Network as a Service (NaaS): a new network model

Madrid, 26 December 2023.-Today’s networks are adopting more decentralized and geographically distributed topologies. In addition, they are transforming towards Network as a Service (NaaS) models to expose resources and capabilities in an open and flexible manner, in an unprecedented way.

Ultimately, the transformation to these new models impacts all areas of the company, requiring simplification and automation of the entire product cycle.

This starts with the underlay, a component on which corporate networks are built, which should tend to be increasingly simple and easy to consume, as well as efficient in terms of management costs. Although the advantages of converting CAPEX into OPEX are clear, as is the possibility of sizing the necessary resources in real time, paying only for what is consumed NaaS establishes a new way of understanding Networking services.

Thanks to NaaS, customers have the basic building blocks that make up a Networking solution, so that they are not constrained to the solutions proposed by the operator, but can create their own solutions and integrate them with other elements that make up their communications solution, such as Cloud solutions, security solutions, etc. This freedom in creating their network, as well as the clarity in terms of the cost models applied, will allow the creation of an infinite number of solutions adapted to the different customer typologies.

“At Telefonica Global Solutions, we are leading this transformation towards NaaS models in the industry, working on four main axes: Apification of services, developing self-management capabilities, guaranteeing a real-time experience and, of course, ensuring the security of the environments.”

Marcos PICAZO
Product Manager Dynamic Network

Apification

The apification of services goes beyond the use of portals, as has been the case to date. APIs allow customers new ways of consuming services, integrating solutions that go beyond a simple portal. This offers the possibility of integrating networking solutions into production processes. This is particularly relevant for Carriers that use NaaS to manage the circuits they buy from third party operators, where repetition in processes is significant and therefore likely to be apified/automated.

Self-management

Self-management is a key element demanded by customers. To achieve this, at TGS we have worked on building and modeling our services based on the user experience (UX) instead of simply relying on the capabilities enabled by the network, as was done to date.

This change of focus in development has a clear impact on customer relationship models and on the very definition of services, bringing us closer to a model similar to the one established by Cloud Service Providers with their customers.

Our solution is designed so that a customer can build its enterprise network from simple and automatic components in the underlay. In this way, more complex solutions can be created based on SD-WAN, which provides the overlay layer and gives intelligence to the network. In addition, TGS can also take care of the design and management of the network.

As for the equipment on the customer’s premises, the solution is designed so that they can also be self-managed. In this way, the client has a solution in which it is completely autonomous, similar to how it does with communications service providers, such as CSPs, providing homogeneity to the solution with the rest of the platforms that exist in the industry.

Real Time

If customers are looking for integration and a cloud-like experience, this aspect is critical, even in the last mile. This is naturally a big challenge due to the management of more than 200 local circuit providers distributed around the world. That is why it is so important that standards are in place to facilitate the task of validating, quoting and provisioning.

Security

As for security in NaaS, at TGS we approach it from two key perspectives. First, we ensure the intrinsic security of a private network, where traffic from different clients is not mixed and there is no cross visibility. The use of private networks simplifies the necessary security solutions.

On the other hand, the NaaS design is conceived as agnostic with respect to SSE or on-premises security solutions, allowing the customer to build the solution with the security product that best suits their needs. To facilitate this, we offer our customers the possibility to install security VNFs on our POPs, allowing them to customize the network according to their requirements.

TGS also makes available to customers a broad portfolio of managed SSE solutions, allowing us to tailor their network to their specific requirements.

In short, our security approach focuses on a private network agnostic to the security solution, with the ability to offer components tailored to each customer’s specific needs.

Marcos PICAZO
Product Manager Dynamic Network