We live in a softwarized world. Everything runs on software these days, including broadband networks. Digital triple-play services are no longer just the result of physical equipment behaviors, they are the result of software functionality. Everything from day-to-day running of the network, adding new technologies and services, or taking care of customers, requires one or more software applications.

Back in the old days, the only way of running these applications was to install them on your own servers inside your IT data center. But the advent of virtualization and the cloud, advances in software development such as containerization, along with high-capacity, low-latency, highly secure connectivity, meant that these applications could live elsewhere. This has given rise to Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, a delivery model where you subscribe to an application rather than purchase it, and access it in the cloud rather than install and maintain it on your own premises.

The advantages of this approach are obvious. You don’t need the IT expertise and you don’t need to buy the equipment and floorspace to host the software; you don’t need to make a significant up-front investment; and you don’t need to lose precious time installing it in your IT data center.

The SaaS model brings many other benefits. Time and money are also saved with the SaaS provider taking care of updates to the application and its cloud environment; offering templates and blueprints for common uses; linking your subscription to your business success in a 100 percent OPEX model; and in the intricacies of individually managing software instances and applications. You have far greater flexibility, cost control and convenience.

SaaS makes a new software solution much more accessible to any type or size of network operator, regardless of your IT resources. And you get exactly the same experience as on-premises software, with no compromise between flexibility and functionality.

Offering SaaS is a natural evolution of Everything-as-a-Service, a key element in Nokia’s cloud software excellence strategy. It reflects a culmination of steps Nokia has taken to enhance the operational efficiency in broadband networks, with the design of cloud-native software applications and making our software deployable in any cloud environment.

Software applications in Fixed Networks support flexible deployment models on bare metal, private cloud, public cloud and now SaaS. SaaS can be a game changer for network deployments, ongoing management and network care, giving fast, cost-efficient access to advanced new capability. Our market-leading cloud-native network management and SDN control solutions now have SaaS options: the Nokia WiFi Cloud Controller and the Altiplano Access Controller help operators to automate, assure, visualize, optimize, troubleshoot, and enhance the broadband network and end user services. The software components of three key services are also SaaS-ready: ONT Easy Start for automating ONT activation, Nokia Network Build Control Management for faster network rollouts and Predictive Care for proactively identifying and solving broadband access network problems. Other SaaS options are available for enterprise optical LANs as well.

SaaS is growing fast: in research for Nokia, Analysys Mason estimates that CSPs’ SaaS spending will double from 2019 to 2023. This number is likely to continue to accelerate rapidly in the coming years. For broadband providers looking to up their game with new operational capabilities or new technologies, SaaS removes many of the barriers to entry. Why not give it a try? Learn more about Nokia SaaS for Fixed Networks here.