In today’s demanding business environment, the capability to deploy and scale innovative network services is critical to building competitive advantage. Yet, with networks under pressure from rising data requirements and rapid migration to the cloud, reliable service delivery is increasingly challenging. This complexity is further compounded by escalating security threats — from cyber-attacks and ransomware to phishing schemes powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies.
How can savvy network operators overcome these hurdles to speed service delivery at scale?
No time to spare
As the pace of business communications continues to accelerate, your clients expect access to the latest networking services. Often handling sensitive data with applications spread across multiple cloud environments, enterprises, manufacturers and public sector organizations require reliable, high-speed, low-latency network technology with optimum quality of service (QoS) and security to meet service level agreements (SLAs).
This is particularly challenging for large, geographically diverse organizations and enterprises with users connecting from a range of remote locations. The day-to-day transfer of data-heavy files and voice over IP (VoIP) communications between the data center and various branch locations can create network bottlenecks, impacting productivity across your client’s organization. And with the addition of advanced technologies such as private 5G / LTE networks, ML and AI-powered Industry 4.0 functionality and the internet of things (IoT), many organizations could be facing a mission-critical reality check.
For network operators, upgrading and maintaining a legacy wide area network (WAN) to accommodate these networking demands requires capital expenditures (CapEx), skilled staff and agility. Moreover, packaging and quoting new network services can be time-consuming, not to mention the time needed to deploy, configure and provision new solutions, significantly extending time to revenue. Those network operators and IT managers that don’t have the time to spare or the required resources readily available will miss out on considerable profit opportunities.
Whether they lack CapEx, operational budget, expertise, scalability, global reach or secure network access, network managers can still deliver reliable, carrier-grade networking services to internal or external clients by taking advantage of managed network services.
Managed network services
Access to managed network services enables your IT team to deliver valuable new offerings built on the latest technologies, while ensuring SLA compliance with the peace of mind that the network is secure and robust. In addition to reducing hardware costs and speeding service delivery, managed network services allow you to refocus valuable resources on high-priority tasks and objectives.
One emerging model for managed network services is network-as-a-service (NaaS), allowing service providers pay-as-you-go access to network infrastructure through flexible subscriptions, including hardware, software, licenses and lifecycle services. With the turnkey NaaS operating model you can quickly scale up or down as needed while reducing CapEx, creating greater value and flexibility for your clients and shielding them from the risks of technology evolution.
At Fujitsu, for example, we offer a range of NaaS offerings through our world-class network operations center (NOC) facility, including managed SD-WAN, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), LTE, Wi-Fi and Layer 2/3 networking. Built on decades of network expertise, Fujitsu managed network services provide multivendor solutions that are both technology and platform-agnostic. Our end-to-end lifecycle management service provides secure access to your client’s users, and manages the entire network experience from the desktop to the network core.
With Fujitsu’s NaaS services you can offer new services to your clients in a matter of weeks, not months. This expanded portfolio allows you to provide global networking solutions that transform your business model, delivering monthly recurring revenue with minimal risk and no additional CapEx or staffing resources.
Secure your future
As security threats continually evolve, network security involves dedicated 24/7/365 monitoring, as well as frequent technology updates and security patches. In fact, cyber-attacks, ransomware and phishing schemes are only made worse by security vulnerabilities related to bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies and remote employees accessing applications in the cloud.
To ensure that cybersecurity is an integral part of their network architecture, many service providers are turning to SASE-as-a-service from trusted managed network service providers, like Fujitsu. This operating model introduces ready-to-go, best-in-class SASE elements into your network, such as security and fault management, software upgrades and patches, securely connecting your IT client’s remote workforce with their cloud applications.
With SASE-as-a-service network service delivery, today’s organizations can stay one step ahead of cyber threats with unified threat management, intrusion and data loss prevention, managed access to both cloud and on-premises applications, zero-trust network access, a secure web gateway and next-generation firewall and VPN functionalities.
Expedite profitable services
With various subscription-based NaaS options, adding managed services to your portfolio is quick and easy, enabling delivery of new carrier-class services to grow revenue and drive profits while improving customer satisfaction and retention. Fujitsu’s managed network services are complete end-to-end offerings built on a rich heritage of telecoms expertise, providing global coverage and multiple management options. Our flexible managed network services approach means that you retain the client, take the service elements that suit your business model, and keep control of the whole process for a ready-made revenue stream.
