What is Network-as-a-Service (NaaS)?

Did you know that you can use a pay-per-use model, similar to how you buy software, but for fixed assets and infrastructure?

That’s Network-as-as-a-service (NaaS). It’s a consumption-based model for buying network infrastructure services that are based on physical assets.

Instead of buying, installing and managing infrastructure, a NaaS provider does this for you. In return, you pay them an agreed price based on the number of users or devices on the network.

You could even pay for your current on-site network infrastructure to be maintained, managed and evolved using a NaaS contract. In fact, this is one of the best ways to break the cycle of buying hardware and upgrading when it falls out of support (or incurring technical debt if you don’t).

The entire responsibility for the network infrastructure lifecycle can be handed over to a NaaS provider, who will manage the network today and update it to ensure continuous service delivery. You just pay to use that network.

NaaS is attractive for a lot of companies because it enables them to move from capital expenditure (CapEx) to operational expenditure (OpEx). They don’t have to make heavy up-front investments, and they benefit from more predictable and consistent costs.

At the same time, they gain a lot of flexibility. A good NaaS provider will not only enable its customers to scale their network infrastructure up and down as their business requirements change but will also enable them to expand into new technologies and regions.

For example, as new Internet of Things (IoT) applications launch to bring real-time data into the business, a good NaaS partner will simplify the process of connecting them. Should a company expand into a new country, organically or through acquisition, a global NaaS provider can extend the network seamlessly. In this way, NaaS helps to future-proof a business.

Although the consumption-based pricing for NaaS looks a lot like the cloud, NaaS does not necessarily use cloud or software-defined networking technologies.

The following table summarises how NaaS compares to traditional networking:

For most companies, the transition to NaaS requires a shift in mindset. For decades, they will have been procuring hardware from major network equipment providers. The buying process will have involved evaluating hardware vendors and technical specifications. With NaaS, they don’t need to dig into that level of technical detail, but they do need to have confidence in the NaaS provider’s ability to deliver a reliable service.

NSC Global