What Is Network as a Service (NaaS)?

Computer networking has come a long way since the early days of static, hardware-centric networks. In the past, networking required companies to make big investments in physical equipment and offered limited central control. As the internet and cloud computing grew in popularity, organizations began to evolve toward software-defined networks that were more agile, dynamic and programmable. That’s because they wanted their networks to deliver some of the same benefits as cloud: flexible deployment, high scalability, simplified management, automation and more.

With the shift to software-defined technologies, networks have become more complex than they used to be. Before cloud computing, an enterprise network typically just had to connect corporate sites and branches to a data center or two. Today, businesses often have remote employees who need to connect to corporate data, as well as multiple cloud providers and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications. Data needs to be exchanged with numerous partners, service providers and edge devices like IoT sensors. Computing is more distributed, and modern networks are thus sprawling, dynamic ecosystems of interdependent relationships.

While the network is often a crucial part of a company’s business, managing network infrastructure can be a complicated, labor-intensive task that consumes enterprise resources. Organizations are eager for solutions that simplify network operations and management, and the industry has responded to these challenges with Network as a Service (NaaS) solutions. NaaS can vastly simplify the complexity of modern enterprise networking by delivering networking as an on-demand, software-defined service. Network services are delivered with cloudlike agility and speed, and in-house teams are free to focus on other business priorities, without the heavy lifting of network infrastructure management.

7 key attributes of NaaS solutions

The NaaS market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 42% between 2024 and 2029, to reach $14.7 billion USD.[1] As the industry shifts toward NaaS, global industry alliances like Mplify (formerly MEF Forum) have led the way in defining the term.

Mplify has identified seven core attributes of NaaS: On-demand, observable, manageable, programmable, secure, flexible and modular.[2]

The 7 Attributes of NaaS (Courtesy of Mplify)

In our experience working with Equinix customers, we believe these NaaS attributes help enterprises accelerate and simplify network management. Here are some examples:

1. On demand: Provision virtual connectivity as needed to meet rapidly changing needs.
2. Observable: Track real-time performance, with proactive alerts and insights.
3. Manageable: Provision services, manage account, view performance and usage data, all in a single self-service management console.
4. Programmable: Provision, modify and automate the network using software.
5. Secure: Benefit from security features for digital identity and access management, data security and multitenant isolation.
6. Flexible: Pay for what you use, with short-term or zero-commitment contracts.
7. Modular: Put together the building blocks you need and take advantage of new services when they’re added.

As the pace of business accelerates and business ecosystems grow, companies often need to spin up new connections to clouds, service providers and business partners quickly. This is truer than ever in the current era of AI. NaaS solutions enable faster, easier connections with a variety of internal and external endpoints, without having to source and deploy new physical equipment or manage numerous vendor relationships. When organizations implement NaaS, they’re not locked into a long contract for a static service with fixed bandwidth. They can add and remove new connections and capabilities as needed.

3 ways NaaS enables efficient enterprise networking

Equinix Fabric® provides software-defined interconnection that aligns to the seven NaaS attributes and complements companies’ broader NaaS strategies. Equinix Fabric, alongside Equinix data centers and the rest of our digital services, is helping businesses solve their pressing networking challenges.

Let’s look at a few enterprise use cases that show how interconnection platforms like Equinix Fabric complement enterprise NaaS strategies.

Multicloud connectivity

A lot of enterprise workloads live in the cloud, and nearly every company uses multiple clouds today. Cloud connectivity isn’t just a convenience; it’s critical for most businesses. NaaS simplifies cloud connectivity and makes it easier for enterprises to rebalance cloud workloads for cost efficiency, data sovereignty or other reasons. The integrated routing capabilities in NaaS help companies easily route traffic between clouds, with security and observability built in.

Read about how Uber used Equinix to quickly migrate 6.5 petabytes of data from one cloud to another.

Data center interconnect (DCI)

Companies have various needs for connecting their data centers. These include:

• Point-to-point DCI: Connecting two data centers within the same metro or across different metros
• Multipoint-to-multipoint DCI: Creating a full mesh of connections between multiple data centers that can be located locally or around the world

A backup and disaster recovery strategy, for instance, requires infrastructure deployments in at least two different metros that need to be connected for syncing data. Bandwidth needs vary in this scenario: When everything is fine, moderate bandwidth is needed to keep them in sync; however, upon restoration after a failover event, more bandwidth would temporarily be required to get both sites back in sync in the shortest possible window. NaaS makes it easy for companies to deliver this kind of connection quickly and cost effectively, adjusting bandwidth as needed.

Learn how global packaging, supply chain and logistics provider HAVI built a DR solution with direct, secure connectivity from Equinix.

Global network backbone

NaaS is also great for providing a global network backbone interconnecting points of presence (PoPs) located in multiple metros, countries or continents. While an enterprise may still need networking from traditional carriers to reach their on-premises infrastructure, NaaS can provide a software-defined private network that can integrate SD-WAN for on-premises infrastructure and augment or replace a conventional MPLS backbone. And with NaaS, it’s much faster and easier to provision new connections with no long-term commitments.

Read about how fraud prevention leader Outseer simplified their global networks using Equinix Fabric as a network backbone.

Continuous innovation is essential to modern interconnection

A NaaS solution should readily incorporate continuous improvements, and Equinix Fabric shares this commitment to ongoing innovation. That’s why we regularly add new capabilities to our interconnection suite. Equinix Fabric was built to give companies a simple, powerful way to interconnect everything that matters: clouds, networks, partners and private infrastructure, across the globe. Delivered through an intuitive self-service experience, it provides secure, high-performance, low-latency pathways that support modern digital architectures and globally distributed workloads.

As we continue to evolve our interconnection service for an AI-driven, multicloud world, we recently announced Fabric Intelligence, a software layer that will enhance Equinix Fabric with real-time awareness and automation for AI and multicloud workloads. Fabric Intelligence will integrate with AI orchestration tools to automate connectivity decisions, tap into live telemetry for deep observability, and dynamically adjust routing and segmentation to optimize performance and simplify network operations. And you can rest assured that we’ll keep building new capabilities into our interconnection solution as the tech landscape evolves.

Whether you’re trying to solve for multicloud networking, connect multiple data centers, or design a global network backbone for your business, NaaS can vastly simplify enterprise networking, while delivering value-adding services like centralized management, network observability, API-driven automation and built-in security capabilities. Equinix Fabric plays a key role in many of these architectures by providing the neutral, private interconnection foundation that NaaS often builds upon.

Learn more about the trends shaping enterprise networking by downloading the Futuriom report, Multicloud Networking and NaaS Survey Report.

[1] Network-as-a-service (NaaS) providers will collectively generate USD14.7 billion from their offerings in 2029, Analysys Mason, June 18, 2025.

[2] Network-as-a-Service: Architecting NaaS for the AI-powered digital economy, Mplify.