Adoption is set to surge as vendors address enterprise concerns over cost, security, and visibility.
Enterprises have been slow to adopt NaaS for a number of reasons, including lack of clarity on exactly what NaaS is, lack of a solid business case that NaaS saves money over the long term, and questions around security, visibility, control, and data privacy.
ABI Research predicts that by 2030 more than 90% of enterprises will consume at least 25% of their network services via NaaS. “Deploying networks ‘as-a-service’ will become a cornerstone of any successful enterprise digital transformation. It provides greater time-to-value for new sites or use cases, optimizes cloud strategies, and increases networking control by abstracting hardware and providing centralized management. This brings massive financial and operational efficiency opportunities and moving forward will have a value proposition that resonates strongly across nearly every major enterprise vertical,” says ABI analyst Reece Hayden.
Hayden adds that adoption has been held back due to “enterprise skepticism, confusion, and risk aversion.” He adds: “Although enterprises can see the operational value NaaS could bring, they worry about the potentially higher total cost of ownership (TCO), day-to-day management challenges, and risk of significant fluctuations in monthly bills.”
NaaS vendors should focus on automation, platform openness, and the development of a broad ecosystem that makes it easier for enterprises to deploy NaaS across LAN, campus, and WAN environments, Hayden recommends. He also says it’s important for NaaS vendors to make it easier for enterprises to integrate NaaS with the rest of their infrastructure.
NaaS vendors, led by several innovative startups, are addressing those issues, which points to adoption picking up steam in 2025. Here are the big trends that we can anticipate for 2025 in the world of NaaS:
4. NaaS + security
NaaS vendors are moving beyond basic connectivity and adding security features, such as zero trust network access (ZTNA). For example, Nile recently announced the addition of new zero-trust capabilities and tapped Microsoft and Palo Alto Networks to bolster its enterprise security services. Alkira expanded its NaaS platform with new ZTNA functionality, including identity and access management, granular policy control, and posture checks. And Graphiant is expanding its NaaS platform to include data assurance capabilities to help organizations comply with regulations.
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https://www.networkworld.com/article/3628679/what-to-expect-from-naas-in-2025.html
