sources, such as data centers, offices, gadgets, and cloud services, to Cloudflare's network. Users can set up both personal and business routing protocols to direct traffic where it needs to go. Key Features of Cloudflare Magic WAN are listed below:

   • The magic WAN configuration is kept on every server in every data center at Cloudflare's edge.
   • Collaborations with data center providers like Digital Realty, CoreSite, and EdgeConneX as well as network on-ramp vendors like VMware and Aruba to help businesses transition their networks to the cloud utilizing existing hardware.
   • Use any hardware you have to connect to Cloudflare.

6. Megaport MCR: Megaport MCR, a digital routing platform, provides Layer 3 on-demand personal connectivity. It is installed in critical routing sectors of data centers all around the world to ensure data delivery. Cloud-to-cloud communication or private peering between cloud providers is employed without the requirement for physical infrastructure. MCR instances are preconfigured in data centers in strategic global routing zones. The main purpose of Megaport MCR is to make connections easier in a cloud-based environment. Key Features of Megaport MCR are given below:

   • Cloud services providers
   • Infrastructures for several clouds as well as hybrid clouds
   • It is not essential to own or operate any equipment, nor is it necessary to obtain an IP address or an autonomous system number.
   • By providing direct connections between cloud providers, delays are avoided.

7. Amdocs NaaS: Amdocs' programmable NaaS streamlines and automates the ordering, installation, and maintenance of network solutions. Using its Network Function Virtualization (NFV) SD-WAN package, MSPs can offer specialized SD-WAN solutions, as well as Virtual Network Function (VNF) service chaining and other network services. Consumers will be able to autonomously create, customize, and monitor these services to better serve their end customers. Key Features of Amdocs NaaS are given below:

   • vendor unbiased
   • accessible carrier-grade
   • multi-vendor, multi-domain orchestration that has been pre-integrated and is ready to deploy.
   • The MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) is linked to the technical specifications for SD-WAN service attributes and service definitions.

What is the Difference Between NaaS and SASE?

A good NaaS solution provides high-performance network connectivity as well as enterprise-grade security throughout the entire corporate WAN. This encompasses on-premises as well as multi-cloud settings.

The appropriate solution for NaaS is Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). As a cloud-based service, SASE integrates a variety of network optimization capabilities with various security solutions, such as firewall as a service (FWaaS), zero-trust network access (ZTNA), secure web gateway (SWG), and others.

The Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) specification defines the architectural requirements for SD-WAN and cloud security in order to connect users to applications and data from the workplace, at home, and when traveling. Wherever they function, it is intended to protect users from vulnerabilities and to assist create the appropriate level of access to those data and apps.

While Network as a Service is a comprehensive service bundle for running networking without owning physical equipment, SASE is an architecture, and hybrid work necessitates a unified SASE approach to give a consistent and great user experience from wherever.

SASE integrates software-defined networking with network security capabilities, all delivered by a single service provider. SASE, like NaaS, hosts networking functions and integrates them with security capabilities in the cloud. In many aspects, NaaS and SASE are similar models for how today's organizations operate.

What's the Difference Between NaaS, IaaS, and SaaS?

"Software as a service" (SaaS) refers to any software application delivered via the cloud as a subscription-based service. SaaS encompasses a wide range of web-based applications that people use on a daily basis.

IaaS is defined as the use of any IT hardware and software infrastructure components, such as computer power or storage, via the cloud in a flexible consumption or subscription-based model. It's an all-encompassing category, similar to SaaS, that can span the entire IT infrastructure portfolio, from computing to storage to networks.

Actually, NaaS is an IaaS subset. The phrase "infrastructure as a service" (IaaS) describes the flexible use of all infrastructure-related hardware, software, and services, such as servers, computational power, storage, and networking. NaaS and IaaS differ in that NaaS is provided by networking companies, whereas IaaS is offered by cloud companies. NaaS can be added to an IaaS subscription or sold separately to companies that prefer to host their own servers.

In contrast to SaaS and IaaS, network as a service (NaaS) is much more specialized and only relates to networking functionality. It only refers to networking hardware, software, and services that are delivered in a "cloud-like" manner, which implies subscription-based or consumption-based billing, in contrast to SaaS and IaaS. The term is occasionally expanded to cover the general daily management and operations of a network environment by a third party, such as the vendor or vendor partner.

What's the Difference between NaaS and CaaS?

A "Network as a Service" strategy entails totally virtualizing delivery and outsourcing network maintenance to a third party. Connectivity as a service, on the other hand, continues to employ both the cloud and traditional hardware where necessary (or when a customer still has the equipment they want to use).

Connectivity as a Service provides a full set of network management tools as well as a business model that takes current infrastructure into account through network upgrades and buy-back programs. Whereas Network as a Service provides network administration as a service, Connectivity as a Service provides a comprehensive network management approach that incorporates a variety of commercial and technological support services and resources.

The ultimate purpose of Network-as-a-Service and Connectivity-as-a-Service is the same: to outsource network management to a competent third party that can ensure network dependability, scalability, and security. However, there are two significant distinctions between the NaaS and CaaS approaches.

• The manner in which it is conveyed: A network-as-a-service architecture fully virtualizes delivery, and the network is offloaded to a supplier to manage remotely. Connectivity-as-a-Service, on the other hand, continues to employ traditional hardware when necessary (or if a customer still has gear they want to use) in addition to the cloud.

• The scope of what is feasible: Only Connectivity-as-a-Service offers a complete network management inventory as well as a business strategy that accommodates existing infrastructure via network refreshes and buy-back schemes. In essence, Network-as-a-Service offers network administration as a service, whereas Connectivity-as-a-Service offers a comprehensive approach to network management that includes a variety of commercial and technological support services and resources.

What is the Future of NaaS?

NaaS is the future of enterprise and corporate networking. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaped how businesses operate in the New Normal. Workplace boundaries are fading, organizations are shifting to a hybrid model, and in today's 'anytime-anywhere' business environment, companies are betting on enabler services that allow employees to securely connect to the organization's apps and data.

This is the era of start-ups when scalable and elastic infrastructure is critical, and WFH video conferencing and collaboration formats are the norms. As a result, the demand for stable and manageable applications, platforms, and infrastructure services over on-demand network scalability has increased dramatically. Cloud-based digital work has clearly taken precedence.

At the heart of the NaaS model, vendors typically emphasize SD-WAN functionality in addition to ease of reading and management. The network-as-a-service model is a compelling new option for businesses that want to focus on code design rather than hiring engineers and constructing hardware infrastructure. Instead of using hardware switches and nodes to drive network activity, a company virtualizes its network and uses virtual logic entities to regulate it with NaaS.

Because NaaS is accessed from anywhere in the world and on any device, it is expected to become more common in hybrid and small businesses in the coming years. Employees with a stable internet connection and login credentials can easily access any platform.

NaaS is simply a cloud model that offers network services over the Internet on a pay-per-use basis. To reap the full benefits of SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, businesses must be able to securely connect their users and IoT devices to their applications. Providing security to a mobile workforce on par with their office branch necessitates an agile, scalable, and elastic network, which traditional IT and a Network Operations Center (NOC) approach cannot meet.

NaaS will invariably alter and even define how businesses acquire, deliver, and manage networking solutions. While IaaS (infrastructure as a service) is a service provided by cloud service providers for the on-demand consumption of infrastructure resources such as computing, storage, and networking, NaaS (network as a service) is a service provided by network service providers for networking and network security resources such as WAN, VPN, firewall, and so on.

As a result, by the end of 2024, 15% of all enterprises will be using on-premises NaaS, up from less than 1% in 2021.