The Network as a Service (NaaS) market is projected to surpass USD 50 billion by 2025. The major market drivers are the increasing demand for cost-effective networking solutions, adoption of cloud-based networking technologies, increase in broadband penetration, and investments in next-generation 5G network commercialization. Network virtualization is helping companies to reduce their capital and operating expenditure required for maintaining & managing physical infrastructure. Various government regulations regarding data privacy and data security are also fueling market growth.

The demand for Software Defined Networking (SDN) services is another factor driving market growth. SDN solutions enable enterprises with a centralized view of the entire network to centrally manage & control network operations. The optimization of network infrastructure hardware with SDN technology is helping enterprises in reducing network-related expenditure. The increase in the demand for SD-WAN solutions for connecting the WAN from multiple sites together is aiding NaaS market growth. SD-WAN technology delivers agility & flexibility to enterprises by removing the burden of traffic management from physical network devices and transferring it to the software.

The Bandwidth on Demand (BoD) market is projected to grow at the fastest CAGR of over 39% from 2019 to 2025. BoD allows users to customize the connectivity parameters to give control over the network. The technology accommodates the increasing demands for short-duration bandwidths in use-cases such as webcasting live video streaming of sports events, seminars, conferences, and medical surgeries. The ability of BoD to deal with uncertain network traffic demands is garnering the attention of vendors and carriers. Major telecom companies, such as British Telecom, Airtel, and Vodafone, are developing BoD solutions to support the changing bandwidth demand of customers.

The large enterprise segment is expected to dominate the NaaS market by 2025 with a share of over 55%. The large enterprises are shifting toward the virtual network infrastructure to optimize the expenditure associated with managing & maintaining the physical infrastructure. NaaS enables enterprises to use their network with greater flexibility, dynamism, and agility. The on-demand provisioning of computational resources according to the pay-per-use model provides momentum to large enterprises to adopt NaaS solutions. The other factors driving the adoption of NaaS in large enterprises are increased levels of uptime, enhanced security, improved Quality of Service (QoS), maximized performance, and optimized systems.

The IT & telecom segment is expected to hold the market share of over 25% in 2025. Telecom companies are replacing their network hardware with SDN and NFV to build a centralized network infrastructure. The centralized network infrastructure enables telecom companies to centrally manage & control all networking operations from a single location. The operational cost-effectiveness of SDN technology enables telecom companies to shift toward NaaS over their traditional network infrastructure. The enterprises are emphasizing on outsourcing network & cyber-security solutions to focus on their core competencies to cope up with the increasing market competition.

The Asia Pacific NaaS market is expected to witness the fastest growth rate of over 40% during the forecast timeline. The increase in the demand for virtualization to reduce the cost and complexities of the physical network infrastructure will support market growth. The global network solution providers are deploying the virtualization network in the region to tap the growing market. For instance, in July 2018, VMware launched a new Virtual Cloud Network in Malaysia to accelerate digital adoption in the country. This expansion helped the company to deliver solutions, enabling businesses to create an end-to-end software-based network architecture that can deliver services to applications and data regardless of their location. The stringent government policies regarding data protection & cybersecurity in countries including Japan, Australia, and Singapore are helping enterprises in the quick deployment of the cloud-based network infrastructure. For instance, in July 2018, Japan and the European Union agreed to recognize each other?s data protection regulations for providing adequate protection of the personal data.

NaaS providers are focusing on strategic collaborations for extending their managed services offerings for enterprise customers. For instance, in February 2019, Cisco partnered with Verizon, an American telecommunication company, for extending software-defined networking to support future 5G mobile devices for the enterprises. This partnership helped the company to offer enterprise customers an easy & quick transition to the next-generation 5G. NaaS solution providers are also focusing on expanding their regional presence in developing economies such as India, China, and South Africa through partnerships with local players to gain growing market share in these emerging economies. For instance, in April 2018, Aryaka, a leading SD-WAN solution provider, partnered with China Mobile International, a Chinese telecom company, to provide fully-compliant SD-WAN solutions for global enterprises. This partnership helped in simplifying the deployment and management of SD-WANs, meeting the compliance requirements in China.