The benefits and drawbacks of network as a service
NaaS, with its varied definitions and attributes, is hard to define. In a new EMA survey, enterprises laid out their expectations for NaaS, including its benefits and drawbacks.
NaaS isn't a new concept, but that doesn't make it any less confusing. Most people seem to have an idea of what it is, but those ideas don't always match. According to Shamus McGillicuddy, vice president of research at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), no one particularly agrees about what NaaS is.
"I get lots of straight answers [as to what NaaS is], and that's the problem," he said. "They're all different answers."
A 2024 EMA report surveyed 250 stakeholders across multiple companies and sectors about NaaS. Though not all enterprises agreed on what NaaS is or how to use it, many answers overlapped in key ways. The report included both the perceived benefits and drawbacks of implementing NaaS. Ultimately, enterprises found the biggest benefits of NaaS were implementing new technology faster and mitigating skills gaps. However, its drawbacks included lack of visibility and service concerns.
Defining NaaS
NaaS has a fluid definition, largely due to conflation among providers about the features and services they offer, according to McGillicuddy.
"People start defining things in the context of what they're trying to offer, and it might start to fragment into different capabilities, different types of networks," he said.
The various definitions have caused confusion among enterprises, unsure of what to expect in NaaS offerings. According to the survey, 75% of respondents associated NaaS with multi-cloud and hybrid cloud networking or WAN interconnectivity. Many respondents also believed it was some kind of software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) overlay or secure access service edge offering. A less common, but still frequent, response was that NaaS is outsourced data center networking.
When asked about what they expect from NaaS offerings, stakeholders said they want integrated, managed security services. In addition, they expect NaaS offerings to include comprehensive dashboards and reporting.
"It's not just about connectivity," McGillicuddy said. "It's about security from a lot of their perspectives."
But everyone agreed consistently about one part of the NaaS definition: the cloud. Cloudlike service delivery ranked second in the survey for stakeholder expectations. Cloud-based capabilities are often included in NaaS definitions, so it's unsurprising that customers expect cloud services to be included in NaaS offerings.
All this considered, McGillicuddy settled on a flexible, demand-driven definition. Based on the survey results, he defined NaaS as having the following:
A cloud-delivered networking consumption model.
Integrated security services.
Comprehensive observability.
Integration into existing digital infrastructure.
Why use NaaS?
McGillicuddy said NaaS adoption presents many benefits for enterprises, including the following.
1. Access new technology quicker
Networks and their components are always evolving -- take, for example, new Wi-Fi and Ethernet standards or how SD-WAN evolved from software-defined networking. If enterprises subscribe to NaaS, they no longer have to replace hardware assets on a regular basis. According to McGillicuddy, this model is attractive to enterprises because they "can have an agreement with their provider to go from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7 without having to incur too much additional cost."
2. Mitigate skills gaps and head count shortfalls in network teams
Consulting previous research, McGillicuddy said that, over the last few years, hiring people with network engineering skills has been difficult.
"Only 32% [of respondents] said [they] have enough networking talent to support any task or project that comes [their] way," McGillicuddy said.
He further explained that most networking talent works on high-priority projects or day-to-day issues. Outsourcing some operations to NaaS providers enables network engineers to focus on other projects, such as optimizing end-user experience or enabling AI or automation projects.
3. Align network capacity and services with fluctuating demands
As enterprises see demands increase and decrease, they can use NaaS to help adjust networks to handle the workloads properly and optimize resources.
4. Reduce security risk
Security is a controversial aspect of NaaS adoption because it provides extra layers of security but also hands security off to a third party, which introduces risk. Some NaaS services offer integrated, managed security services or improved network security, according to McGillicuddy.
"You're able to add additional layers of security onto your overall network," he said.
The perception is that NaaS is a cookie-cutter thing that is meant to be one size fits all. … But [enterprises] will want some customization capabilities around different things.
Shamus McGillicuddyVice president of research, EMA
Drawbacks of NaaS
As with any technology, enterprises face drawbacks when switching to a NaaS provider. McGillicuddy said respondents still have reservations about NaaS regarding the following factors.
1. Higher total cost of ownership over time
The cost difference between an in-house network and one managed by a network service provider has given many enterprises pause about transitioning to NaaS. Most are hesitant about how much money NaaS offerings save in the long run, according to the EMA survey results.
"The switch from Capex to Opex piles up over time," a network engineering manager at a large university said in response to the survey. "Predictable costs are nice, but over time, it's higher."
2. Lack of visibility in service quality
Network teams want to know what they're looking at and to understand their own network. Those considering NaaS still want to have some control over their network and are cautious about passing operations to a third party. This concern also extends to losing control over change management, as stakeholders don't want NaaS providers to make changes without giving them full visibility, according to McGillicuddy. Doing so might hurt the business or their network end to end.
3. Security concerns
NaaS adoption means enterprises hand off security to a third party. While the extra security NaaS provides is beneficial for keeping out bad actors, some enterprises are apprehensive about opening networks to third-party NaaS providers. McGillicuddy said NaaS providers pull data from networks to support monitoring, troubleshooting and security. This data pulling raises concerns among enterprises, especially those in highly regulated industries.
For example, a network engineer from a Fortune 500 aerospace and defense company told EMA that trust was a major concern. "We're in the defense industry, so there's a lack of trust by default. We're not going to trust you with any sort of data off premises," the engineer said.
NaaS as a hybrid model
NaaS as a hybrid model seems to be the desired offering for many enterprises, in which they share responsibility for the network with the NaaS provider. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents said they're seeking a hybrid -- or shared -- operating model when it comes to NaaS adoption. A big factor for this preference was observability, McGillicuddy said, so they can have instant awareness of what's going on in their networks, status updates and limited wait time for tickets.
Customization is another benefit of hybrid models. Respondents said they prioritized customizations around scalability options, security policies, billing and licensing, network topologies and service-level agreements. However, customization and hybrid NaaS might also come in the form of bundles. This could include bundling NaaS with other managed services, including the following:
Network security.
Security monitoring.
VPN and zero-trust network access.
Identity and access management.
"The perception is that NaaS is a cookie-cutter thing that is meant to be one size fits all," McGillicuddy said. "But [enterprises] will want some customization capabilities around different things."
Nicole Viera is assistant site editor for TechTarget's Networking site. She joined TechTarget as an editor and writer in 2024.
