In recent years, Network as a Service (NaaS) has emerged as a game-changer in the world of enterprise networking. It offers businesses a flexible, scalable alternative to traditional networking models, providing the ability to manage and optimize their networks without the complexities of hardware procurement and maintenance.
At its core, NaaS gives organizations the freedom to consume networking services on-demand, scale up or down as needed, and move away from capital expenditure-heavy models towards more efficient, operational expenditure (OPEX)-based approaches. Key characteristics of NaaS include self-service capabilities, consumption-based billing, and seamless scaling, which sound simple but require significant technical innovation to execute effectively.
However, as the demand for NaaS grows, so too does the confusion. It’s not uncommon for vendors from a variety of networking domains—Campus LAN, WAN, 5G, Multi-cloud, and SASE providers—to claim they are NaaS companies. The result? A crowded, often convoluted market, where the term “NaaS” is used liberally, despite differences in capabilities and focus areas. For customers, this can make it difficult to know which solution is truly delivering the full NaaS experience they need. This NetworkWorld Article highlights this confusion in the marketplace and calls out for some of the innovations customers are expecting.
So, how do you separate the truly transformative NaaS solutions from the noise?
This is where Graphiant stands out. While many NaaS providers retrofit legacy technologies with modern features, Graphiant offers a ground-up rethinking of what NaaS should be—particularly when it comes to managing complex, enterprise-wide WAN (Wide Area Network) needs. We don’t just provide WAN connectivity; we enable end-to-end network performance, security, and visibility across your branches, data centers, cloud environments, and even your business partners.
In this post, we’ll explore the Graphiant way of NaaS, discussing the innovative capabilities that make our solution a true game-changer in the industry. From embedded security features to a focus on operational simplicity and cost-effectiveness, we’ll explain why our approach is built for the future of enterprise networking.
What Makes Graphiant’s NaaS Different?
At Graphiant, we believe in innovation at the core. While others may try to modify legacy systems to fit the needs of modern businesses, we’ve taken a clean-slate approach—redesigning our platform to meet the challenges of today’s dynamic, cloud-first, and security-conscious environments. We didn’t just tweak existing technologies; we reimagined how networking should be delivered in the modern era.
Rather than retrofitting old technologies to meet today’s demands, we’ve created a solution that addresses the inherent complexity in traditional network architectures, while delivering modern capabilities that empower enterprises to operate at scale with confidence.
In the sections that follow, we’ll break down these key differentiators and explain how Graphiant’s innovations are reshaping enterprise WANs for the future.
Key Capabilities of Graphiant’s NaaS
Below are some of the key capabilities that differentiate Graphiant’s NaaS offering:
1. Embedded Security & Compliance: A New Standard for Protection
Security isn’t just a feature—it’s the foundation of everything we do. In today’s world, network security needs to be proactive, embedded, and automated, rather than relying on manual configurations or point solutions.
Graphiant goes beyond traditional security measures with built-in features like:
- Data Assurance: We give businesses full control and visibility over how data flows across their networks. By combining security with routing, we proactively block threats in real-time rather than waiting for them to be detected.
- Proactive Threat Mitigation: Graphiant’s platform continuously profiles application flow data to identify potential security risks and breaches. This means your network is always one step ahead of threats, with automated protections in place.
- Automated Certificate Renewals: Expired certificates have caused major outages in the past, yet many networks still struggle with this. Graphiant’s platform automates certificate renewals to ensure your network stays secure and up to date without any manual intervention.
- Disk Encryption & No Login Passwords: Default disk encryption ensures sensitive data is always protected, and eliminating the need for login passwords further reduces security risks.
2. Operational Simplicity: Making Network Management Effortless
Enterprise networks have historically been plagued by complexity—too many protocols, configurations, and network devices that demand constant attention. Graphiant is designed to remove that complexity by simplifying network operations and allowing teams to focus on strategic objectives, not maintenance.
Here are some of the things we do towards Operational Simplicity:
- Stateless Core: Graphiant’s stateless backbone architecturally eliminates the need for complex configurations of 10s or 100s of thousands of VRFs or managing millions of routes. This not only simplifies operations but also boosts the availability and scalability of your network.
- No Tunnel Scale Problem: Traditional SD-WAN solutions rely heavily on the creation of tunnels between network edges. This can create scalability bottlenecks and limit any-to-any connectivity. Graphiant eliminates the need for overlay tunnels, enabling true any-to-any connectivity without the overhead.
- Actionable Alerts: We know network operators are often overwhelmed by alert fatigue. Graphiant’s sophisticated alert engine cuts through the noise and highlights only what matters—helping teams focus on issues that require action.
- Site and Backbone Health Dashboards: Our intuitive dashboards give you a clear, real-time view of network health across thousands of sites. Whether it’s a memory leak or a failing link, Graphiant surfaces the issues that require attention, making troubleshooting easier and faster.
- Self-Healing Networks: With our Software-Managed Service model, we’ve designed Graphiant to autonomously troubleshoot and recover from network issues. This approach reduces human intervention and speeds up recovery times, ensuring minimal downtime.
3. Maintain Control: Empowering Enterprises, Not Outsourcing Control
Many NaaS providers offer solutions that, while convenient, may require enterprises to relinquish control over certain aspects of their networks. Not at Graphiant. We understand that network control is a critical business asset, and our platform is built to ensure you always maintain ownership and oversight of your network.
- Data Assurance and Path Constraints: Even within our stateless backbone, Graphiant allows enterprises to define specific routing paths and geographic constraints for data traffic. This gives businesses more control over how data is routed, ensuring compliance with regional regulations and business policies.
4. Continuous Delivery: Evolving at the Speed of Business
In the world of software, continuous delivery is a must. However, rolling out updates and new features to network infrastructure without causing disruptions has been a significant challenge. Graphiant has cracked this challenge by implementing continuous, automated upgrades that allow us to push new features and fixes without compromising network stability.
- Zero-Downtime Upgrades: Whether it’s for cloud services or on-prem devices, Graphiant’s platform supports seamless updates with no service disruption, even for mission-critical network components.
- Automated Validation and Rollbacks: Our system automatically validates upgrades to ensure everything works as expected. If a regression occurs, we can quickly roll back the changes to restore stability, all while maintaining five-nines (99.999%) availability.
5. Cost Reduction: A Smarter, More Efficient Way to Scale
Cost is a major factor for businesses when considering NaaS solutions. The key to affordability is reducing the operational overhead that often accompanies traditional networking solutions. Graphiant achieves this by building a cloud-native, multi-tenant architecture that scales up or down based on real-time network needs.
- Consumption-Based Pricing: Unlike traditional models that lock businesses into fixed contracts, Graphiant’s pricing is based on actual consumption. This allows enterprises to pay only for the services they use, eliminating waste and optimizing costs.
- Operational Efficiency: Our solution reduces the need for expensive, specialized network hardware and expertise. By incorporating modern cloud capabilities, we’ve streamlined operations, which helps to lower the total cost of ownership for our customers.
Conclusion: A True NaaS for the Future
At Graphiant, we’re committed to providing more than just connectivity—we’re delivering a comprehensive, secure, and scalable NaaS solution that simplifies operations, enhances security, and reduces costs. With our clean-slate design and focus on continuous improvement, we’re redefining what it means to deliver modern networking services.
As enterprises continue to embrace cloud-first strategies and demand greater flexibility, the need for a true NaaS solution has never been more critical. Graphiant is proud to lead the way, offering a platform built for the future of networking.
