If you follow cloud computing, you’re no doubt familiar with software-as-a-service, or infrastructure-as-a-service. But how about network-as-a-service (NaaS)?
Generally speaking, the concept of NaaS allows carriers to deliver cloud-based networking services like routing, tunneling, quality of service, and network address translation using the internet on a subscription basis without requiring customers to have on-premise gear dedicated to those functions.
Instead of having a networking staff that is doing things like configuring firewalls and provisioning servers to pass through certain types of networks, it’s all handled in the cloud. There are cost savings to taking up NaaS over maintaining a traditional network, but experts argue the main reason a large company is going to buy NaaS is because they want to get out of the IT business.
Traditional networking companies have only dabbled in the idea of NaaS. Cisco proposed NaaS parameters to the OpenStack open source IaaS project in 2011 but has made no announcements on the topic since. Cisco did, however, throw $100 million in financing at virtual networking startup Insieme in April. Juniper rolled out what it calls Junosphere Lab, calling is a NaaS offering, but that service only gives customers subscription-based access to a virtual network testing lab, not a full-on networking service.
NaaS has been recently thrust into the cloud limelight since VMware scooped up virtual switch vendor Nicira. That purchase price is 25 times more than the $50 million in financing Nicira had amassed to build its software-defined networking product and represents a huge bet for the server virtualisation company on what the next big thing in cloud computing will be.
In an interview before VMware announced the acquisition, Nicira Vice President of Marketing Alan Cohen was already bullish on the prospects of Nicira’s chances in the cloud. “I think the idea of infrastructure-as-a-service will disappear as both local and cloud-based networking become simply, well, networking,” Cohen says.
So is there a demand for NaaS? Absolutely, says Jeremy Foster, Head of Marketing, Government and Industrial Relations, Ericsson Middle East. “Over the last few years we’ve seen the speed of broadband compliment cheaper storage, better processor speeds and improved software making NaaS a reality. Although every network element can be virtualised, there are still some elements that enterprise customers tend to keep in house, especially those that the business depends on to run. Exactly what is kept in a local network and what is virtualised is entirely up to the business. “
For example, many businesses use virtualised email services and are perfectly happy with that. They do become dependant on stable access to the internet and although outages are uncommon, they can happen so this needs to be taken into account, especially if a mission critical business process is depending on an email to be sent, he adds.
Florian Malecki, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Dell SonicWall, offers a perspective on what is driving the demand: “Demands on enterprise network infrastructure continue to increase, driven by the requirement to run multiple applications simultaneously from a central or off premise point. Today, network usage continues to evolve and so its underlying infrastructure must be flexible enough to fit the changes that enterprise businesses need in order for the network to continue to be a business enabler and not a hindrance. Network flexibility becomes a must have. To generate real business value a network must be capable of continuing to meet the changing needs of its users. This can drive demand for NaaS.”
Mervin Kelly, EMEA Marketing Director of Ciena, says network-as-a-service changes the game to an on-demand service capability, at the level of performance you specify. “The network will be available for the capacity and performance level you need, when you need it, and you pay for only the time period you use it.”
He adds that to deliver NaaS service providers will need to virtualise their network capacity using a distributed control plane in their network infrastructure and new software for network virtualisation and automation. NaaS will also need to be integrated into their billing and management software systems. Service providers will need to offer network services that respond to user demand for connectivity to cloud services with a network capacity that is programmable for performance-on-demand triggered by users, applications and policies.
Besides cost savings and agility, there are many other benefits to networking in the cloud. “Today, there is a massive shift in how people consume information at the very edges of the network. Fueled by the promise of the cloud, mobility, and today’s data-rich applications, the network itself is undergoing a transformation. Regardless of the cloud model – private, public, or hybrid – the simplicity, uptime, and capabilities of the network will ultimately define application performance and the user experience in the cloud,” says Samer Ismair, Systems Engineer, Brocade.
When networking solutions provide data centre-class capabilities across the entire network, it helps organisations to extend their IT assets and services anywhere and everywhere data and applications are accessed—a key step in the migration to cloud architectures, he adds.
Prepping the network
Industry experts agree network virtualisation is key to realising the full benefits of cloud computing. “I do think that virtualisation is a critical component of delivering NaaS because what actually happens (from a user perspective) is that a server gets virtually created in a shared environment for end users to interact with in exactly the same way as I might with a server that was sitting next to my desk in a server rack. Often it makes sense to install software on a ‘fresh’ server to avoid conflicts. So being able to achieve this using software is a major break through,” says Foster.
Kelly from Ciena agrees that virtualisation of the network provides network efficiency in terms of coordination of the bandwidth and topology to the specific application need at a point in time. “This eliminates the need to size all data centre network interconnection facilities for a peak capacity that is only rarely used, which lowers costs because you don’t need to make unnecessary network equipment investment.”
The explosion of mobile devices and content, server virtualisation, and advent of cloud services are among the trends driving the networking industry to re-examine traditional network architectures. Embryonic as it may, the idea of elastic scale of compute, storage and network resources using a common set of tools is gaining currency. Will a cloud-enabled, pay–as-you-go model for network infrastructure and services succeed? Will scalability and performance be significant barriers to adoption? It hinges on several factors.
“I think speed of the experience will be pretty important. Any NaaS service will need to ‘feel’ like the equipment and application is in a computer room in the basement of my building, not several thousand kilometers away. This experience will be determined by things like broadband, processing speed, software, numbers of servers, and of course the types of applications running on that equipment. I don’t believe that there will be any major technical barriers to adoption, more likely there will be legislative and regulatory barriers to adoption,” Foster sums up.
