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Spotlight: Roy Chua, Founder & Principal, AvidThink
Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is a promising business model for flexible, scalable, and efficient networking solutions. The recent resurgence of interest in NaaS indicates that businesses are looking to change how they consume and manage network resources. NaaS promises agility and cost-effectiveness in an increasingly complex IT environment. However, as the networking ecosystem pushes for widespread NaaS adoption, we must refrain from inflating expectations and learn from past successes in rolling out networking changes.
In our Analyst Insights series, leading industry analysts share their expert insights and valuable perspectives on the latest trends, innovations, and strategic developments in digital transformation for industry leaders navigating today’s evolving landscape.
The Need for Careful Evolution in NaaS
The promise of NaaS is enticing, whether we’re talking about NaaS for campus networks or NaaS in provider networks (cross-data center, middle mile). Especially on the carrier side, rushing headlong into standardization and implementation without involving enterprises and other ecosystem partners could lead to slow uptake and premature over-investment or mis-investment that must be reworked later.
The networking industry has a history of ambitious projects that failed to gain traction due to overreach or lack of practical applicability. Consider recent global 5G rollouts, for which carriers still seek monetization opportunities. In moving ahead with NaaS, our industry must balance innovation with pragmatism, ensuring that each forward step is grounded in real-world needs and capabilities.
Key Principles for Successful NaaS Evolution
From an analyst’s view of recent carrier efforts in NaaS, we worry that the industry is lumping many categories, technologies, and capabilities under the NaaS umbrella. We experienced this a few years ago when Gartner introduced SASE (Secure Access Service Edge), which threw SD-WAN and nearly every enterprise edge security and connectivity offering into a giant kitchen sink. When the industry and vendors pushed back against a large category with many checkboxes that few to no vendors could tick, the firm demurred by creating the SSE (Security Service Edge) subset, for which an MQ (Magic Quadrant) could be established. In subsequent years, the industry better understood SASE, SSE, and the other SASE subset—ZTNA (Zero Trust Network Access). However, there’s still much wrangling around various SASE feature subsets and debate around what’s ideal for enterprises: single-vendor SASE, single-stack SASE, or best-in-class SASE integrations (“chain of pearls”).
With NaaS, we applaud MEF’s move to define the term (initially focused on the provider side, but likely to expand to include campus networks) holistically—pulling in multi-cloud/edge, cybersecurity (SASE), automation, and application assurance (SD-WAN), on top of the original definition of on-demand connectivity (from the days of SDN past). Add in the LSO APIs, emphasize Carrier Ethernet and wavelength services underneath, and use blockchain for billing and settlement, all of which make for an impressive blueprint.
Nevertheless, the rate of execution can seldom match the speed of vision, and we suggest keeping our eyes on a few principles that have served the networking industry well in the past for previously successful rollouts.
Boiling the Ocean One Pot at a Time
Journeys begin with a single step; the same principle applies to NaaS evolution. We should focus on incremental progress rather than attempting to revolutionize the entire networking landscape overnight. In pursuing NaaS, we will want to:
- Build on proven standards and successes.
- Focus on specific layers or vertical slices for demonstration.
- Emphasize iterative development and validation.
That’s why we are pleased to see proven technologies and standards like LSO APIs, which many MEF member carriers have validated and put into practice, and yes, even old reliables like E-Line and E-LAN services, as part of the blueprint.
Likewise, focusing on use cases and the service building blocks and bundles is a component-based way of constraining the complexity while working on the validation of sub-blocks of the blueprint.
By tackling NaaS evolution in manageable chunks, we can ensure that each advancement is validated and refined before moving on to the next challenge. This step-wise approach allows us to learn from each iteration, adjusting as needed based on real-world feedback.
Ecosystem Engagement: Bringing All Players Along
NaaS is not just a technology, it’s an ecosystem. For NaaS to succeed, we must engage and align all stakeholders in the networking value chain. This includes:
- Application providers and vendors who will leverage NaaS capabilities.
- Enterprises, both direct and indirect consumers of NaaS.
- System integrators who bridge the gap between NaaS providers and enterprise needs.
MEF has historically been carrier-centric, and even the participating vendors primarily sold to carriers. But in recent years, MEF has seen participation from technology providers like Salesforce and ServiceNow, who joined the Technical Advisory Board in 2022. In October 2023, MEF established the Enterprise Leadership Council, which has members from enterprises that include Bloomberg, Decathlon Digital (digital arm of European sporting products and services giant), Morgan Stanley, TD Bank, Williams-Sonoma, Grab (Asian mega-app), Roku, and UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center).
It is crucial to listen to these stakeholders about what they want from NaaS and their expected outcomes. Just as critical is ensuring that our NaaS blueprint fits their needs and solves real-world problems. Historically, carrier-led initiatives have missed the mark in meeting customer needs. We know of leading carriers who have launched early NaaS solutions only to have their enterprise customers indicate lack of readiness to consume these solutions. Taking a page from Amazon’s Leadership principle: “Leaders start with the customer and work backwards,” we need to obsess about our customers—the enterprises and technology providers who will use and integrate NaaS offerings.
Collaboration between carriers, vendors, and consumers will ensure that NaaS solutions meet today’s and near-term needs and that NaaS can be easily and widely adopted.
Establishing Clear Value Propositions and Concrete Outcomes
One reason Carrier Ethernet and LSO (Lifecycle Service Orchestration) saw adoption was their ability to deliver concrete, measurable benefits. As we evolve NaaS, we must maintain this focus on tangible outcomes. This means:
- Specifying clear, measurable benefits for enterprises.
- Aligning NaaS capabilities with specific business outcomes.
- Providing concrete examples and use cases that demonstrate value.
By clearly articulating what NaaS can do for businesses—not in vague terms, but with specific, achievable outcomes—we can drive adoption and ensure that NaaS development brings real value.
MEF’s Role in NaaS Evolution
MEF has been crucial in standardizing and advancing networking technologies, particularly in Carrier Ethernet and LSO. As we move forward with NaaS, MEF’s efforts will be vital. MEF should leverage its experience with previous successful standards while remaining open to new approaches that may be needed for NaaS.
Strategies for Successful NaaS Implementation
To move from concept to reality, we need concrete strategies for NaaS implementation:
- Identify high-impact use cases: Focus initial efforts on scenarios where NaaS can deliver measurable benefits.
- Develop reference architectures: Create guides that help organizations understand how to implement NaaS effectively.
- Establish testbeds and proof-of-concept projects: Provide real-world environments for testing and refining NaaS solutions.
- Encourage open-source initiatives: Leverage community-driven development to accelerate NaaS innovation.
The Road Ahead: Next Steps for NaaS Evolution
We’re looking forward to participating in MEF’s Global NaaS Event, GNE 2024, on October 28-30, where the networking industry must come together to:
- Prioritize key areas for standardization and development.
- Establish clear timelines and milestones for progress.
- Encourage industry-wide participation and feedback—especially from enterprises and participants beyond carriers.
By setting a clear roadmap and inviting broad participation, we can ensure that NaaS evolution stays aligned with industry needs.
Conclusion
The evolution of Network-as-a-Service represents an opportunity to transform how businesses consume and manage network resources. To realize this potential, we must approach NaaS development carefully and strategically.
By focusing on incremental progress, engaging the entire ecosystem, and focusing on concrete outcomes, we can ensure that NaaS delivers on its promise. The success of previous networking innovations provides a blueprint for effectively approaching standardization and adoption.
As we move forward, it’s crucial that all stakeholders in the networking industry—from carriers and vendors to enterprises and system integrators—engage actively in the NaaS evolution process. By working together and delivering incremental real value, we can shape a NaaS landscape that meets the needs of enterprises and other stakeholders.
See you at MEF GNE 2024!
Learn More
- Get MEF’s NaaS Industry Blueprint.
- Explore MEF’s SASE service standards and LSO APIs.
- Hear Roy Chua speak at the Global NaaS Event by MEF, in Dallas, Texas, USA, 28–30 October 2024.
