Why NaaS is the Foundation of a Strong SASE Architecture

The traditional corporate network model built around routers, firewalls, and private WAN links isn’t cutting it anymore. Our applications have moved to the cloud, our users have gone remote, and our network security is full of dangerous gaps. Routing everything back to HQ for inspection just doesn’t work when assets live all over the place.

This new reality drives interest in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). SASE converges networking and cloud-based security into a globally distributed, identity-aware service. This approach aims to securely connect authorized users to applications no matter WHERE the user, network, or application may be located.

SASE represents a big shift in how we architect and manage connectivity and security. To truly reap the benefits, your network needs to support cloud delivery models. That’s where Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) comes in.

NaaS provides the networking functions enterprises rely on – things like SD-WAN, routing, load balancing, security, etc. – delivered as a managed cloud service rather than on-premises appliances. This gives companies new agility, performance, and security levels needed for initiatives like SASE.

The Challenges Driving SASE Adoption

Before we dive into how NaaS relates to SASE, let’s first unpack some of the core pain points driving enterprise interest in SASE adoption. 

1. Inadequate security for distributed apps and assets—Traditional security architectures based on hardware appliances backhaul traffic to centralized gateways. But today’s remote users, IoT devices, cloud workloads, etc., don’t always route through the corporate data center, leaving them vulnerable to threats.

2. Network congestion and performance issues—Funneling growing amounts of internet traffic back to corporate HQ also strains network capacity. The resulting congestion degrades performance, particularly for latency-sensitive cloud apps.

3. Complex multi-vendor environments—Cobbling together products from different vendors to connect and protect distributed infrastructure leads to configuration sprawl, which makes management, monitoring, and troubleshooting difficult.

4. Limited flexibility & agility – Supporting temporary sites or shifting bandwidth to accommodate business needs is tough when your network relies on fixed hardware and private links.

SASE aims to eliminate these problems with a globally distributed, identity-based, cloud-native architecture that securely connects authorized users to applications, regardless of their location.

Why NaaS Enables SASE

For SASE to work effectively, the network connectivity piece is crucial. That’s where NaaS provides enterprise-grade networking infrastructure delivered as a cloud service. Rather than maintain their network hardware, companies can consume fully managed network connectivity, optimization, security, etc., on demand from a NaaS provider. This cloud-hosted delivery model makes NaaS the perfect backbone for SASE for several reasons:

Agility

You can quickly scale network capacity up or down based on real-time business requirements. Are you adding a new office? Spin up more bandwidth. Seasonal demand spike? Scale to meet temporary needs. This level of agility isn’t feasible with legacy networks.

Consistent Security

NaaS networks are centrally configured and managed using unified policies. This ensures that security settings remain uniform across the entire network environment. With NaaS infrastructure, you don’t have to manually configure and update every router and switch. It’s automatic.

Better Performance

NaaS leverages global points of presence (PoPs), extensive peering, etc. to optimize network traffic routing. Your traffic takes the closest, fastest path between locations and cloud services. This means fewer hops, lower latency, minimized packet loss, and improved SaaS application performance.

Simplified Licensing

NaaS provides usage-based licensing that bundles connectivity, security, routing, SD-WAN, WAN optimization, and more into a straightforward model. No more complex a la carte pricing across disparate tools. One vendor, one service catalog, one bill – that’s the NaaS experience.

What Capabilities to Look for in a SASE-Enabling NaaS

If you’re evaluating NaaS platforms to underpin your SASE architecture, make sure to look for these must-have capabilities:

Global Network Coverage—Look for NaaS infrastructure that provides broad connectivity across key business regions. This ensures location-agnostic network accessibility, which is crucial for mobile workforces and multi-site organizations.

Built-In SD-WAN – Seek NaaS providers offering managed SD-WAN as part of the service. This makes it easy to steer traffic intelligently based on app needs and business policies.

Integrated Security Services – Prioritize NaaS offerings that incorporate cloud security like secure web gateway (SWG), firewall as a service, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), remote browser isolation, CASB, DNS filtering, and more. This simplifies your security stack while enabling comprehensive protection.

Unified End-to-End Management – Look for a single pane of glass infrastructure management covering LAN, WAN, network security, application performance monitoring, user visibility and control, etc. Holistic monitoring and troubleshooting improve issue remediation velocity.

Usage Analytics—Leverage NaaS platforms that provide rich analytics into network, application, and security usage. This intelligence helps optimize connectivity, inform capacity planning, and fine-tune policies.

Architecting a SASE-Ready Network

How should IT leaders go about architecting a NaaS-powered network ready for SASE? Here are three best practices:

Standardize on software-defined infrastructure—Shift network functions like routing, load balancing, and firewalling from fixed appliances to software services. This will lay the groundwork for unified policy management, which is crucial to SASE.

Consolidate network and security monitoring – Correlate insights across your network, security and applications via unified dashboards. This full-stack visibility allows more effective detection and response across distributed endpoints.

Embrace cloud-hosted delivery—Migrate network and security services to cloud-hosted models accessible across all sites and geographies. This will make it easier to support a cloud-delivered SASE architecture globally.

Final WorFd

SASE delivers a cloud-native architecture that finally aligns with the demands of digital business, but realizing its full potential requires the right network connectivity foundation. That’s where NaaS comes in – providing the agile, globally distributed infrastructure ideally suited to enable SASE.

With the flexibility to spin services up or down on demand, built-in security, and simplified licensing, NaaS allows enterprises to consume networking across sites and regions as a flexible service. This makes it possible to support secure access needs anywhere while maintaining centralized visibility and control.

As you evaluate SASE platforms, include NaaS capabilities in your decision process. Seek out providers that offer robust global networking paired with integrated security services accessible from a unified management interface.

This approach sets the stage for SASE success by delivering the identity-based, software-defined connectivity fabric needed for the next-generation Secure Access Service Edge.