Network as a service (NaaS) offers networking infrastructure to the user who doesn’t want to build their application. In this, the third party provides the network infrastructure.

NaaS consists of services such as wide-area networking connectivity, data center connectivity, bandwidth on demand, and other applications. In NaaS, product can be purchased for multiple clients for a particular period.

It contains the optimization of resource allocations by making network and computing resources as a consolidated whole.

Features of Network as a Service (NaaS)

The features of the network as a service (NaaS) are:

• NaaS permits the customers to ccess the internet directly and securely. Also, it allows users to run custom routing protocols.
• With the help of a virtualized network, the Naas offers network service to the client. This feature benefits the customer as they don’t have to manage and worry about the infrastructure and can concentrate on developing the business.
• It helps the client by providing them with a virtual environment, which saves their substantial costs like the cost of the hardware and their maintenance.
• It also has a feature of remote access via which a customer can access the data from anywhere and at any time with the help of an internet connection.

Advantages of Network as a Service (NaaS)

The advantages of NaaS are:

• A network as a Service reduces the time taken by the staff to maintain and commit, and due to this, the business grows.
• NaaS also has a guaranteed uptime to a location. This benefits the user and is one of the primary business concerns.
• SD-WAN technologies are available at NaaS, which offers an easy to use multiple network links that support connectivity.
• SD-Wan technology also supports to solve the issues regarding traffic engineering for applications such as VoIP.

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)
4. Identity as a service (IDaaS)
5. Network as a service (NaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is also known as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It is a computing infrastructure managed over the internet. The main advantage of using IaaS is that it helps users to avoid the cost and complexity of purchasing and managing the physical servers.

Characteristics of IaaS

There are the following characteristics of IaaS –

• Resources are available as a service
• Services are highly scalable
• Dynamic and flexible
• GUI and API-based access
• Automated administrative tasks

Example: DigitalOcean, Linode, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine (GCE), Rackspace, and Cisco Metacloud.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS cloud computing platform is created for the programmer to develop, test, run, and manage the applications.

Characteristics of PaaS

There are the following characteristics of PaaS –

• Accessible to various users via the same development application.
• Integrates with web services and databases.
• Builds on virtualization technology, so resources can easily be scaled up or down as per the organization’s need.
• Support multiple languages and frameworks.
• Provides an ability to “Auto-scale“.

Example: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure, Heroku, Force.com, Google App Engine, Apache Stratos, Magento Commerce Cloud, and OpenShift.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is also known as “on-demand software“. It is a software in which the applications are hosted by a cloud service provider. Users can access these applications with the help of internet connection and web browser.

Characteristics of SaaS

There are the following characteristics of SaaS –

• Managed from a central location
• Hosted on a remote server
• Accessible over the internet
• Users are not responsible for hardware and software updates. Updates are applied automatically.
• The services are purchased on the pay-as-per-use basis

Example: BigCommerce, Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, ZenDesk, Cisco WebEx, ZenDesk, Slack, and GoToMeeting.

Difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

The below table shows the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS –