Colin Bannon (CTO, BT Business), Renuka Nadkarni (Chief Product Officer, Aryaka), Channa Seneviratne (Technology Engagement & Advancement Executive, Telstra), Gabriele Di Piazza (Blue Planet, VP Products and Alliances), Pascal Menezes (CTO, MEF), and Dudy Cohen (VP, Product Marketing, Drivenets) discuss the significance of Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) for carriers in meeting evolving customer demands and consumption patterns. The executives emphasize that NaaS adoption enables telcos to meet dynamic enterprise needs by facilitating automated service creation and delivery, while improving network security and efficiency.
2024 Carrier NaaS and New Middle Mile
Welcome to the NextGenInfra Carrier Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and New Middle Mile Showcase! We've captured videos from thought leaders in the carrier ecosystem on the current state of middle mile networks, and the role of NaaS. Many of the videos were captured at the Global NaaS Event (GNE) run by MEF. We appreciate the MEF leadership allowing the NextGenInfra crew to capture video interviews onsite. This showcase is your resource to learn about the resurgence of NaaS and related business and technology drivers that are impacting the middle mile, including generative AI (which apparently needs to be included in every technology showcase for the foreseeable future). But, of course, that's not the whole story...
To understand better, download our complimentary 2024 Carrier NaaS and New Middle Mile Report! We discuss the ongoing impact of drivers like cybersecurity, streaming media, industrial transformation, and... you guessed it, the sizable impact from AI on the middle mile. Plus, don't forget to check out the videos below.
Thanks to our sponsors for making the report possible!
To understand better, download our complimentary 2024 Carrier NaaS and New Middle Mile Report! We discuss the ongoing impact of drivers like cybersecurity, streaming media, industrial transformation, and... you guessed it, the sizable impact from AI on the middle mile. Plus, don't forget to check out the videos below.
Thanks to our sponsors for making the report possible!
2024 Carrier NaaS/New Middle Mile Showcase (featuring videos from MEF GNE)
Reader feedback on our 2024 Carrier NaaS/Middle Mile Report: “Love the different perspectives on current trends”, “Broad view of the different aspects of the ecosystem”. Grab your copy now and send us your feedback!
Content from Sponsors and Thought Leaders (including onsite videos from MEF GNE 2024 in Dallas, TX)
Views expressed are those of the presenting individuals and companies and may not necessarily represent views of Converge! Network Digest or AvidThink.
Telcos Must Transform into TechCos
Khalid Raza, CEO of Graphiant, outlines how telecom companies can evolve into technology companies by shifting focus from data transit to data processing. He proposes that service providers convert their transit points and middle mile locations into processing centers, enabling them to participate in the AI data economy and capitalize on business-to-business connectivity growth.
Intelligent Automation for NaaS
Gabriele Di Piazza, Vice President of Products, Alliances & Architectures at Blue Planet, a Ciena Company, discusses the implementation of Network as a Service (NaaS) across various network segments, highlighting three core aspects: intent-based declarative orchestration, dynamic inventory capability, and AI-driven operations and assurance.
Ultimate Carrier Service Agility
Dudy Cohen, VP of Product Marketing at DriveNets, emphasizes the importance of flexibility and service agility in modern middle mile networks, advocating for a software-centric, disaggregated approach. Dudy envisions a future where Network as a Service (NaaS) reshapes carrier networks, with AI-driven systems managing complex networks in real-time.
BT is Building a Global Fabric for NaaS
Colin Bannon, CTO of BT, outlines the company’s implementation of carrier Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) through their Global Fabric product, which consolidates multiple services into a single platform. BT’s redesigned network prioritizes security, programmability, and sustainability, while aligning with cloud providers’ edges to ensure global connectivity.
Simplifying NaaS for Enterprises
Michael Kearns, Chief Strategy Officer at Amartus, explores the renewed interest in NaaS and MEF’s initiatives to advance industry standards. Kearns emphasizes the growing demand for self-service networks and discusses his company’s efforts to simplify the NaaS experience for enterprise customers through intent design and comprehensive connectivity solutions.
Securing Data for the Post-Quantum Era
David Kettle, VP OEM and Channels at Arqit, discusses the increasing threat quantum computers pose to current encryption methods, highlighting recent breakthroughs by Chinese academics in breaking RSA codes. Kettle emphasizes the urgent need for implementing quantum-safe post-quantum cryptography solutions in the network.
Strategic Choices in Next-Gen NaaS
Renuka Nadkarni, Chief Product Officer at Aryaka, explores the shift from traditional office-based networks to cloudified, hybrid environments and the emergence of Unified SASE as a Service that builds on top of an underlying private core network layer.
Expanding NaaS Global Reach and Cloud Connectivity
Mirko Voltolini, VP Innovation at Colt, outlines their NaaS journey since 2015, starting with their own assets and expanding to include third-party resources. Colt’s NaaS platform now offers global coverage through off-net connectivity, and plans to develop multi-cloud underlay capabilities for AI workflows.
Standardizing APIs for NaaS
Divesh Gupta, VP of New Technology & Sales Operations at Console Connect, discusses the company’s open-source LSO API adapter project to standardize APIs for buyers and foster a more global NaaS ecosystem.
Fast Track for MEF LSO API Adoption
Paul Gampe, CTO of Console Connect, discusses the increasing adoption of NaaS and the transition from conceptual discussions to real-world applications. He predicts future inter-carrier collaborations will involve API-level integration for enhanced platform interoperability.
The Future Directions of NaaS
Sanjay Mewada, Chief Growth Officer at iOPEX, commends MEF’s comprehensive description of the NaaS domain and its evolution from basic connectivity to multicloud networking and standardized offerings. He identifies areas for improvement, including better articulation of use cases, alignment of AI infusion, and recognition of the need for optimization.
Driving API Automation and Enterprise Engagement
Kevin Vachon, COO of MEF, does a walking interview with Jim Carroll, and highlights the growing momentum behind NaaS at the Global MEF event, noting increased prioritization among carriers and new entrants.
Enterprise Journey to Fully-Automated NaaS
Pascal Menezes, CTO of MEF, discusses the industry’s shift towards carrier NaaS, which involves automating and connecting global underlays in a federated model to support overlay models like SD-WAN and network slicing. Menezes outlines four major themes in MEF’s NaaS vision: on-demand connectivity, application performance guarantees, cybersecurity, and multi-cloud integration, emphasizing the importance of automation and federation among NaaS providers.
Introducing MEF's NaaS Blueprint
Stan Hubbard, Principal Research Analyst at MEF, introduces their 2025 NaaS Industry Blueprint, which defines NaaS and outlines its key components. The blueprint provides guidance for service providers and partners in developing network services across a global ecosystem.
Campus NaaS Meets Carrier NaaS
Suresh Katukam, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Nile, discusses the increasing interest in Campus Network as a Service (NaaS) from enterprises and carriers at the MEF GNE event. He predicts a shift towards comprehensive NaaS and end-to-end security solutions in the coming years.
Lego Blocks for NaaS Federations
Franck Morales, Vice President Evolution Platform at Orange Business, emphasizes the significance a NaaS Federation and the need for modular components in the NaaS ecosystem.
AI and the Network Evolution Platform
Usman Javaid, Chief Products & Marketing Officer at Orange Business, outlines the significance of AI in enterprise digital infrastructure and introduces the Evolution platform to address key customer needs. He explores how AI enhances network optimization and caters to increasing AI traffic demands, envisioning future networks capable of intelligent routing and local inference based on application requirements.
Monetizing Network as a Service (NaaS)
Rohit Batra, GM and VP of Manufacturing and Telecom, Media and Technology at ServiceNow, discusses the significance of NaaS in telecommunications, highlighting the growing network demands and the need for service providers to monetize investments.
Empowering the Digital Economy with NaaS
Daniele Mancuso, Chief Marketing and Product Management at Sparkle, announces the launch of the company’s NaaS suite of products at the MEF GNE event in Dallas. Mancuso emphasizes that NaaS is an enabler for the digital economy, allowing enterprises and providers to choose network assets via a web portal or APIs.
Quantum-Safe Network-as-a-Service
Antonella Sanguineti, Head of Product Management Secure Cloud & Networking Solutions at Sparkle, discusses the company’s Quantum Safe over Internet product, an on-demand service designed to protect against quantum computer attacks on network security.
Quantum-Safe Connectivity Demo
Ettore Pulieri, Product Manager at Sparkle, introduces Quantum Safe over Internet, a new product offering ultra-secure connectivity between customer sites, PoPs, or to the cloud. The service combines post-quantum security with networking technologies, allowing customers to configure and manage their ultra-secure protection through an online portal.
Open API Strategy for Driving Innovation
Channa Seneviratne, Technology Engagement & Advancement Executive at Telstra, outlines the company’s strategy for open APIs and composable architecture to enhance competitiveness against hyperscalers. He discusses Telstra’s transition to a more flexible API structure to expose network services.
NaaS will Automate the Entire Ecosystem
Kelly Ahuja, CEO of Versa Networks, explores the expansion of NaaS beyond traditional connectivity to encompass a broader range of endpoints and services. He anticipates NaaS evolving into an abstraction layer that integrates various network types and leverages automation across the IT ecosystem to optimize performance for businesses.
Tracking NaaS as a Consumption Model
Erin Dunne, Director of Research Services at Vertical Systems Group, examines the complexities of monitoring NaaS and reports significant growth in related SD-WAN services. Her analysis highlights the importance of broadband and Ethernet Dedicated Internet Access as key factors driving the expansion of network services.
Extended Cuts
AI's Network Impact: From Data Centers to the Edge (Extended Cut)
Colin Bannon, CTO of BT Business, and Roy Chua, Principal and Founder of AvidThink, examine the changing AI landscape and its effects on network infrastructure, noting that future AI applications may require edge processing. They discuss the challenges in modeling AI network needs, emphasizing the importance of understanding use cases and their impact on network topology, while also exploring the complexities of AI model training and data movement.
Intelligent Automation for NaaS (Extended Cut)
In this Extended Cut video, Gabriele Di Piazza, Vice President of Products, Alliances & Architectures at Blue Planet (a Ciena Company), discusses how Network as a Service (NaaS) addresses key challenges faced by carriers through automated service creation and delivery. He highlights the core components of NaaS, including intent-based orchestration and AI-driven operations, while emphasizing the growing carrier interest in NaaS for its ability to enable quick, on-demand services and new business models.