LAN and Wireless LAN as a Service ?

Manjanath Nayak, Senior Vice President, GE
Predix COE Head, Microland Limited

What next in Networks?

The emergence of cloud is driving the growth of various as-a-service models and changing the existing business models. Companies no longer believe that they need to own an asset to utilize it. Fast moving businesses, need for higher agility to transform, and growing competition are forcing companies to shift towards solutions that are quick and easy to deploy, at lower cost.

‘As-a-service model’ fits in very well in today’s business context. It allows companies to use only what they need and when they need it, giving them the flexibility to ramp up or down as needed. It moves their capital expenses to an operational expense model, which is attractive from a financial perspective. Companies are increasingly moving to a subscription based model because it allows them to achieve better efficiencies, produce steady income, and mitigate unplanned risk while associating strongly with solutions providers.

With as-a-service model gaining acceptance within the organizations as a business model, organizations are looking to apply the model to other areas as well. Network forms an important part of an organization’s spend and it is therefore no surprise that as-a-service model is the next big thing for networks.

Time for LANaaS has arrived!

LAN-as-a- service (LANaaS), a networking business model, is a means to integrate LAN with the continuously changing business needs and requirements at an optimal price. Let’s look at defining LANaaS, its potential benefits, and understanding how LANaaS can be a great start towards the future of networking ‘as-a-service’ models.

As businesses progressively grow, they need networks that are faster to deploy and require services to meet their tactical goals. They also need the ability to expand network bandwidth on demand without any limitations posed by the current network architecture, while being secure and highly available.

LAN-as-a-service can be the way forward for enterprises. It can provide a scalable infrastructure without the overhead processes and cost of scaling a network. Organizations can focus on their core business and what they do best, rather than spending their time and resources on non-core areas. It offers a perfect solution for all start-up as well as growing businesses that run networks as a key part of their operations. LANaaS drives benefits by off-loading services, allowing companies to focus on what they do the best.

Deploying LANaaS? Choose your provider wisely

With multiple companies, solution providers, and system integrators trying to break into this fast growing space, LANaaS is not an easy nut to crack. It is imperative to understand the key differentiators in this complex set of offerings. Some of the challenges in this domain are multi-geography presence, complexity associated with tools, security concerns, and most importantly, the need for managed services’ expertise to handle process innovation. LANaaS requires the support of a service provider that can offer an ecosystem with these complex services bundled together seamlessly. The provider must be ready to take these risks despite the complexity and create value for the customer at the same time.

Microland with its expertise in managed services stands tall while claiming LAN-as-service as its service offering. Microland's LAN-as-a-Service is an innovative model which offers a stack of services bundled together in order to ensure quality of service with minimal governance for your network. LANaaS is revolutionary for enabling organization in TCO, reduction and shifting to an OPEX model for their network spends. Microland boasts a long history of Managed Services experience and expertise in LAN management with expertise of servicing Fortune 10 clients’ network infrastructure.

Microland's LAN-as-a-Service (LANaaS) is a model stacked with LAN/WLAN networking hardware and managed services in a flexible consumption-based model with monthly recurring charges, i.e., pay-per-site, per-device and per-port. Microland retains ownership of the enterprise networking infrastructure and delivers it as a service to our customers. It is deployed at customers' premises, and delivered through managed components that are monitored and managed by Microland. Organizations that are looking for LAN-as-a-service solution will find Microland as a great partner services partner, which can be the one stop shop for all their network requirements.