Network as a service (NaaS) is a class of network infrastructure solutions that are delivered via a cloud-consumption model. Often, these networks are managed offerings, where the provider takes ownership of implementation and day-to-day operations. While a NaaS provider is capable of taking over network management for a customer, many IT organizations prefer to maintain some control and ownership of day-to-day operations for a NaaS-based network. 

IT organizations that lack network engineering expertise will certainly welcome the opportunity to outsource network management, but well-resourced organizations clearly feel differently. Enterprise Management Associates recently surveyed 250 IT and business stakeholders about their perceptions of and experience with NaaS solutions for our recently published report, “Network as a Service: Understanding the Cloud Consumption Model in Networking.” In that research, nearly 79% of respondents said they want to maintain at least some responsibility for day-to-day operations on the portions of their network that they consume as a NaaS service. Most (64%) described their preference as a hybrid operating model, where their team and the NaaS provider share responsibility for network management.

There are multiple reasons for this preference. Security is an issue, particularly in industries with a low risk tolerance. These companies limit what telemetry they would allow a NaaS provider to extract from their networks. ”It would be about how much of that data is encrypted and how we can make sure foreign entities aren’t seeing and misusing the data that we are sending to them,” said a network engineer with a Fortune 500 defense company.

Network Operations Disruptions

A more common concern might be overall disruption to network operations, especially in large organizations that have network engineering teams that support complex infrastructure. In such a company, the IT organization has delivered an established level of service to the business for years. When the business requests a change or detects a problem, it is accustomed to the network team addressing the issue within a certain window of time. The introduction of a NaaS provider can disrupt this situation.

For instance, a large university recently engaged a campus NaaS provider to provide connectivity in a subset of its buildings. That NaaS provider responds to change requests and trouble tickets at a pace that is slower than what the university expects from its IT organization. The network engineering team now finds itself making repeated calls to the NaaS provider while business stakeholders breathe down their neck.

“The tickets we [send to our NaaS provider] take three or four days to resolve,” said a network engineer with that university. “Now I’m playing middleman between the provider and my facilities organization that is trying to get fire alarms connected to the network. I have to go back and forth between them for three or four days. It puts more work on my shoulders.”

Observability of NaaS Environments

Visibility into the NaaS network will be essential to support a hybrid operating model. In fact, research respondents told us a lack of visibility into network service quality is the number-two roadblock to their embrace of NaaS. Only a higher total cost of ownership over time is a bigger issue.

EMA asked research respondents how they wish to gain visibility into the portions of their network that they consume as a NaaS solution. The clear preference (67%) is a mix of in-house network monitoring tools and tools offered by the NaaS provider.

“I want access to [my NaaS provider’s] observability right now,” said the university network engineer. “I have visibility into the network that I manage. With them, I don’t know what’s going on. I open a ticket, and I wait. In the meantime, I have a I have a dean asking me why wireless is down, and I don’t have any update to offer him.”

In EMA’s experience, many early NaaS providers came to market without the ability to provide customers with significant visibility into their infrastructure. Their assumption was that IT organizations were eager to abdicate responsibility for network operations. In companies that lack network experts, that is exactly the case. However, IT organizations with network engineering teams are not interested in outsourcing network operations. Instead, they want NaaS providers that can augment their engineering teams. If your organization falls into this latter category, you should ask a potential NaaS provider about their observability offerings. This will be essential to the successful integration of a NaaS service into your end-to-end network. If your preferred provider cannot give you such access, there are other options.

First, you can ask the NaaS provider to provide APIs that allow you to extract telemetry from their network with your own monitoring tools. 

Second, you can work with a NaaS provider early in an engagement to ensure that their managed solution will integrate well with your pre-existing network operations model. This may require adjustments to contracted guarantees on change and problem ticket resolution times.