Survey: Enterprises view network-as-a-service as the answer to future disruptions

Network as a Service, described by Cisco as “a cloud-enabled, usage-based consumption model that allows users to acquire and orchestrate network capabilities without owning, building or maintaining their own infrastructure,” could be what enterprises need to prevent a repeat of the major disruption to network activities they experienced during the pandemic, according to TechRepublic. Cisco’s new report, based on a poll of IT professionals, touted NaaS’ capabilities, which include coverage of wired, wireless, edge computing, hybrid cloud and multicloud environments, while also being able to deliver secure access service edge and other new network models; enable migrations to different organizational models; and make it easier for IT teams to perform tasks such as deploying new services. The poll found that 49% of IT professionals view the best time to deploy NaaS is during an upgrade or refresh of network infrastructure or when a company is looking to adopt a new technology. Among the respondents, 28% voiced concerns over the cost and disruption of a NaaS transition, 30% were unconvinced about NaaS’ ability to meet demands and 26% wanted to address a lack of security controls. Despite the hesitancy, Cisco projects a growth rate of 40.7% for companies’ adoption of NaaS between 2021 and 2027.