Network as a Service: driving digital transformation

A reliable network is the cornerstone of any digital transformation process and any downtime can have serious consequences.
That’s why network administrators need to ensure uptime and good performance in this new hyperconnected working environment.

Is in this scenario where the concept of Network-as-a-Service is increasingly being adopted by corporations that need to provide better services at a lower cost.

We explain it to you in this post.

What is Network as a Service?

Network-as-a-service (NaaS) is a business model that allows the delivery of enterprise-wide area network services on a subscription basis. 

As with any subscription-based model, each company can tailor its contract to its needs at any given time. 

This model allows the use of network infrastructure through flexible operating expense (OpEx) subscriptions, inclusive of hardware, software, management tools, licenses, and lifecycle services. 

NaaS provides flexibility to pay for services based on usage and to scale as business needs change. 

For example, it can increase or decrease subscription costs depending on its size, potential growth, number of employees, etc., thus converting a capital investment into an operating cost adapted to its circumstances.

Advantages of NaaS

Network as a Service ensures enterprises can provide network services to their employees with the high performance and security standards required in today’s business environment, with more mobile users connecting from everywhere and with the expansion of cloud computing.

On another note, a traditional network model requires capital expenses (CapEx) for deploying physical networks with switches, routers, and licensing plus the resources needed to manage and maintain it.

Additionally, capital expenses must be made periodically to replace obsolete or broken equipment or to keep up with businesses needs

Benefits of NaaS

Once we have explained what is Network-as-a-Service, it’s relatively easy to identify the benefits it provides to enterprises:

• Reduced costs by converting a capital expenditure into an operating expense adapted to enterprise needs at any moment of its business cycle.
• Scalability: Customers can purchase more capacity instead of purchasing additional hardware that must be deployed, configured, and secured. So the network can be scaled up or down quickly.
• Flexibility: As services are delivered through a cloud model changes are implemented through software, not hardware, offering greater flexibility and customization than conventional infrastructure.
• Better security: due to the ability to better manage risk through enhanced security at the edge, across the core in the application and by user.
• Automation: With automation and AI, enterprises can deliver proactive issue detection and predictive analytics that drive to automatic resolution of incidents.

In conclusion, Network-as-a-Service is going to be one of the key technologies in the coming years as it will enable a faster pace of digital transformation at all levels. So Alaian has highlighted this technology as one of the choices it will focus on throughout this year.