The new offering will provide businesses with pre-configured service chains and on-demand infrastructure
Verizon Business has announced a partnership with Wipro Limited to offer Network as a Service (NaaS) to its customers. The new multi-year, global partnership is aimed at businesses undergoing network modernization and cloudification, Verizon said. Wipro, based in Bengalaru, India, provides IT consulting and business process services. The goal, the companies said, is to help businesses transition to an “automated, self-healing and highly secure network service environment.”
“Wipro’s Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) solution, powered by Verizon Business will include a range of pre-configured and tested service chains on a subscription-based consumption model, designed to drive network consumption infrastructure on demand,” said Verizon.
The Wipro solution will help companies “future-proof” networks based around specific needs, according to Massimo Peselli, Verizon Business SVP and chief revenue officer of the Global Enterprise and Public Sector. “Many organizations want to get out of endless technology refresh cycles, but they face the twin challenges of traditional hardware and fixed infrastructures,” he explained.
NaaS solutions offer an alternative to typical capital-intensive commercial network deployments by providing businesses with subscription-based services that can be scaled up or down depending on corporate needs. Verizon’s been all-in on NaaS since 2020, after working with drug store chain Walgreens to deploy NaaS at more than 9,000 Walgreens and Duane Reade retail locations across the United States.
Peselli explained in 2021 that Verizon’s network as a service has three basic elements or layers: Pure connectivity, the technology and management. One of the contributing factors fueling enterprise interest in NaaS has been the shift to “hybrid” work models. Businesses are becoming “extensively” more interested in software as a service more generally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic because there is a need to bring applications to those employees working at home, he said.
Furthering its ambitions to work with Tier 1 Communication Service Providers (CSPs) like Verizon, Wipro acquired CAS Group this past April. CAS Group’s consulting services for CSPs include OSS/BSS transformation, app modernization, broadband services, 5G enablement, IoT and NaaS. The company is also working with Spanish telco Telefónica on that company’s telco cloud transition, helping Telefónica to develop a common DevOps pipeline the telco can use in all markets where it operates.
The Verizon and Wipro news is timely, if recent market research from International Data Corp (IDC) carries any weight. A recent survey indicated that 69% of tech-buying corporate decision-makers plan network transformation investments in the next year. Key characteristics driving interest in network transformation include integration of business tools and automation, scalable and flexible services, and a use-based pricing model: all factors that create a favorable adoption environment for NaaS.
The Verizon news comes as Wipro continues to build up a head of steam around cloud transformation efforts. In early November, Wipro announced the launch of a new dedicated business unit based around VMware technology. The new business unit will focus on streamlining client VMware implementations and accelerating app deployment in multi-cloud environments.
What’s more, Wipro also announced a new partnership with Microsoft aimed at retailers. The new solutions will provide more unified customer intelligence, “buy anywhere, fulfill anywhere” inventory management, AI-based insights and smart tracking through custom IoT sensors, leveraging blockchain technology. Earlier this week, Wipro announced support for Amazon Web Service’s (AWS’s) newly announced Amazon Security Lake, which enables AWS customers to build a security data lake from integrated cloud and on-premises data sources.
