Over the last several years, Network as a Service (NaaS) has gone from an industry buzzword to a tangible offering that your customers are looking to buy.
Want proof?
Just look at the most recent Gartner Magic Quadrant for Wired and Wireless LAN and you'll find both Nile and Meter listed as Visionaries.
What they have been able to accomplish not only signals that many businesses want connectivity, security, and performance delivered as a turnkey, recurring service. But also, that the business model (NaaS) not just the technology, is a qualifying factor to be recognized by the industry.
Most IT Service Providers (VARs, MSPs) are already sold on the idea of delivering networking on a subscription basis. The real question is no longer “Should we offer NaaS?” It’s “What’s the best way to deliver it?
There are three dominant approaches emerging in the market, each with different implications for your revenue, customer experience, and ability to scale.
This post unpacks each approach in detail, including who owns the customer relationship, how its delivered, flexibility, and profit potential.
Here's a breakdown of the results:
Why Your Delivery Model Matters More Than You Think
The delivery model you choose for selling Nework as a Service will directly impact your margins, your customer experience, your operational complexity, and your go-to-market speed.
A well-aligned model gives you:
- Full control over your pricing and branding
- Flexibility over what you package to the customer
- Operational workflows that promote consistency and efficiency
- A recurring revenue offering that is scalable
- Clear differentiation through a unique service experience
A misaligned model, on the other hand, puts you in a position where you're doing the work without owning the relationship or worse, where your ability to innovate is limited by someone else’s product roadmap.
Let’s explore the three main approaches to NaaS in detail.
1. The OEM-Led Model
The OEM-led model is the original and most common option for Service Providers. In this approach, the OEM or distributor assembles a “Network as a Service offer” that includes their own hardware and licenses, and then relies on their reseller network—i.e., VARs and MSPs—to deliver the rest of the service.
At first glance, this seems like a win-win. The OEM gets recurring revenue from their products, and the Service Provider gets to offer a packaged solution. But when you dig into the mechanics of delivery, the flaws in this model quickly become clear.
By definition, a complete NaaS solution must include the hardware and licensing, plus connectivity (internet access), professional services i.e. design, installation, configuration etc., and managed services.
There are two main problems:
- Almost no single manufacturer sells everything. So, if every OEM offers a subscription then the customer ends up with 3,4,5 or more subscriptions.
- The MSP loses control over the pricing, flexibility in packaging, and/or ownership of the end-to-end customer experience.
The MSP handles the risk, the complexity, and the support calls. The customer experience suffers. And the MSP’s ability to scale profitably is limited.
This model is best suited for providers who are heavily tied to one vendor ecosystem and want a simple starting point—but it’s not built for long-term differentiation or operational control.
2. The Single Provider Model (e.g., Nile, Meter)
In the second approach, a single Service Provider attempts to own the entire NaaS stack. Companies like Nile and Meter are positioning themselves as the AWS of networking—offering one centralized solution that delivers everything from the gear to the internet service to the support.
The pitch is clear: “Sell our service, and we’ll handle the rest.”
But there’s a structural problem with this approach. It tries to centralize something that’s inherently decentralized. Unlike cloud services delivered from data centers, networks must be installed, configured, and supported in every physical building where they’re used. That creates a delivery challenge that no single provider can scale alone.
So what do these single providers do?
They turn to the channel, but on their terms. Meter and Nile both rely on MSPs and VARs to handle parts of the deployment and customer relationship, but the vendor still owns the infrastructure, delivery model, and platform.
This creates a fundamental misalignment for most service providers.
This creates a clear misalignment and almost no VAR or MSP we know of wants to operate like an agent. They’re used to owning the customer relationship, customizing solutions to fit specific environments, and capturing full-margin revenue—not just a percentage of it.
When you resell a fixed product under someone else’s brand and contract, it limits your ability to differentiate, support your customer effectively, or grow your business on your terms.
The single-provider model is sleek and efficient—as long as you're okay with playing a supporting role.
Nile gives you more margin and partner autonomy, while Meter offers deeper vendor involvement and operational hand-holding. But in both models, the vendor owns the platform, controls the delivery, and sets the economic terms.
If your goal is to control your offering, deliver your own value, and build long-term customer relationships under your own brand, this model likely won’t get you there.
3. The Platform-Enabled, MSP-Led Model
The third approach flips the script. Instead of trying to centralize delivery or push a fixed product through a channel, this model enables the MSP to build their own NaaS offering, using software and services to support delivery, not control it.
%20NaaS%20Delivery%20Model.svg)
In this model, the MSP keeps ownership of their customer relationships, controls the contract, and configures the NaaS offer based on what the customer actually needs.
A platform supports your NaaS offering by providing the infrastructure needed to make this new model possible, including:
- API-first connectivity
- Workflow automation
- Configure, price, quote
- Embedded tech financing
- Fulfillment coordination
- Subscription management
- Digital client portal
This model is vendor-agnostic by design. It doesn't require the MSP to sell a single OEM’s stack. Instead, it empowers them to use the right mix of networking, security, and connectivity solutions based on customer requirements.
The platform provides a plug-in-play framework to easily manage pricing, proposals, procurement, delivery, and billing, so the MSP can focus on the value they’re delivering.
The best analogy here is Uber.
Uber didn’t create a new kind of car. They created workflow software that unlocked existing supply—people with cars—and matched it with demand.
The app made it easy to price, accept, and deliver rides at scale. The same concept applies to NaaS. The platform doesn’t replace MSPs it enables them. It automates everything from quoting to invoicing and leverages the 100,000+ MSPs that already exist in cities around the world.
Instead of building a centralized service provider, this model activates the decentralized provider network we already have.
Why Platform-Enabled Delivery Is the Only Model That Works at Scale
Both the OEM-led and single-provider models attempt to simplify how NaaS is delivered, but in doing so, they centralize too much and limit what makes MSPs and VARs valuable in the first place.
- The OEM-led model locks you into a vendor ecosystem, fragments your service delivery, and forces you to absorb the complexity without giving you control.
- The single-provider model productizes the service but reduces your role to that of a sales agent or packaging partner. You don’t own the platform, you don’t control the delivery, and your margins are fixed.
Only the platform-enabled model puts you in full control.
- You decide the pricing.
- You configure the offer.
- You own the customer relationship.
- And you deliver the service under your own brand.
This model doesn't compete with you or ask you to resell someone else’s product. It gives you the tools to build your own.
With the right platform, you get:
- A vendor-agnostic digital catalog to design the solution your customer actually needs.
- A workflow system to quote, price, and provision in minutes.
- Embedded financing so you can turn any deal into a subscription without cashflow, liability, or tax risks.
- Digital fulfillment infrastructure
that works across OEMs and distributors. - A branded customer portal that makes the whole experience modern and self-service.
That’s how NaaS becomes a real business model and not just a product line.
TechGrid is the only platform purpose-built to help MSPs and VARs turn Network as a Service into a profitable, scalable offering.
With built-in quoting, embedded financing, fulfillment automation, and a vendor-agnostic catalog, TechGrid gives you the infrastructure to own the customer, control the deal, and deliver NaaS under your brand—without the overhead.
It's not another product to resell. It's the system that lets you sell your own. Explore how TechGrid powers scalable NaaS delivery—request a live demo today.
